Sunset Cottage — which has served many functions over the years, including as home of the English department — is scheduled to be deconstructed this winter due to accessibility issues and structural deterioration that are too costly to address.
The Greek Revival structure, which dates back to 1856, is a source of fond memories for many alumni who took classes in its wood-paneled, book-lined seminar room. But the cost of renovating the building and making it fit for use is neither viable nor feasible.
“As a 19th-century building, Sunset Cottage was never fully accessible, and we now face the reality that to make it so would not only dramatically reduce its functional space but also be prohibitively expensive,” said Roger Wakeman, chief operating officer. “This, combined with the significant structural deterioration that it has suffered over the years, has made it unsuitable for use.”
Plans call for the West Quad building — which has been vacant this year and hasn’t hosted a class since 2018 — to be taken down during winter break. Its signature, two-story porch was removed in 2023 due to safety concerns.
“While we recognize the building’s rich history, we now have new, fully accessible seminar spaces that we hope will create equally rich experiences and memories for students,” Wakeman said, noting that removal of unused or sub-optimal space is consistent with campus efficiency efforts.
The structure, which had various additions over the years, was built originally as the home of professor Francis Wharton, Kenyon’s first English professor. It was in its main parlor that Kenyon’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa — just the second in Ohio — was organized by Wharton and others. Various faculty members and at least three of Kenyon’s 19th century presidents lived in the house over the years.
In 1978, Sunset Cottage was remodeled for academic use, and for more than 30 years, it served as the home of the Department of English, which moved from Nu Pi Kappa on the third floor of Ascension Hall. For a while, it also housed The Kenyon Review.
Faculty who worked in the building remember its charm. Ted Mason, who joined Kenyon’s English department in 1989, had an office on the second floor from which he had a beautiful view of nearby woods. He still recalls the special feeling of teaching in the seminar room, with its bay windows and pictures of Kenyon literary greats.
“I loved teaching in the seminar room — a space which has a deserved place in Kenyon lore,” said Mason, who now also serves as associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion and special advisor to the president. “In some ways, it was like teaching in the model space for a seminar — intimate, yet spacious. Surrounded by books in the glass-enclosed shelves.”
Adele Davidson ’75, Charles P. McIlvaine Professor of English who has taught at the College since 1985, echoed those warm feelings for the seminar room, as well as the porch.
“People enjoyed the front porch, on the second floor above the entrance, and tried to keep a few chairs out there for meeting with students — not big enough really for a class, but great for conversations on a lovely day,” she said.
Both also acknowledged the building’s shortcomings, even in its younger days.
“It was obviously inaccessible, with its narrow hallways and steep stairs,” Mason said. “The heating and cooling left something to be desired. And clearly retrofitting it for information technology resources proved an overwhelming challenge.”
In 2009, numerous members of the English department moved to Lentz House on the new English Quad, where Keithley House and Waite House were later added. Keithley was designed to emulate Sunset Cottage, with its two seminar rooms, porches and faculty offices. Each of the new buildings is accessible to users with mobility issues.
“With Lentz House it was great to avoid the problems of … heating and cooling that did not really reach all the offices equally,” Davidson said.
Since the move, Sunset Cottage has served a variety of functions, including, in recent years, the offices for the Department of Design and Construction and the contractors overseeing construction projects on the West Quad and South Campus.
