Campus Houses

Largely because of the shortage of housing during and after World War II, Virginia Tech became the landlord for a variety of rental accommodations on the campus. Most of the residences were houses that were obtained as the college purchased property to the north of the campus for room to expand. There were other buildings and houses built specifically for employee housing, such as the cottages on the south side of campus to house the farm workers. In September 1955, the governor of Virginia directed that a study be made of "goods, services and facilities provided (with or without charge) by the State to the employees." The goal was to establish fair and uniform charges. In addition to completing an extensive questionnaire, agencies were asked to provide a photograph of each building. This gallery contains the photos (and details) that were submitted in October 1955. They are contained in the files of Stuart Cassell, the college business manager, archived in Special Collections in the University Libraries.

Many of the houses were listed in "poor" condition at the time of the report and many were subsequently demolished to make way for campus construction. Some of the houses are still standing, though, remodeled and repurposed as office space for various programs.