House System at The California Institute of Technology - History

History

Caltech established the House System in 1931, disbanding the existing fraternities and recasting them as Blacker House, Dabney House, Fleming House and Ricketts House, now known as the South Houses. The fraternities were as follows:

• Blacker: Phi Alpha Rho, also known as Pharo
• Dabney: Gamma Sigma
• Fleming: Sigma Alpha Pi and Pi Alpha Tau
• Ricketts: Kappa Gamma, also known as Gnome

Expanding student population was accommodated in 1960 with the North Houses: Lloyd House, Page House, and Ruddock House.

A new state-of-the-art residential facility named Avery House, was opened in 1996, touted as a facility that allowed undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty to not only mingle, but live together. As a result, Avery was not initially considered part of the House System, and freshmen were not allowed to live there. However, in the 2003–2004 school year, the Avery Council (the student government of Avery House) campaigned for Avery to participate in Rotation and take freshmen. This change was opposed by the Caltech undergraduate student body by a five-to-one margin, but the Faculty Board voted overwhelmingly to approve the change. Beginning in the 2005–2006 school year, freshmen began to rotate into Avery, changing its status from an undergraduate housing option to a fully represented House.

Also in 2005, work began on a major renovation project for the aging South Houses, whose residents were relocated to a temporary modular housing complex. The renovations were completed at the beginning of the 2007 calendar year. Students moved back into the South Houses on 15 December 2006, though construction continued through the beginning of 2007.

Like most of the buildings on campus, Avery House and the South Houses are in California Mission style, and resemble cloistered monasteries with enclosed courtyards; the North Houses are of Modern design.