List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Undergraduate Dormitories - Burton-Conner House (W51)

Burton-Conner House (W51)

Burton-Conner House, (shortened to Burton-Conner or BC), is located at 410 Memorial Drive, on the north bank of the Charles River. At maximum uncrowded capacity, Burton-Conner officially holds 344 students. The building is five stories high, plus a ground floor.

Burton-Conner is a combination of two major sections of the former "Riverside" hotel and apartment building, which MIT acquired and reopened as a dormitory in 1950. "Burton House" consists of the 3 western-most wings, while "Conner Hall" comprises the remaining 2 wings of the extended E-shaped structure. The two sections of the building are physically separated by a firewall above the ground floor; to pass from Conner 4 to Burton 4, a resident must first descend to the ground floor. In the 1960s, a dining hall was added at the rear of Burton-Conner, on the side away from the river. Some years later, the dining hall was shut down, and the space was renamed the Porter Room, a shared meeting and student event space. The entire building underwent a complete restructuring during 1970-1971, when the internal layout was changed from a floor orientation (with floor-wide bathrooms and gang showers) to a suite orientation (introducing kitchens, suite lounges, and semi-private bathrooms).

In the dorm, nine floors (2 through 5 on the Conner side and 1 through 5 on the Burton side) are used for student housing. On Conner 1 are the housemaster's apartment, a library with Athena-network computers, a study area, and the Residential Life Associate's apartment. On the ground floor, notable features include an electronics lab and darkroom (unused for over 10 years), music rooms, a game room, weight and exercise rooms, and a lounge with a snack bar.

Most residents name their floor by their section name followed by a cardinal number denoting their floor, such as "Burton 2"; however, Burton Third is the only floor that is often named by an ordinal number. Burton 2 has a large Jewish population because of the presence of a Kosher kitchen in its center suite. A group of Hillel students gather on Burton 2 after Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath) services and sit around a table to sing lively z'mirot (Jewish songs) in an event they know as "Tisch" every Friday evening.

In January 2011, current and former residents celebrated the 60th anniversary of Burton-Conner with a reunion gathering in the Porter Room. A special commemorative history was compiled for the occasion, along with enhancement of an ongoing website for residents and alumni.