List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Undergraduate Dormitories - Maseeh Hall (W1)

Maseeh Hall (W1)

The structure at 305 Memorial Drive, now named after Fariborz Maseeh (ScD 1990, Civil Engineering), predates MIT's move to Cambridge in 1916, and has borne several names over the course of time. It is located at the intersection of Memorial Drive and Massachusetts Avenue, across the street from MIT's Building 1, and was originally operated as the "Riverbank Court Hotel" from 1901—1937. In 1938, MIT reopened it as "Graduate House", later renaming it "Ashdown House" after its first faculty housemaster. By the beginning of the 21st century, the building had become run-down and in need of renovation. Graduate students were moved out, to a new Ashdown House (NW35) located much further away, a controversial decision justified by a desire to house all undergrads as close as possible to MIT's central campus.

The exterior of the building was repaired to stop water leaks and further deterioration, but there was no funding to renovate the interior of the structure. In 2010, Maseeh donated $24 million for the purpose of increasing MIT's undergraduate enrollment by 270 students (an increase of 6%). To enable this, the number of undergraduate dormitory beds needed to be increased, since MIT now requires all undergraduate students to live in dormitories on campus for at least their first year. Maseeh Hall is the largest undergrad dormitory on campus, with 462 beds.

Maseeh Hall was opened to residents in August 2011. Housemasters are Jack Carroll and Susanne Flynn (a professor in Course 24).