Becoming a Private Space

The dining room at Tower Dormitory.

Just months after the Fair in 1905, the building was converted into a full time dormitory. While the university did admit female students at the time, men and women lived in separate buildings, and so Tower Hall was turned into a men’s dormitory. As there were not enough students living in the hall to fill it fully, rooms were rented out to certain faculty members, as well as some of the WashU’s fraternities such as Sigma Chi and Theta Xi. Besides being just a dormitory, Tower Hall contained a large dining room that was staffed by the school along with other recreational spaces for its occupants. Although the space was used to house a diverse range of occupants, those living at Tower Hall were all affiliated with Washington University in some capacity, changing the utilization of the building from a public to a more private space.

The building remained named Tower Hall (Dormitory) until 1929 when the building was renamed to the John. F. Lee Hall.

The exterior of John F. Lee Hall, including the building's nameplate.

John F. Lee was a local lawyer who held several prestigious positions such as president of the St. Louis Bar Association and director of the St. Louis Public Library. During the last 25 years of his life, he also served on the Washington University Board of Directors, and so after his death in 1926, Tower Hall was renamed to the John F. Lee Hall in his honor. 

From 1929 up until the mid-1950s, Lee Hall continued to be private space for both male students and university faculty.