Ahead of Phi Kappa Psi’s 50th Reunion in May 2025, Bob Griffith ’73 embarked on a “labor of love,” immersing himself in the history of the fraternity’s chapter houses. Drawing from University archives, photographs, and historical records — and with support from Professor of Art Emeritus Bob McVaugh and known history buff President Brian Casey — Griffith compiled his findings into a glossy 28-page booklet, A Chapter House Journey, tracing nearly a century of brotherhood and architectural change.
“These houses have served as fraternity chapters, an infirmary, military barracks in two wars as well as surviving a devastating fire in the 1940s,” writes Griffith, who served as the chapter’s president from 1971–73. Above all, he remembers the house as a “home away from home” that helped generations of Phi Psis build “friendships and bonds like no other environment on campus could.”
Some Highlights From His Research
→ The 1914 house helped shape Broad Street.
According to Griffith’s research, Phi Psi’s Broad Street house in 1914 “set many of the architectural parameters” that later fraternity houses on the row would follow.
→ A fire devastated the residence in 1947.
The building was badly damaged in what was believed to be a furnace-related blaze. After nearly a year of restoration work, the rebuilt residence opened during Colgate’s 1948 Winter Carnival.
→ The postfire renovation came with a spirited upgrade.
Along with modernized finishes and social spaces, the rebuilt Phi Psi featured a spacious basement bar. Griffith’s explanation: “They had to put the jukebox somewhere!”
→ Phi Psi went full mid-century modern in the 1960s.
The fraternity underwent an ambitious renovation in 1965, trading its “traditional mansion look” for a boxier mid-century design. Some brothers were nostalgic for the residence’s formerly spartan, adobe-colored exterior, invoking the phrase “Remember the Alamo.”
→ Phi Psi housed women students in the 1970s.
As finances tightened and membership declined, Phi Psi temporarily opened its residence to 25 women students to help meet debt obligations and fill unused space.
→ Eyes on the Future
Colgate’s Phi Psi chapter officially closed in 1982 after succumbing to financial pressures. While the house will soon be demolished, last year’s 50th anniversary celebration gave former residents a chance to “say goodbye,” Griffith says. But rather than dwell on the building’s fate, the brothers are looking ahead. “We’re excited to see what comes next,” he says.
Griffith’s A Chapter House Journey is now part of Colgate’s digital archive special collection and the archive at Phi Psi’s national headquarters.