{"id":27857,"date":"2026-08-31T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T12:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=27857"},"modified":"2026-08-31T12:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T16:14:00","slug":"the-many-lives-of-the-phi-psi-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2026\/08\/31\/the-many-lives-of-the-phi-psi-house\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Lives of the Phi Psi House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ahead of Phi Kappa Psi\u2019s 50th Reunion in May 2025, Bob Griffith \u201973 embarked on a \u201clabor of love,\u201d immersing himself in the history of the fraternity\u2019s chapter houses. Drawing from University archives, photographs, and historical records \u2014 and with support from Professor of Art Emeritus Bob McVaugh and known history buff President Brian Casey \u2014 Griffith compiled his findings into a glossy 28-page booklet, A Chapter House Journey,<\/em> tracing nearly a century of brotherhood and architectural change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese houses have served as fraternity chapters, an infirmary, military barracks in two wars as well as surviving a devastating fire in the 1940s,\u201d writes Griffith, who served as the chapter\u2019s president from 1971\u201373. Above all, he remembers the house as a \u201chome away from home\u201d that helped generations of Phi Psis build \u201cfriendships and bonds like no other environment on campus could.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Highlights From His Research<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 The 1914 house helped shape Broad Street.<\/strong>
According to Griffith\u2019s research, Phi Psi’s Broad Street house in 1914 \u201cset many of the architectural parameters\u201d that later fraternity houses on the row would follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 A fire devastated the residence in 1947.<\/strong>
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\u2019s 1948 Winter Carnival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 The postfire renovation came with a spirited upgrade.<\/strong>
Along with modernized finishes and social spaces, the rebuilt Phi Psi featured a spacious basement bar. Griffith\u2019s explanation: \u201cThey had to put the jukebox somewhere!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 Phi Psi went full mid-century modern in the 1960s.<\/strong>
The fraternity underwent an ambitious renovation in 1965, trading its \u201ctraditional mansion look\u201d for a boxier mid-century design. Some brothers were nostalgic for the residence\u2019s formerly spartan, adobe-colored exterior, invoking the phrase \u201cRemember the Alamo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 Phi Psi housed women students in the 1970s.<\/strong>
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 Eyes on the Future<\/strong>
Colgate\u2019s Phi Psi chapter officially closed in 1982 after succumbing to financial pressures. While the house will soon be demolished, last year\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration gave former residents a chance to \u201csay goodbye,\u201d Griffith says. But rather than dwell on the building\u2019s fate, the brothers are looking ahead. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to see what comes next,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Griffith\u2019s A Chapter House Journey<\/em> is now part of Colgate\u2019s digital archive special collection and the archive at Phi Psi\u2019s national headquarters.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Highlights from the long and storied history of the fraternity house that helped shape Broad Street<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":27889,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3414,1619],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1720],"class_list":["post-27857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-salamagundi","category-salmagundi"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-7fj","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/08\/Broad-Street-Chapter-House_v3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27857"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28241,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27857\/revisions\/28241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27857"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=27857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}