Presby House
Presby House was a 101-year-old private certified house for 30 Presbyterian female students on the Urbana-Champaign campus. The house was on the corner of Fourth and Green Streets in Champaign.
The house will be replaced by a $14 million, seven-story residence hall constructed between May 2006 and August 2008. The new hall will house 264 men and women, and achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certification for environmentally-conscious homes.
The residence hall is one phase of a $120 million project that includes renovations to the McKinley Church and Foundation buildings in the area.
The Hillel Foundation rented the house during the 2006-2007 academic year while its own building was demolished, to be replaced by the Margie K. and Louis N. Cohen Center for Jewish Life.
The three-story brick mansion had two living rooms, an open kitchen with 10 prepared meals per week, a recreation room with cable television and VCR, laundry room, a computer lab with broadband access in each bedroom, a cooking and cleaning staff, and a grand piano.
Members from the Preservation and Conservation Association recovered historical artifacts, some of which they gave to the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Members of the fraternity originally lived in the house until 1930.
The house's address was 405 E. John St. in Champaign. Its telephone number was (217) 344-0556, and its e-mail address was presbyhouse@hotmail.com.
