page_title: Old North Building
section_title: Civil War and beyond
hierarchical_section_title: Old North Building / History / Civil War and beyond
caption_attribution_description: English: Healy Hall circa 1904, from the Detroit Publishing Compary collection no. 017564 published in 1906.
context_page_description: The Old North Building, or simply Old North, is the oldest extant academic building on the campus of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and was the second major building built on the campus. To the east, the building is joined to Healy Hall and to the west, it is joined to New North, while the southern façade of the building encloses Dahlgren Quadrangle. Built in the Georgian style, Old North was one of the grandest buildings in Washington at the time of its completion in 1795. It served as the flagship of the university until the construction of Healy Hall. Old North currently houses the McCourt School of Public Policy.
context_section_description: On May 4, 1861, during the Civil War, notice was given to President John Early that the 69th Infantry Regiment of New York would be commandeering Georgetown College's campus to quarter its 1,400 soldiers. The commandeering of the college lasted until June 4 of that year. Old North was exempt from this order, and the students of the college had to quickly remove all of their belongings to the Old North Building. Likewise, Old North was exempt from another order by the Surgeon General of the Army, on August 31, 1862 to convert Georgetown's facilities into a hospital for 500 patients. This exemption was due to intervention by General Amiel Weeks Whipple, whose two sons attended the college.
  With the school growing, Georgetown embarked on the construction of Healy Hall. Architects Smithmeyer and Pelz begin drafting designs for the building, with one such plan from 1876 depicting the fourth floor of Healy Hall overlapping the footprint of Old North, suggesting that they had considered the demolition of the Old North building. When Healy Hall was completed immediately adjacent to the building, Old North lost its status as the flagship of the university and its grandeur was diminished in comparison.
  An area to the south of the building was eventually enclosed by a fence, and became referred to as The Yard. The space was used by the student athletic association formed in 1891 for recreation. Over time, "The Yard" became a metonym for the athletic association, which grew to assume broader functions, eventually becoming Georgetown's student government; hence, the former name of the student government is The Yard. The courtyard between Old North and Old South—the area roughly coextensive with Dahlgren Quadrangle today—initially left the southern entrance of Old North to be at ground level. It was not until 1893 that the quadrangle was sunken and a staircase to the south entrance constructed.
caption: Old North (right) was overshadowed by the construction of Healy Hall
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