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Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
safe intercourse with the world in which
they will shortly have to move...(Moravian
Seminary for Young Ladies 1874:14).
The Moravian Seminary’s campus exemplified the
containment of most school functions within a single
building or connected cluster of buildings (figure
3-16). As the school grew and the Single Brethren’s
House became too small, the campus expanded
organically around it. Beginning in 1848, a series
of new connected halls was added on the east and
west, and the complex eventually expanded at
a right angle toward the south. The 1840 school
laundry (Day House) was the only fully detached
building on campus, possibly because it was used
primarily by employees and not by students. The
1890 Gymnasium (Payne Gallery) was detached
from the main group of buildings, but had a narrow
connecting passageway to South Hall.
The 1874-1875 school catalogue also makes clear
that the series of Hurd Campus buildings were
regarded by the school as a single “house” rather
than as discrete but connected buildings. “The
whole house measures 232 feet front, by from 50 to
200 in depth, with seven stairways running from the
lowest to the highest stories” (Moravian Seminary
for Young Ladies 1874:14-15).
and the Harvey Library were planned and built as
attached wings rather than standalone buildings,
although construction of the library was delayed
for over a decade. Only in the twentieth century
did the college begin to expand and spin off certain
functions and academic departments to new
detached buildings.
Finally, Moravian College and Theological School
promulgated a household environment, with the
Resident Professor and his wife overseeing student
life and character education. This was regarded
as a critical element of students’ preparation for
ministry, and the students’ lives were probably
more closely supervised than male peers at liberal
arts colleges (figure 3-18). Attendance at daily
worship was required, as was signing a pledge of
Christian conduct. Indeed, in years prior to World
War I, the annual College catalogue contained the
following text:
With the exception of those whose homes
are in Bethlehem and vicinity, the students
are entered as members of the College and
Seminary household, rooms being assigned
Moravian College and Theological
Seminary
The campus of Moravian College and Theological
Seminary for Men also espoused many of the
nineteenth-century campus trends. The choice
made in 1889 to locate the school on a rural hilltop
at the far north end of Bethlehem was the result
of careful consideration of several sites. However,
this worked to remove the institution to a more
remote setting on what had been church-owned
farmland. Here the students could concentrate on
their studies without the distractions of a busy
downtown, though the town center was easily
accessible. Within a few decades the town had
spread outward and surrounded the campus
with a residential neighborhood. Still, the setting
remained more suburban than urban.
Comenius Hall was from the beginning a
multipurpose building, containing nearly all
functions of the College (figure 3-17). Dormitories,
classrooms, offices, and a gymnasium were initially
all housed under one roof, with the refectory,
infirmary, and laundry in an adjacent smaller
building (now Zinzendorf Hall). Borhek Chapel
Figure 3-17. 1907 view of Comenius Hall and the Refectory.
Nearly all school functions were carried out in these two
buildings during the first 20 years of the campus (Moravian
College Archives).
Figure 3-18. Moravian College and Theological Seminary’s
Trombone Choir, 1907. Students and faculty in this period
enjoyed a close household-type environment (Moravian Church
Archives).
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 3 • College Context • 43