University of Virginia Library

Colonnade Club Adds New Dining Hall
To Give Informal Faculty Meeting Place

By Phil Kimball

As the University grows there is a real
need for a place where faculty can gather
informally.

Whole departments are expanding into
separate buildings, creating a feeling of
disintegration among the faculty. Faculty
complain of rarely meeting other
faculty and feel that because of this, a
stagnation of ideas could develop.

In an effort to help alleviate this problem,
the University has opened a new faculty dining
club, The Colonnade Hotel. This is the first
dining facility on the Grounds exclusively for
faculty members. As a part of the Colonnade
Club on Pavilion VII, the Hotel offers faculty
members a place to have lunch at a reasonable
cost in a relaxed atmosphere.

Moffett Moves Out

The Hotel is located at the southern end of
the West Range, beneath the Graduate Students'
Activity Building. Formerly the resident
of Professor Gaston Moffett of the French
department, it now consists of a Tap Room.
Buffet Room and a large dining room. Upstairs
are three smaller dining rooms used exclusively
for committee luncheon meetings.

An ABC license for wine and beer has been
applied for and will probably be granted. In
several weeks the Tap Room will be in full
operation, adding a great deal to the atmosphere
of the club.

Old 'Club' Insufficient

Plans for a dining club had been developing
since 1965. The Colonnade Club alone was
overcrowded and seemed insufficient for the
real needs of the faculty.

The actual construction of the Hotel began
in 1969 when Professor Moffett retired. An
anonymous donor gave the University 10,000
dollars for the express purpose of constructing
a dining facility on the Grounds for the faculty.

The Colonnade Hotel has been open to all
faculty since September 9, but starting Friday,
it will be open to members only. A membership

fee of $30 annually covers membership in both
the Club and the Hotel. Dean John Graham,
President of the Club, indicates that, with the
addition of the new dining room and Tap room,
membership to the club has risen from 40% to
55% of the faculty and is increasing steadily.