Sunset Cottage, the historic home of the Kenyon Department of English, will be demolished over winter break. Chief Operating Officer Roger Wakeman cited concerns over accessibility codes, the costs of maintenance and the opportunity costs of allowing the space to go unused. The College does not currently have plans to replace the building.

The Collegian was fortunate to have previously recorded a history of the building in 2016 by the late College Historian and Keeper of Kenyoniana Tom Stamp ’73. The Cottage was initially built in 1856 by Kenyon’s first English professor, Francis Wharton, and offered to the College in 1863 to become faculty housing. The Cottage traded owners and experienced some minor expansions before the English department officially moved its offices from third floor Ascension Hall to the Cottage in 1978. 

Charles P. McIlvaine Professor of English Adele Davidson ’75 recounted her time in the Cottage in a message to the Collegian. “There were photographs of some of the Kenyon literary greats on the walls, and at times a bit of controversy as to whose photographs should be included, but a wonderful large photo of [Denham] Sutcliffe, [Chair of the English department from 1957-64], presided over the others. We were happy when a photo of [co-Founder of the Kenyon Review] Roberta Teale Schwartz went up and there was finally a woman among those pictured on the walls,” she wrote. “That helped to communicate a sense of Kenyon literary history, and we were aware that the house had been the place where Kenyon’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (the second chapter in Ohio) was founded.” Despite some issues surrounding accessibility, the Cottage remained in use as English department offices and classrooms until it was entirely vacated in 2018.  

The first indication that the Cottage would be demolished was made in the 2014 master plan, which laid out the bones of the West Quad that we see today, with the notable exception of a large dance, drama and film building in the place of where the Cottage is now. The plan specifically referenced the Cottage: “Construction of the West Quad would require the relocation of existing surface parking spaces and Sunset Cottage.” The plan called for Sunset to be moved, not demolished, north of Bailey House (the space now inhabited by Keithley House).  

In fall of 2016, students and alumni became agitated over the potential demolition. A Facebook personality going by the name “Philander Chase” set up the “Save Sunset” campaign, consisting of a Facebook page and Change.org petition. The concern reached former President Sean Decatur, who addressed the matter in a Collegian letter to the editor the following week: “In the spring, the Board will consider a new library [Chalmers] as the beginning of a future West Quad, which will inform any decisions regarding Sunset Cottage. Development of the Quad, as outlined in the 2014 Master Plan, would require either moving or demolishing Sunset. Until those plans have been fully considered and approved by the Board, no immediate decisions can be made about Sunset.”

In the fall of 2017, Decatur offered an update on the West Quad expansion in the wake of an anonymous $75 million donation to the College. In his address to the College, he definitively stated that the Cottage would remain in place and intact, awaiting future renovation.

The accessibility of the Cottage is a major factor in its future and renovation. “There’s just no useful life, and it costs money to maintain it and to keep it safe. So, part of what we’re doing is being efficient in the use of our facilities. Sometimes there is space that is no longer usable and should be removed just for efficiency and not having to pay for [the] maintenance to continue to maintain a property,” Wakeman told the Collegian. 

Since the English offices were moved in fall of 2018, there has not been substantial use of the Cottage. According to Wakeman, the Cottage was used as a center for construction of the West Quad, and in 2023, the balcony of the building was removed due to safety concerns.

In an interview with the Collegian, Wakeman elaborated on the precise reasons why the College has decided to go forward with demolition despite the building’s historical significance: “It has some history, people have ties to it. It’s a piece of the campus, but it’s time to move on.”

Wakeman and the Campus Operations Division do not currently have plans as to what will replace the space. “There have been master planning efforts about what potentially could go there, but we’re not in active planning and design right now.”