Centre College is a true hidden gem of a liberal arts college. A peer school of Sewanee, Rhodes, and Furman, it offers rigorous academics and a high-energy social scene in a residential college setting nestled in the picturesque small town of Danville, KY.
Aside from a handful of seniors who get permission to live off campus each year and usually end up in an assortment of rental houses on Fifth Street, the entire student body at Centre lives on campus. So, it’s important to pick the right dorm for your personality and living style. In this guide, we rank the Centre College dorms from best to worst and explain the reasoning for each ranking.
Table of Contents
- Centre College Dorms Ranked From Best to Worst
- #1: Brockman Commons
- #2: Pearl Hall
- #3: Fox Hall
- #4: Northside Hall
- #5: Rodes Hall
- #6: Bingham Hall
- #7: Breckinridge Hall
- #8: Wiseman Hall
- #9: Yerkes Hall
- #10 (tie): LaMotte Hall
- #10 (tie): Tyler Hall
- #12: Stevenson Hall
- #13: Vinson Hall
- #14: Cooper Hall
- #15: Ganfield Hall
- #16 (tie): Acheson Hall
- #16 (tie): Caldwell Hall
- #18 (tie): Evans Hall
- #18 (tie): Cheek Hall
- #20: Higgins Hall
- #21: Nevin Hall
- Final Thoughts on Centre College Dorms
Centre College Dorms Ranked From Best to Worst
Not counting program houses, Greek houses, and small individual residences owned by the college (all of which we excluded from this guide), there are 21 dorms at Centre College. That seems like a large number for such a small college (the enrollment at Centre hovers between 1,200 and 1,400), but many of these dorms are small and cozy, housing fewer than 50 students.
As for which of these dorms are the most pleasant and comfortable to live in, there is some subjectivity, and not everyone will agree with these rankings. We tried to keep it as objective as possible, focusing on amenities, room sizes, availability of single rooms, and social atmosphere.
Here are all 21 Centre College dorms ranked from best to worst.
#1: Brockman Commons
- Occupancy: 124 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Townhouses with single and double bedrooms
- Bathroom style: Two per townhouse
- Air conditioning: Yes
Brockman Commons is the Taj Mahal of Centre College dorms. It features two-story townhouses with living rooms, full kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. It has its own parking lot and outdoor pavilion where both residents and non-residents gather to grill out and socialize. It was built in 2013, so it still feels new and modern. The only downside: Some of the bedrooms are doubles.
#2: Pearl Hall
- Occupancy: 114 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Suites with single bedrooms
- Bathroom style: Suite-style
- Air conditioning: Yes
If you can’t snag a Brockman townhouse, Pearl Hall is where you want to be at Centre. And actually, because Pearl offers all single rooms, many students prefer it over getting saddled with a double in Brockman. The suites feel more like apartments, with common areas and private bathrooms shared only by suitemates. Like Brockman, Pearl is a newer building, so the amenities are plush.
#3: Fox Hall
- Occupancy: 12 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Apartment-style with single bedrooms
- Bathroom style: One per three-person apartment
- Air conditioning: Yes
Fox Hall is an older building that’s part of the St. Mildred’s Court complex, but it offers a huge advantage in that all of its units are apartment-style with single bedrooms only. In addition to your own bedroom, you get a full kitchen, living room and private bathroom, all of which you share with only two suitemates. The downside is it’s a tiny building with only 12 residents, so its social scene isn’t as robust as that of Brockman or Pearl.
#4: Northside Hall
- Occupancy: 178 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Suites with double bedrooms
- Bathroom style: Suite-style
- Air conditioning: Yes
Northside is Centre’s newest residence hall, opening in 2019. It features suites with eight double bedrooms, a large common room, and a bathroom with multiple toilets and showers. According to the college, it was designed entirely based on input from Centre students, which is puzzling given it has no single bedrooms and the student body often laments the lack of singles on campus. Regardless, Northside’s amenities are top-notch, and students seem to love it there.
#5: Rodes Hall
- Occupancy: 12 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Apartment-style with single and double bedrooms
- Bathroom style: One per three or four-person apartment
- Air conditioning: Yes
Rodes Hall is located next to Fox on St. Mildred’s Court. Like its neighbor, the dorm is tiny, housing only 12 students in apartment-style suites with full living rooms. We ranked it a few slots below Fox because it has a mixture of double and single bedrooms instead of all singles. But if you’re looking for a quiet place to live that feels more like an apartment than a dorm, Rodes is a great choice.
#6: Bingham Hall
- Occupancy: 98 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Singles and doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall with a few suite-style
- Air conditioning: Yes
Bingham is one of the larger dorms on campus, housing mostly sophomores and juniors. It is very similar to most of the other older dorms on Centre’s campus, but we gave it a high ranking due to the availability of single rooms and suite-style bathrooms. That said, you have to get lucky in room draw to snag one of these. Most of the rooms are doubles with a hall bath.
#7: Breckinridge Hall
- Occupancy: 98 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Singles and doubles. (Two large rooms are sometimes used as triples.)
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Breckinridge’s layout and rooms are similar to Bingham’s. It has mostly hall bathrooms and double bedrooms, but there are a few singles up for grabs if you have a good room draw number. However, Breckinridge also has two large rooms that Centre sometimes uses as triples when occupancy is tight. We always recommend avoiding triples when you can, which is why Breckinridge comes in slightly below Bingham.
#8: Wiseman Hall
- Occupancy: 32 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Singles and doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Wiseman is one of Centre’s smaller dorms and offers mostly double rooms with a few singles. Bathrooms are on the hall and cleaned daily by staff. Because it has only 32 residents, it tends to be a quiet dorm and not a social epicenter. This appeals to many students but turns off many others.
#9: Yerkes Hall
- Occupancy: 75 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Yerkes Hall houses 75 students in all double rooms, except for the RAs who get singles. Of all the Centre dorms that offer only doubles, we rank Yerkes the highest because of the size of the rooms. At 12 feet by 17 feet, Yerkes’s doubles are some of the most spacious on campus. (The Greek houses also have spacious doubles, so that’s something to consider, as well.) Yerkes usually fosters a social atmosphere with a strong camaraderie among residents.
#10 (tie): LaMotte Hall
- Occupancy: 42 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Mostly doubles with a few singles and triples
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
LaMotte is a medium-sized dorm housing 42 residents in mostly doubles. The rooms aren’t big, but they’re clean and comfortable. Like all Centre dorms, LaMotte is air conditioned and has laundry facilities on site. There are a few singles available that tend to go to juniors with good room draw numbers. There are also a couple of triple rooms which we recommend avoiding if you can.
#10 (tie): Tyler Hall
- Occupancy: 42 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Mostly doubles with a few singles and triples
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Tyler is LaMotte’s twin. They’re located right next to each other and nearly indistinguishable from one another on the inside. The rooms are the same size and shape, and the interior layouts are the same.
#12: Stevenson Hall
- Occupancy: 45 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Stevenson is about as typical as you can get for a Centre College dorm. It houses 45 students in all doubles (except the singles for RAs) and has hall bathrooms. The rooms are corridor-style, which tends to foster a lively social atmosphere, as residents leave their door open, particularly early in the school year, as a way to encourage neighbors to pop in and introduce themselves.
#13: Vinson Hall
- Occupancy: 23 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Vinson’s rooms are almost identical to Stevenson’s: corridor-style doubles with hall bathrooms. The interior layouts are also similar, but Vinson is a little bit smaller and has half as many residents. It’s really a matter of preference: do you prefer a larger and more active dorm or a smaller, quieter, cozier one?
#14: Cooper Hall
- Occupancy: 46 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Cooper Hall and Ganfield Hall are similar to Stevenson and Vinson. All four dorms have convenient locations on campus, average-sized double rooms, hall bathrooms and good social atmospheres. It’s really a roll of the dice deciding which one you’d be most comfortable in. In general, if you’re happy in one of the four, you can be happy in any of them.
#15: Ganfield Hall
- Occupancy: 27 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Ganfield is set up and laid out like Cooper, only smaller. It houses only 27 students and tends to have a quiet, studious vibe. It’s a popular spot for sophomores who want a laid-back living environment.
#16 (tie): Acheson Hall
- Occupancy: 38 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Acheson Hall is a smallish dorm with smallish rooms and hall bathrooms. It houses mostly sophomores and has a convenient location to classrooms, dining halls, and the gym. The hall bathrooms are shared by the whole floor, but they get cleaned every day by the custodial staff.
#16 (tie): Caldwell Hall
- Occupancy: 38 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Caldwell is Acheson’s virtual twin. They’re also right next to each others, so neither offers a locational advantage over the other.
#18 (tie): Evans Hall
- Occupancy: 49 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Evans Hall is a medium-sized dorm that is popular with sophomores. It has a great location on central campus that is convenient to everything, and its atmosphere tends to be social but not frenetic. We ranked it toward the bottom of the list only because its double rooms are definitely on the smaller side compared to other Centre College dorms.
#18 (tie): Cheek Hall
- Occupancy: 49 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Cheek Hall is the twin to Evans Hall. Their room sizes and interior layouts are the same, and they’re located right next to each other, which is why we have them tied on our list.
#20: Higgins Hall
- Occupancy: 33 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
Higgins Hall has a great location and tends to foster close connections and strong friendships. The reason we have it second to last on our list is that its double rooms are among the smallest on Centre’s campus. Many of the rooms on the third floor measure only 13 feet by 10.5 feet, which isn’t a very big space to share with another person.
#21: Nevin Hall
- Occupancy: 102 students
- Gender: Coed
- Room style: Doubles
- Bathroom style: Hall
- Air conditioning: Yes
If you know anything about Centre College, you knew “Nasty Nevin” was going to be last before you even looked at this list. This formerly all-male dorm is the one every Centre student dumps on, and the one everyone hopes not to see on their freshman housing assignment sheet. In reality, though, it’s still a lot better than the offerings at many peer schools. And now that it’s coed rather than all male, it doesn’t feel like an absolute zoo and doesn’t have that musty, locker room scent it was known for in the past. If you get assigned to Nevin as a freshman, just know it’s only one year, and it’s really not that bad.
Final Thoughts on Centre College Dorms
Centre College has 21 dorms to choose from, although you’ll have to wait until you’re an upperclassman to get into the best options. Still, for such a small campus, the housing options are diverse and varied — in addition to the dorms listed above, there are also Greek houses, special interest houses, and small living units owned by the college — and the amenities are actually quiet nice for college dorms. Regardless of where you end up, as long as you go in with a positive attitude you can have the time of your life at Centre, and you’ll leave with a top-notch education and respected degree. Go Colonels!
