The first sororities were Delta Gamma and Gamma Phi Beta in 1903 and Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1904.Īs they began their inroads into the social patterns of the University, choices by the Greeks for housing locations proved to be rather limited. It started in 1896 with the founding, among fraternities, of the Sigma Nu chapter, followed in 1900 by both Phi Gamma Delta and Phi Delta Theta, in 1901 by Beta Theta Phi and, in 1903 by both Sigma Chi and Kappa Sigma. Indeed, one could start the process today with some of the older houses, which are more than 80 years old.īut the history of the Greeks at the University of Washington goes back more than 100 years. While our current student residents might be surprised at the designation, the neighborhood could one day be named an official historic district. And many renowned Seattle architects lent their considerable skills to these projects, including NBBJ co-founder William Bain Sr., the iconoclastic Ellsworth Storey, longtime UW Architecture Professor Lionel “Spike” Pries, the prolific Arthur Loveless (his firm designed at least five Greek houses) and UW Architecture Dean Harlan Thomas. Most followed one of two architectural styles of the period-Collegiate Tudor/Gothic or Georgian Revival.
In this area, most houses were built in the 1920s and early ’30s, affording a certain unity in design and volume, although many were altered in the post-war years.
