A newly renovated, larger Native American House closer to campus will be ready for occupancy by next fall.
The house will take over the former Occom Inn on North Main Street and will hold 16 beds for students plus a small apartment for a graduate student or faculty member, Project Architect Jack Wilson said.
The College acquired the Occom Inn from the Hitchcock Clinic in the fall of last year.
Wilson said the new house will offer more living space, including a kitchen, dining room, study room and enlarged recreational space.
"I think it will be a wonderful facility," Wilson said. "The program had really outgrown its current facility."
The new house will provide space for 11 more people than the current Native American House, located at 18 North Park Street near the intersection with Lyme Road.
Renovations will begin on the Occom Inn in early May and will cost about $450,000, Wilson said.
Mati Larson '95, a member of Native Americans at Dartmouth, has already applied to live in the new affinity house.
"There's a lot more possibilities that come along with living in a new structure," Larson said.
Larson said the old house could not adequately accommodate a group the size of Dartmouth's Native American community.
"With that many students on campus and only five students being able to live in the house, you to a certain extent exclude some of the students," Larson said.
Native American Program Director Leisha Conners said events held in the house were often overcrowded. Conners estimated there are between 140 and 160 Native Americans at the College.
"We do a lot of events that take place inside the house ... and there's no place for people to sit," Conners said.
Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco said the search for a new facility began several years ago when the Native American Program's members approached the Office of Residential Life.
"A number of years ago it became evident that [the current house] was inadequate," Turco said. "They came and said, 'Look, we would appreciate a larger plant if one becomes available.'"
Conners, who came to the College last October, said between the spring of 1992 and 1993, the building committee, which was in charge of finding a new location, considered the Sherman House, which neighbors the Occom Inn and currently houses College offices.
Wilson said the building committee decided the Occom Inn better suited the project since it was already a residential space.
"By this last summer and fall, the former Occom Inn became available and we decided it was the best fit," said Associate Dean of Students Barbara Strohbehn, who headed the building committee.
The purpose of the new house "is exactly that of the current Native American House at Dartmouth," Strohbehn said. The building provides affinity housing for Native Americans at the College.
