HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Brown University's oldest building, completed 1770 with the labor of enslaved Africans and used during the Revolutionary War as American and French army barracks and hospital; described by Providence Ghost Tour as the city's 'most vigorously haunted' building.
1 Prospect Street, Providence, RI 02912
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active Brown University administrative building. Exterior is publicly viewable from the College Green; interior access is restricted to authorized personnel.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Brown's College Green; accessible paths.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1770 · Brown University's Oldest Building · Revolutionary War Barracks and Hospital · Enslaved Labor in Construction (Documented) · Subject of Brown's Slavery and Justice Initiative
University Hall, originally known as the College Edifice and informally as 'Old Brick,' was completed in 1770 as the first building of the College of Rhode Island, now Brown University. It stands on College Hill at the head of the College Green; the official address is 1 Prospect Street, though the building faces the Green and is most easily approached from Waterman or Thayer Streets.
When British troops occupied Newport in December 1776, the Rhode Island Legislature took control of the building from the college and used it as barracks and a hospital for Continental Army troops. After American forces withdrew in 1780, French forces under Rochambeau took it over as a hospital for their wounded. The building returned to college use after the war.
Brown University's research into its own history — including the 2003-2007 Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice — has documented that enslaved labor contributed to the construction of University Hall. Records identify four enslaved men by name: 'Pero,' 'Mary Young's Negro Man,' 'Earle's Negro,' and 'Abraham,' and note that lumber for the building was donated by Aaron Lopez and Jacob Rivera, members of one of Newport's largest slave-trading firms. The history is the subject of multiple Brown Daily Herald articles and student-led organizing about the building's name and significance.
Sources
According to the Brown Daily Herald, Brown Alumni & Friends, and the Providence Ghost Tour, University Hall has accumulated more ghost reports than any other building on Brown's campus. The Brown Daily Herald's 2023 'Campus haunts' piece notes the building is described by tour guides as 'the most vigorously haunted building in Providence,' citing its construction by enslaved laborers and its wartime use as a hospital where soldiers died.
A persistent campus legend, recorded in Brown's own alumni materials, describes a face — sometimes specified as a Revolutionary War soldier — seen at a second-floor window at night. Staff have reported unexplained footsteps on the upper floors, the impression of a presence near the building's original doorway, and an occasional full-body apparition of a figure in colonial clothing.
We treat the slavery-trauma associations with the editorial care they require: the enslaved men who helped build University Hall are recorded individuals whose labor is part of Brown's institutional history and the subject of the Slavery and Justice initiative — not material for romanticized 'curse' or sensational framing. The paranormal reports are described as they appear in published sources, without speculating about identities or causes.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
View University Hall from Brown's College Green. The building is a stop on the Providence Ghost Tour and on Brown's own historical walking tours, which discuss its Revolutionary War uses and the enslaved laborers who helped build it.
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