St. Mary’s Hall is a building on the northeastern end of the Georgetown University campus. It’s been there since it opened in 1956 (there was an earlier St. Mary’s Hall on Prospect St.) St. Mary’s is primarily the home of the Nursing and Health schools of GU, but it also houses the mathematics and computer science departments.
And it’s looking absolutely fantastic these days.
With the opening of the new grassy square between the building and Reservoir Rd, St. Mary’s looks so much more inviting and collegiate than it did just a few years ago.
What did it look like before?
Like this:
When fields build for cars get replaced with fields build for humans, it’s genuinely jarring to look back at the previous use and believe that people were ok with it. And this particular field for cars has been marring the view of St. Mary’s for as much as sixty years. You have to go back to around 1964 to see how the original plan was laid out:
A similar experience occurs when you’re reminded what the Georgetown Waterfront used to look like not that long ago:
The transformation of St. Mary’s is not on the level of the transformation of the Georgetown Waterfront, but it’s in the same ballpark. So next time you’re walking down Reservoir Rd., pause and take in the view and see what is possible when we prioritize people over cars.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Cars are fantastic!
Topher, could you please remind us how both these wonderful changes came about? Whose idea? By whose authority? At what cost, etc etc. Thanks.