Retro Mason: Student Apartments 1977

The Student Apartments, George Mason University's first on-campus housing, opened in October 1977 and housed 498 students.

The two-, four-, and six-person apartments were originally reserved for exchange students, athletes, and students with physical disabilities. The remaining spaces were open for out-of-state and commuter students.

Construction delays caused the university to house students in Fairfax City hotel rooms and run shuttles to the Fairfax Campus. Five of the nine buildings were opened on October 15, 1977, and those residents were finally able to move in.

The Student Apartments were closed at the end of the spring 2018 semester and razed in July of that year.

You can learn more about the university’s first housing complex on Vault 217, the University Libraries' Special Collections Research center blog.

Photo credit: University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Photograph Collection, 1950s-1999