Davison House

Davison House was built in 1902, completing the quadrangle of Elizabethan-style residence halls. Trustee John D. Rockefeller paid for the building and named it for his mother, Eliza Davison. Davison—like all the dorms on the quad—is conveniently located within earshot of an important (and noisy) Vassar student tradition. Primal Scream is the ghostly sound of hundreds of voices screaming in unison in the center of the quad at midnight on the eve of final exams. The Scream has come to unofficially mark the beginning of exam week.