Take a look at the brick beauty standing before you-the Colonials Club House. Step right up and let’s travel back to the year 1910, when students at Iowa State were looking for more than just a rickety old house to call their off-campus home. Picture it: the west side of campus was the student neighborhood hotspot, but the Colonials Club, a local fraternity founded in 1908, decided it was time to shake things up, so they built their club house right here on Ash Avenue. Just imagine the sound of bricks thudding, hammers pounding, and dreams taking shape in this very spot.
Before the Colonials Club House, fraternity and sorority homes were simple wooden houses, trying to pretend they were family homes. But the Colonials wanted something grand. That’s when Proudfoot & Bird, a top-notch architecture firm from Des Moines, designed what would become the very first masonry chapter house at Iowa State. The two-and-a-half-story brick structure stood out with its impressive Colonial Revival style-the style that would soon sweep across frats and sororities citywide. Talk about being a trendsetter. Is it just me, or does this house wear those four tall columns and two pilasters out front like a tuxedo on prom night?
Now, let’s open the grand oak doors and take a peek inside. Imagine the front hall’s rich oak paneling, oak floors creaking as students rushed to dinner, and an inviting oak staircase winding upward. On chilly Iowa nights, a large pocket door would slide open to a living room with a cozy fireplace-more oak, of course-where debates about the meaning of life and last night’s pranks unfolded by firelight.
And if you’re into a little fraternity drama, here’s a twist: even when the Colonials became part of the national Theta Delta Chi fraternity in 1919, some alum stockholders refused to join. The fate of the house hung in the balance until a new company raised $20,000 in bonds to buy and fix it up. The Ames National Bank brought $8,000 to the table, proving that even back then, a good house party could move the bank into action.
Over time, the house grew. A renovation in 1920 added bigger spaces for more laughter and late-night chats, a one-story extension for the beloved house mother in 1926, and another addition in 1966. And those Greek letters-Theta Delta Chi-still parade above the entry porch, like a secret code between old friends.
Maybe it’s no surprise this house landed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. You could say the Colonials Club House didn’t just shelter students; it changed the very face of Ames’ Fourth Ward, one brick, one tradition, and probably a few epic pillow fights at a time.
