Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House

The Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity House in Minneapolis, Minnesota is the University of Minnesota chapter house of Phi Gamma Delta. The house, located just across University Avenue from the East Bank Campus, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its distinctive architecture, as well as its role in the development of fraternity housing in Minnesota.The house is a unique example of the Vienna Secession movement, making it unusual during a time when other fraternity houses were being designed with Classical Revival and other period revival architectural styles. The architect, Carl Stravs, used Vienna Secession features such as the overhanging roof slab with a rounded edge, pentagonal window openings on the ground floor, and decorations integrated with the main concrete structure. The living room on the first floor has a stone fireplace on the west wall, which Stravs called, "the center of all the social life in the fraternity house". The fireplace is built in rusticated limestone said to be salvaged from the University's Old Main building, which was destroyed by a fire in 1904. The wall has niches housing the busts of Greek philosophers, which were also reportedly salvaged from Old Main.