In recent years Logan Hall has gotten a new roof, new chimney caps, and painstakingly rebuilt walls. This summer it will get a new name, courtesy of University trustee and Wharton School overseer Ronald O. Perelman W’64 WG’66, whose $20 million gift in 1995 enabled Penn to restore and revitalize its historic campus core.
When Perelman committed the funds for the renovation of Perelman Quadrangle, the University gave him the option to rename Logan Hall. This summer, it will be named in honor of his former wife, the late Claudia Cohen CW’72. She was a television and newspaper journalist who served as an overseer of the School of Arts and Sciences.
Claudia Cohen Hall will be the third designation in the building’s 134-year history. Built to house the School of Medicine in 1874, it was originally known as Medical Hall. In 1906 it was renamed in honor of James Logan, William Penn’s colonial secretary and a founding trustee of the College of Philadelphia—which was itself renamed University of Pennsylvania after the Revolutionary War.
—T.P.
