Bertram Hall is located on the south side of the Radcliffe Quadrangle, between its grassy center and Shepard Street. It is a 3+1⁄2-story brick building with Georgian Revival styling. It is covered by a dormered hip roof. It is nine bays wide, with a central five-bay section and symmetrical two-bay end sections that project slightly. The building corners have brick quoining, and the eave is adorned with modillions. Most windows are set in rectangular openings with stone sills and splayed stone lintels; those on the ground floors of the end sections are set in blind round-arch recesses. The main entrance is at the center, sheltered by a single-story porch with Tuscan columns and a balustrade on the roof.[3]
The hall was built in 1901 to a design by Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr. It was the first of the quadrangle's buildings to be built, and the first dormitory building at Radcliffe College, representing a major shift in the college's policy from placement of its boarding students in private homes. It was funded by a donation from the Radcliffe class of 1895.[3] It was named after John Bertram Kimball, the deceased eight year old son of David Pulsifer Kimball and Clara Millet Bertram Kimball, and the grandson of Captain John Bertram.
