Rockefeller Hall

Designed by New York architect Grosvenor Atterbury and built by the National Park Service in 1934-1935, the three-story building  is historically significant for its distinctive design and construction, and association with John D. Rockefeller Jr.  Atterbury’s design incorporated French Eclectic and Renaissance style with half-timber and masonry exterior walls and steeply pitched terra-cotta roofs consistent with the carriage road gatehouses he designed in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.  Between 1935 and 2002, Rockefeller Hall served as apartments and offices for the U.S. Navy radio communications station at Schoodic Point.

In July 2009, Edith Robb Dixon, a longtime resident and benefactor in Winter Harbor, made a gift of $1 million to the National Park Service to renovate Rockefeller Hall for use by the SERC Institute. Mrs. Dixon made the gift in honor of her late husband, Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., who, like Mrs. Dixon, shared a deep interest in education and the town’s well-being.

The renovated building will include a welcome center, SERC Institute offices, and guest quarters for researchers and faculty.