Opened in 1912 and named for Alfred Clark Chapin, Class of 1869, Chapin Hall is one of the few spaces on campus that can hold an entire Williams class. The architects, Cram and Ferguson of Boston, designed the interior to closely resemble the debating hall at Oxford University.
While Chapin Hall serves as a venue for musical performances and speakers such as Angela Davis and Ethan Zuckerman, the building is also an important gathering place—during the First Days program for first-year students, Junior Advisors (JAs) sing the school song, "The Mountains," to the first-years from the balcony. Convocation and Baccalaureate exercises are held in Chapin for fourth-year students at the beginning and end of their final year at Williams.