Proctor Academy

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Table of Contents

Tours

1. The Arts at Proctor

   Proctor's decentralized approach to the arts incorporates a number of facilities. Learn about them here!

   Stops

   1. Slocumb Hall

      Constructed as a livery stable for horses that drew carriages from the railroad station to the Proctor House Hotel in the 1870s, this charming building was extensively renovated one hundred years ago by H. Langford Warren, Dean of the Architecture School at Harvard University. Through much of the 20th Century, Slocumb served as the school's gymnasium, with shower rooms on the north side. Today, recently improved with new insulation and windows and added space in 2009, Slocumb is home to studio arts, ceramics, and a photography darkroom. Learn more about Proctor's arts programs! 

   2. Alan Shepard Boathouse

      Boat building has a long, colorful history at Proctor. Starting in the late 1930s hundreds of rowboats, sailing dinghies, canoes and kayaks were built here. As a boy--long before he became America's first astronaut in space--Alan Shepard spent a summer building a boat at Proctor. In 1961, when Shepard became a national hero, we named the old shop in his honor! Today, the top floor is still home to woodshop and boat building classes. Downstairs, metal engineering, blacksmithing, and jewelry classes meet. Learn more about Proctor's arts program! 

   3. Steve & Sarah Wilkins Meetinghouse

      "The Meetinghouse" is one of the most architecturally and aesthetically beautiful facilities in central New Hampshire. Designed in the image of a Shaker barn, the Meetinghouse is a physical metaphor for Proctor values. Here, the whole community assembles for daily assemblies at which anyone may speak. Dance studios, a blackbox theater, costume shops, a huge stage tech facility and the Cotton Projection Room surround the 410-seat Norris Family Theater. The Meetinghouse brings people together, to be their best. This is what Proctor is all about. The Meetinghouse was opened in 2001, and was named in honor of Steve Wilkins, who was Head of School from 1994-2005, and his wife Sarah, who taught in the Learning Skills Department.

   4. Recording Studio

      One of Proctor's newest facility, the recording studio is in the words of the designer "The finest teaching recording studio in the world." There's nothing like it "anywhere." While the technology inside gives students the ability to mix tracks like pros, it is the vibration insulation that catches the attention of national media. A writer for a acoustic design magazine notes, "Each room is suspended by thousands of rubber pads against the outside wall, so that a heavy truck passing by on North Street (which would be rare) will have no discernable vibration in the performance spaces or the recording studio, itself. No one has ever seen anything like this. And then there's the recording technology!" Each student in recording classes designs unique mixes of music, and displays these choices on a projection screen for other students to appreciate and evaluate. Visit this space when it's in action, with jazz/rock playing in the studio, and the recording team working the state-of-the-art soun

   5. The Chapel

      An historic Tudor built in 1910, the Chapel serves many purposes. Completely rebuilt in 2005, the Chapel is home to the school's highly popular voice and chorus programs, including the Alice Fowler Singers and the Proctor a capella group. The sanctuary of the original chapel serves as both a practice and performance space. Downstairs are practice rooms, where sopranos, tenors, baritones and bass singers practice in soundproofed spaces.