Davison House was the fourth residential quadrangle (quad) dormitory to be built on the campus Vassar College in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York.
[1] Construction of Davison came during a period of rapid dorm-building spanning 1893–1902 during which the older seminary-style model of housing—a single large hall in which all a college's residents lived, in Vassar's case Main Building—was quickly waning in popularity in favor of smaller individual houses.
Frederick Law Olmsted, a consultant of design for the college, recommended that any new dorms in the area be built in an "echelon formation" in order to provide for a greater sense of openness.
Allen disregarded this advice, instead opting to place the dorm, along with Lathrop, in "two long unbroken rows of buildings on the bias".
[12] Residents of Davison, which houses students of all grades, may live in either single rooms, one-room doubles, or three-room triples with bathrooms being shared by all members of a hall.