Wright State tears down house formerly used for school presidents

The house that once served as a residence for the president of Wright State University and his or her family has been demolished.

The building once stood at the end of the Circle Drive cul-de-sac on the Wright State campus — sometimes called Rockafield House.

In 2015 — well after university presidents ceased living there — an 80-foot tree fell on the house, causing so much damage the university’s Alumni Association could no longer use the building.

No one was hurt in the tree fall.

A spokesman for Wright State said Sunday the university received a $200,000 insurance settlement for the house. Demolishing it cost nearly $60,000, he said.

Since 2015, the building has remained unoccupied, the spokesman said. The demolition happened over several days last week.

Former Wright State President Cheryl Schrader was the school’s first president to serve without living in the house. (Today, Sue Edwards is president of Wright State.)

Former president David Hopkins — Schrader’s predecessor — lived in Rockafield

House for about a year before he moved out.

At that time, the presidents of Miami and Ohio State universities were the only two area public college leaders who lived in houses owned by their institutions.

Repairing and bringing the building up to code would have cost more than demolishing the structure, Walt

Branson, WSU’s vice president for finance and operations and chief business officer, told the Dayton Daily News in late 2017.

“We don’t really plan on investing anything in it,” Branson said at that time. “It really isn’t cost effective to.”

The building was located in a pastoral forested setting, near a cemetery, but quite close to the main campus. One could walk from Rockafield to the campus library in a few minutes.

The house was built in 1969 as a campus home and was the fifth building to be built at Wright State, the university’s student newspaper reported. It had 20 rooms and 6 bathrooms.

Wright State has no approved plans for the area yet.

Contact this reporter at 937-610-7469 or email Tom.Gnau@coxinc.com.

SARAH CAVENDER / STAFF The presidential residence that once stood at this cul-desac at the end of Circle Drive on the Wright State campus was demolished in recent days. The house suffered significant tree damage in 2015.