Grace Scripps Clark Hall

Clark Dorm was first opened in the fall of 1928, as a joint gift of Grace Scripps Clark and Ellen Browning Scripps. The dorm was a joint gift of Grace Scripps Clark and Ellen Browning Scripps in memory of James E. Scripps, father and brother of the donors. Olive Court is a mosaic-paved courtyard accessible at the front of the dorm which bears Scripps’ motto, Incipit Vita Nova, Here Begins New Life, in the corner. The earliest dorms on Scripps—Toll, Clark, and Browning—were designed by Gordan Kaufmann in the Mediterranean style. Kaufmann was particularly instrumental in this style’s revival, whose characteristics include: large, symmetrical façades, stuccoed walls, red tiled roofs, arched or circular windows, and wood or wrought iron balconies.