The University of Miami officially announced in November 2025 its plans to demolish Mahoney and Pearson Residential Colleges and replace them with a new residential complex called Gables Village.
As a first-year students’ dorm in recent years, Mahoney-Pearson welcomed many students into the UM community for the first time. Let’s take a walk down memory lane as we say farewell to Mahoney-Pearson life: the good, the bad and the ugly.
According to the Miami Herald, UM is often considered the first U.S. college campus
entirely made up of Modernist-style buildings. Mahoney-Pearson Residential College’s building style and layout were inspired directly by Eaton Residential College, which sits less than a 10-minute walk away and now houses mostly sophomore students. Unlike most college dorms, these Residential Colleges were designed with jack-and-jill bathrooms, assigning four students per suite and two students per room, rather than one or two communal bathrooms for the whole floor.
Mahoney’s original structure was built in 1958, and Pearson followed in 1962. While they’ve both undergone renovations over time, wear and tear are inevitable and noticeable.
“When I first moved in, the dorm felt very small, especially for two people. At first, it was hard to imagine making the most out of the space, and it reminded me more of an old hospital or office room than a place I would be living in,” first-year neuroscience and biology major Alexia Morgan, a current Pearson resident, said.
But if there is one thing Mahoney-Pearson taught us, it’s how to make the best of any challenge thrown at us.
“I made it my own. I cleaned everything, put up pictures, made a corkboard filled with photos of my friends and family, and added plants and stuffed animals. Little by little, it started to feel warmer and more like a home,” Morgan said.
Making the Most of It
Ainsley Nelson, now a senior musical theatre and public relations major, lived in
Mahoney for two years as a First-Year Fellow — essentially an academic-focused residential assistant — and had a similar experience to Morgan’s on her move-in day.
“Seeing it for the first time was rough; it kind of looked like a prison cell. But I added a
lot of posters all throughout, photos of my friends and brought in some of my own furniture,” Nelson said.
But once the comfort set in, memories made way. In bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry
rooms, hallways, dining halls, elevators and stairwells. Holding more than sixty years’ worth of UM history, students have made memories in every inch of Mahoney-Pearson.
Living in Egg-celence
Sam O’Connor, a sophomore health science major, moved out of her Mahoney single
dorm less than one year ago, and already misses the conveniences of dorm life.
“I miss being super close to the omelets and having my own bathroom,” O’Connor said.
Yes, omelets. Mahoney-Pearson residents often looked forward to their daily omelets in the dining hall, served with a smile by chef Glen Howard, who has worked at the dining hall for seven years. But students consider Glen to be more than a chef. He was consistent in first-year students’ lives when everything else felt unknown. If you head to YikYak right now, you’ll probably find posts petitioning UM to pay Glen more so he could come in on weekends to make omelets.
When life wasn’t perfect, your omelets could be. And for many, life was far from perfect in Mahoney-Pearson.
Not Always Paradise
Mahoney-Pearson is full of firsts. Perhaps it was your first time living away from home, sharing a bathroom or even sharing a bedroom. Problems can arise easily with these firsts.
“My friend was having extreme roommate issues in Pearson, so I allowed her to move into my single dorm and ended up sleeping on my own floor,” O’Connor said.
On top of transitioning into a new living situation, the “perks” of living in an older dorm made students less than perky.
“Mold was an ongoing issue, and I got sick at times and constantly had to turn off the AC to clean the vent,” Morgan said.
“The shower would never drain,” Nelson said. But as the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and makes the good times feel even greater. For Morgan, her fondest memories truly hit close to home.
“Last semester, my friends from home came to visit and met all the friends I had made here. We all hung out together in my dorm, laughing and spending time together, and it was really special seeing two important parts of my life come together in one place,” Morgan said.
For Nelson, her favorite memories in Mahoney involved her co-workers.“I loved doing game nights with my fellow housing staff friends,” she said.
The Hardest “Goodbye”
No matter how long you live in Mahoney-Pearson, how many times you have to call maintenance, how many times you miss your own bed in your own home and how many belly laughs, all-nighters and cups of ramen are shared, there is one certainty: You move out of Mahoney-Pearson a different person than you moved in as.
I know I did.
Three years ago, Mahoney 410 was where I wrote my first Distraction article on how to talk more like an adult. It’s where I was stuck the first time I got frat flu and had class cancelled for a hurricane that never hit. Where countless TikToks were made, and FaceTimes where I asked my mom to put the dog on the phone were had. Where I killed my first cockroach. Where I met my first-year roommate, Merritt Sherrer, whose calmness against my wildness became my safe space throughout the rest of my college experience.Where I learned that home is determined by you, not an address on your ID.
Mahoney-Pearson, you hold just as much mould as you do memories, and I couldn’t thank you more for them all.
words_amanda mohamad. photo_ethan dosa. design_lilya moriarty.
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