Mellie Cotchett playing lacrosse on the old athletic field in front of North Spencer Dormitory on the current location of the Petty Building, circa 1911. The Spencer Residence Hall, designed by W. C. Holleyman of Greensboro, North Carolina, consists of two connecting building; North Spencer Residence Hall, which opened in 1904, and South Spencer Residence Hall, which opened in 1907. The building was named in honor of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, a poet, social historian, and journalist. She was instrumental in having the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reopened after Reconstruction.