Elliott Hall, a two-and-a-half-story brick structure with a four-bay south frontage, stands on Main Street at the east end of the Delaware College district. The south facade is laid in Flemish bond, with a belt course below the second-floor windows and a quarter-round watertable below the door sill level. The entrance, sheltered by a portico, is situated in the west center bay. A two-bay stuccoed wing extends the building to the east. A brick rear wing has been added and enlarged to create a curious splayed endwall at the northwest corner of the house. A small dependency, laid in common bond, has been incorporated into the northeast corner of the main structure. Most of the rear and side walls are stuccoed, but common-bond brickwork can be detected throughout. The main body of the house is two rooms deep with a central hallway; the west rooms are one bay wide, while the east rooms are two bays wide. Corner fireplaces occur in all four rooms. Detailing in the main first-floor rooms includes bull's-eye corner blocks and splayed window casings while the hall and second-floor rooms are much simpler. Disposal of the second floor is patterned after the first, but a room occupies the front portion of the hallway. Alterations include the addition of a vestibule and closet in the southwest room and a hallway through the northeast room, in the first floor.
Elliott Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Newark, and the oldest dated one, was built during the American Revolution by Alexander McBeatle, On September 3, 1777, the British and American forces clashed at Cooch's Bridge; five days later, the British marched through Newark, where workmen were putting the roof on McBeath's house. Three years earlier, in 1774, the land on which the house was built had been given by Morgan Edwards to the Newark Academy. Edwards, the historian of the Baptist denomination in the middle states, is said to have been the only Baptist minister in the colonies who remained loyal to the Crown. The eastern third of the house is a nineteenth*century addition, constructed of a peculiar brick produced in the Evans brick yard at Newark. The same material was used in St. Thomas Episcopal Church, built in 1843, and in Oaklands, the Wilson house, at the same time. The Elliott Hall addition is thought to date from the same period. During the nineteenth century, ownership of the property passed through several hands. James S. Martin, who built the Deer Park Hotel nearby, was one of the owners. Benjamin S. Caulk bought the house, and left it to his daughter and her husband, John L. Elliott, whose name it now bears.
In 1915, the college acquired Elliott Hall and the large tract across the street, where a new campus for the University of Delaware was begun.
Elliott Hall is now used by the University of Delaware for its Institute of Global Studies. It appears to be in excellent condition and very well maintained.