In 1916, Dial acquired the Chamberlain property, a parcel on the north side of Prospect Avenue between the Observatory (and its attached house, home to generations of Princeton astronomers) and Colonial Club. Dial then engaged Henry Milliken, an alumnus who had just designed the new Quadrangle Club, to draw up plans for a purpose-built clubhouse.

Milliken's first rendering for Dial, dated about 1916, shows a highly symmetrical, academic-looking building distinguished by two string courses that separate the two floors, a central pediment, and a slightly off-center door. It is not clear if the building was intended to be built of stone or brick.