Some of the stylistic elements of the University Hotel were standard for a High Victorian Gothic building of its type. The polychromatic zig-zag bands below each of the dormers, for example, and the variety of window styles and the irregular roof line with iron decorations were all common features of the style. Less common, however, was the wooden veranda that wrapped around the structure. The rounded windows on the second and third floors were also unusual for Potter.

The University Hotel was open for business for less than eight years. It was sold to the College in June 1883 and became a dormitory the following year. It still provided board for large numbers of students and by 1906, all freshmen were required to board at the Hotel in the first "commons." University Hall, as it became known, was demolished on June 16, 1916 to make way for the new Collegiate Gothic Commons complex that was designed by Day and Klauder and that now forms part of Rockefeller and Mathey Colleges.