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A splendid 40-foot wide dining room in Italian villa style occupied the south end of the building, running its entire 80-foot depth. It could accommodate fifteen tables each seating ten persons. This oak room had sidewalls of oak paneling. Oak pilasters and columns were fluted. At the east end of the room a deep fireplace was flanked by window seats. Above it ran a gallery with a handsome railing across the width of the room, to be used by spectators or an orchestra. At its south end a staircase extended to the Young Men's Christian Association rooms in the basement and up past the gallery to the dormitory rooms on the second floor. The ceiling consisted primarily of massive, molded oak beam-work, with occasional small panels of rough plaster. Flooring was of narrow oak.

The hard floor kitchen stood behind the central entrance hall with serving doors both to the south and north. The room serviced to the north was the club dining room, spacious but smaller than the main dining room, finished like the south room but not on as massive a scale, with red ceiling panels. A lounging room occupied the northwest corner of the first floor. Finished in the oak wood style of the other rooms, all its furnishings were leather upholstered. Persian rugs covered the floor, in the middle of which stood a large reading table. The ceiling finish was heavy oak cornice, the prevailing color tone dark green.

The second floor contained rooms for thirty men. Ten rooms had private baths, and there were two general baths, one with a shower. Three suites were built each with a sleeping room, private bath, and a private study. Two guest suites were also provided. Some of the single rooms interconnected in case more suites were desired, and each had a closet, heat, hot and cold water, and connections for both gas and electric lighting. The rooms opened onto a large corridor that ran the length of the building with large windows at each end. Flooring on this level was of rift-sawed pine. From the dormitory level the kitchen could be reached by a back staircase, a circumstances that soon warranted the placement of a stout wooden door at its top to deter night-time snack raiders.

The basement held an L-shaped recreation room. A shuffle board deck crossed much of its north end, and the longer dimension housed two bowling alleys. In the center were an employees bath room, cold storage and furnace rooms. The south end of the basement, with its own entrance, housed the YMCA with a main hall finished like the balance of the building and a fireplace at its east end with window seats at each side. A cloakroom and a committee room were also present. Cypress was used for flooring on this level.

Throughout much attention was given to detail. Solid wood was employed and veneer avoided. Heavy plain brass was used for door locks and lighting fixtures. A steam-heat vapor system provided central heating.

It was a fine building, at the time even perhaps the finest dormitory at any American college as the local press proclaimed. The sixth major building completed under President Crawford's leadership, Cochran Hall brought significant change to the campus and its culture, enough so that at its completion faculty and students alike began talking of the "New Allegheny." The College was indeed changing, and its newness reflected not only new buildings but also curricular changes, including abandonment of graduate courses and concentration on undergraduate education, a separation of the preparatory function from college activities, and enhancement of the sciences. Student life was changing in other ways. The literary societies that had so long dominated the life of the college were faltering, replaced by a vibrant YMCA and growing interest in athletic teams and fraternities.

Cochran Hall with its amenities quickly brought an end to the careers of the scattered boarding clubs. Student life became increasingly focused on campus and away from the town. Non-fraternity students now had opportunity to gather together to dine and to develop wider friendships. Freshmen in particular were expected to eat at Cochran, and in so doing developed greater cohesiveness as a class. Finally, men had opportunity to enjoy special dinners and gatherings just as had College women since the completion of Hulings Hall in 1879.

Further expansion of the College in the next years would lessen some of the impact of Cochran Hall on the cohesiveness of the institution. The decline of the YMCA led to new institutions dominating the basement floor—the infamous grill and more recently the bookstore and print shop until 2003–04. Blasts of cold air into the entrance hall led to construction of an ugly wooden vestibule about the main entrance that has scarred its appearance for over four decades. The fine dining hall so fondly remembered by many alumni was abandoned and eventually fashioned into the college post office. The club room and lounge were briefly offices for the sociology department, though various attempts were made to return the lounge to its earlier purpose, either for faculty or students. The second floor became the home of the student government until it moved to Henderson Campus Center in 1971. During the 1960s the college radio station moved in as did the English Department a few years later—not always the most congenial rooming assignment. Though tattered and worse for wear, Cochran Hall as it approached its centennial, by virtue of its central location, post office, and bookstore remained a vibrant center of student life.

A gift of Patricia Bush Tippie '56 and Henry B. Tippie to the Tradition and Transformation campaign of the first decade of the twenty-first century is now restoring luster to the old jewel while refurbishing it as an alumni center. The bookstore, post office, and radio station have moved to an expanded Campus Center, and the English Department to the former Odd Fellows Home. Work begun in 2004 will assure that much of the first floor and western exterior will replicate the building's original appearance. Redesign of the east side of the hall provides for a columned entrance to replace the off-set, make-shift loading area. On the second floor additional offices for the alumni and development offices will fill the center of the previously U-shaped floor. The former parking lot is to return to grass and walkways. Cochran Hall is taking on new life even as it restates the beauty and significance of its early years.

J. E. Helmreich, College Historian