The Rendael dormitories housed single students during the surge in post-war enrollment. Metal barracks, which had been prepared to house troops overseas, were obtained from the federal government in 1946-1947. The buildings were placed along Peoples Avenue East and Peck Drive between Georgian Terrace and Sunset Terrace. Rendael or "Tin Town" consisted of fifty, one-story structures, 88 x 20 feet. Each structure contained ten double rooms. Between each pair of dormitories there was a service building that contained showers, a boiler room and service facilities. Most of the dormitories were removed by 1954, though some were retained for use as storage and service buildings. The area is now the location of the Rensselaer Apartment Housing Project.
See Mort Mayer's recollection of Tin Town in Rensselaer, June 1999, p.32.
