In This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald poetically refers to it as the “black Gothic snake of Little.” Indeed, there is something snake-like in the appearance of Little Hall, located east of Laughlin and the junior slums and running parallel to University Place. Designed by the Philadelphia firm Cope and Stewardson in the late 1890s, Little was the second of three of the “Collegiate Gothic” architecture style popular that now defines Princeton’s campus. Little was also the first dormitory on campus with indoor bathrooms.
Today, Little Hall is home bathrooms, singles, doubles, triples and quads. Many of the rooms are spacious with a fireplace, and some great lighting courtesy of several windows. Little also offers laundry rooms, kitchen/dining area, lounges and study.
Most residents laud Little Hall for its large rooms and location.
Neal Yuan ’10, who lives in a newly renovated quad this year really appreciates it.
“It’s a big quad,” he said, “I really can’t complain.”
Little has the convenience of proximity to either Dillon Gym or the U-Store, depending on which side you are on. The south side of Little is physically attached to Dillon Gym, ideal rooming situation for gym frequenters, especially on extremely cold days. The north side, on the other hand, boasts a 4-story tower that was once the most prominent aspect of the hall.
Many of the rooms in Little are part of Mathey College. This year, Little will have 3 singles, 2 doubles, 4 triples and 19 quads.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Real Estate: Little Hall
Real Estate: Lockhart Hall
Imagine it is mid-January, right in the middle of final exams, and you’re studying really late. Suddenly, you feel hungry, but there’s a blizzard outside. At times like these, you’re lucky if you live in Lockhart.
Located next to the U-Store on University Place, Lockhart Hall features 21 large singles, most with over 150 square feet of living space. There are also 5 doubles, 7 triples and 3 quads.
Residents appreciate the size of their rooms.
“It’s a solid single,” Gabrielle Davis ’09 said, “I like it a lot.”
For independent students, Lockhart has a kitchen that requires a key to gain entrance.
Lockhart also has a laundry room, but no computer cluster and printers.
Real Estate: Patton Hall
In the early 1900s, in an effort to move students out of lackluster off-campus housing and redefine itself as “a residential university,” the Board of Trustees pooled together alumni donors and patrons to build new dormitories. All of the new dorms were modeled after the “Collegiate Gothic” style of architecture prominent on campus, but each with its own twist. Patton Hall, constructed in 1906, was designed by Benjamin W. Morris, who also designed 1879 Hall. What sets Patton Hall apart from the other dormitories of its time were the detailed carvings that neither Blair nor Little featured, the same sort of detail the architect of Cuyler Hall later imitated.
Patton, located on Elm Drive across from North Hall of Whitman College, boasts a great proximity to Frist, Dillon, most classrooms, Prospect Ave. and athletic fields.
In Patton, there are 15 singles, 4 doubles, 14 triples, 1 quad and 5 suites of 6’s, most with large rooms. The tower rooms also contain numerous windows and window seats. Most of the suites receive rave reviews for their size and location, including the 2-story T12 with 213 square feet per person, a private bathroom, and beautiful view over Whitman.
The quads are equally laudable.
“I love our room,” Kristen Scott ’09, who lives in a quad with 4 singles, said. “It’s like living in an apartment.”
“For seniors, it’s nice to have singles,” she said, adding that it was even better to have singles together with her “best friends.”
Patton also has laundry rooms and computer areas with printers.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Real Estate: Wright
Situated between Patton and Cuyler halls and near Dillon Gym is the building at the source of much debate in 2008. While Wright Hall is currently an upperclass dorm, the University considered adding it to Whitman College in 2008, which was met with distinct student disapproval. The plan was not pursued, and Wright remained a popular upperclassman residential option, with all but one of the rooms chosen by the third day of room draw.
Wright was formerly part of Patton, but Patton was subdivided during renovations and the north section was renamed Wright Hall after Bagley Wright ’46, president of Bagley Wright Investments of Seattle, donated $4 million for the renovation in 1999. Wright’s archway was not part of the original 1906 building, but was added during the recent renovations.
“Its fairly recently renovated so its good quality,” said Katrina Johns ’09, who lives in Wright this year. She also noted that Wright is in a convenient location.
Wright offers singles, doubles, triples and one quad on four floors, with an additional A level that houses a kitchen, laundry room, lounge and bathrooms. All of the rooms share bathrooms.
When asked her main complaint about living in Wright, Melissa Plapp ’09, answered, “Our heat is always on at full blast.”
Real Estate: Dod
If you’ve read Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason’s novel about Princeton, "The Rule of Four," you might recall that the four boys lived in Dod Hall. Dod is the massive, grey and green stone dorm that faces Elm Drive and Little Hall on one side and McCormick on the other. Besides its location, Dod is loaded with pretty much all the facilities you could want in a dorm.
“The location is very central,” said Dave Garnier ’10, a current Dod resident.
On the ground floor, you can find study space, a kitchen (stove, oven, microwave, fridge, and sink), a soda machine and snack machine, two TVs, a printer, a laundry room, and a large lounge area complete with couches, coffee tables, and chairs. An elevator runs up and down the center shaft of the building, making laziness and transporting luggage incredibly easy. So what’s the catch about Dod? The hallways are long, straight, wide, and have water fountains but the rooms off of them aren’t very big. The average square footage for a single room is 120-125 sq. ft. For those who are looking for something closer to an apartment style set up, however, Dod has a few two-story suites on the top floors.
Nathan Bickford ’09, who lives in Dod this year, noted “It’s a good location…but the singles are small.”
-Elinor Flynn '10
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Real Estate: Foulke Hall
A small archway is all that separates Foulke and Henry halls; more or less, Foulke is the up-campus extension of Henry. Its location makes it also easily accessible to the U-Store, the Dinky, and 48 University Place. Exit from the third entry, and Nassau Street is just a two-minute walk away. Foulke is known as being a particularly social dorm, largely by virtue of the fact that all of its entryways connect on four out of five floors. Residents can walk freely throughout the meandering hallways, which, as in Henry, makes stopping by friends’ rooms and getting to know your neighbors very natural.
It’s hard to find a dorm with a wider variety of good-sized rooming configurations. However, some find Foulke a little outdated. It lacks a laundry room, a kitchen, or computer or study space (there is one printer in the basement, but it’s often broken). The bathrooms are quite dark and the hallways busy. Students do have control over the heat in their own rooms, however.
Alex Kruger-Wyman ’09, a current resident, notes that one of the downsides of Foulke is that “I have to walk up a flight of stairs and down two hallways to get to the bathroom.”
On the other hand, Alex Krupp ’10, who also lives in Foulke, said “It has beautiful architecture, big windows, and wood floors. Not to mention, my room has an awesome closet.”
Real Estate: Henry Hall
Henry Hall is in the southwestern corner of the upperclassmen residential area commonly nicknamed the “slums.” One side opens onto a courtyard, which it shares with 1901-Laughlin and the other faces University Place. Though many people are drawn to Henry in order to be in the “slums” area, its location makes it just about the furthest place on campus from the Street, and between the conversations of people passing through the courtyard and cars driving along University, many residents say the dorm is often quite noisy at night.
The dorm also can be quite cold. Or hot. It’s too bad that the fireplaces of Henry don’t work anymore, because this dorm can have temperature calibration problems. However, structurally, Henry’s interior setup is one of its great assets. Being one of the longest and straightest residence halls on campus, Henry provides a living experience that is very conducive to visiting friends’ rooms or just bumping into people in the halls. Indeed, repeatedly, Henry residents emphasize that the people are what make the dorm a great place to live. You can get your laundry done in the building, but you’ll have to venture outside to print out a paper or find a good study space.
Liz Consky ’10, who lives in Henry, notes “The rooms are quirky in shape but seem to work, which I like.”
Friday, March 27, 2009
Real Estate: Laughlin
Completed in 1927, Laughlin Hall was one of eight new dormitories built by under the tenure of University President John Hibben, a member of the Class of 1882. Hibben, also a Presbyterian minister, was concerned about “skepticism toward old concepts of morals and religion,” and sought to keep students from spending the weekends in New York City by increasing the amount of on-campus housing. Laughlin is no longer used as a weapon to support traditional morals; it remains home to more than 50 Princeton students.
Laughlin is in the junior slums, located between Little Hall and Foulke Hall. Room configurations include singles, doubles and triples along with one quad and one suite for five students.
David Benjamin ’10, a current resident of Laughlin, described the rooms as “kind of old, but pretty big.”
All but one of the rooms share communal bathrooms. Approximately half of the rooms in Laughlin are restricted to female students for the 2009-10 year. Laughlin also offers a computer cluster, a laundry room, a kitchen and a lounge.
“You basically have everything you need in terms of amenities, but I would recommend taking a look at the rooms,” said Hamza Masood ’10, who lives in Laughlin this year.
Real Estate: Brown Hall
An unusual taste of the Renaissance on a campus dominated by Gothic limestone turrets, the appropriately named Brown Hall is a centrally planned (and located!) brick-and-granite structure popular among both juniors and seniors because of its convenient location, big windows and sizable rooms. Located directly behind the Princeton University Art Museum (between 1903 and Dod halls) Brown is just a stone’s throw away from Frist, Dillon Gym, and many academic buildings and libraries up campus.
Constructed in 1892, Brown Hall was the gift of Mrs. David P. Brown, who also commissioned neighboring Dod Hall to commemorate her brother, Albert P. Dod, a professor of mathematics and architecture at Princeton. Brown Hall was designed by John Lyman Faxon, a Renaissance revival architect heavily influenced by the legendary New York-based architecture firm McKim, Mead and White. The most striking feature of the building’s façade is the Florentine arch, which provides the building’s only access point, leading into a square courtyard.
Unusually, Brown boasts many more three-room triples than quads, so if you only have two potential roommates, this might be the building for you. Brown also offers many singles, but no doubles.
“I love living in Brown because it’s so close to everything and my room is really big with a great common room,” says Betsy Goodman ’10, who currently lives in a Brown triple, which she says is her favorite room she’s lived in during her three years at Princeton.
Lauren Clark ’10, a Brown single resident, said she agrees that Brown is conveniently placed, but she also pointed out a few of the building’s pitfalls. “The heating system makes clicking noises, and depending on where you live, you may have to walk around your entire floor to get to your bathroom. I live next door to the men’s bathroom but I have to walk around three sides of the building to get to the girls’ bathroom."
Real Estate: 1903
Location, location, location! 1903 is prized among upperclassmen because of its proximity to the center of campus. The walk from 1903 to Frist is shorter than from any other dorm.
“I think the biggest perk of living in 1903 is definitely the location. It’s about as central as you can get. You’re right next to Frist and much closer to both the street and the academic buildings than either the slums or Scully,” Megan Brandeland ’09, who lived in 1903 for her junior and senior year, said.
1903 was built in 1929 by the architect Chalres Z. Klauder. Klauder also designed several other buildings on campus including Frick Laboratory, Lockhart Hall and Joline Hall.
1903 offers a good number of large singles that are often grabbed up by seniors early in the draw. The dorm has a total of 93 rooms, 72 of which are singles. The remaining rooms are mostly doubles and triples.
Residents also said that 1903 is a bit quieter in general than the slums.
The dorm has both a kitchen and a laundry room available. There is no computer cluster in 1903.
The building itself is fairly old and does not have the same feel as some of the more recently constructed ones. “Unlike the gothic buildings up campus … it has not been renovated recently, so the entryways are not very eye-catching or ‘warm,’ ” Brandeland said. “But the rooms themselves are fine, especially considering the building in 50 + years old.”
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Real Estate: Scully
Since Room Draw 1998, Scully Hall has offered a relatively modern housing option for many upperclassmen. Built for $23 million, Scully contains in four floors, 157 singles, 35 doubles and 10 quads.
Private bathrooms are available for 49 rooms (4 singles, 35 doubles, 10 quads). 8 singles, 4 doubles, and a quad are available for independent room draw; of these 4 doubles and a quad have private bathrooms.
The biggest quads come with up to four rooms, while sizes range from 128 sq. ft./person in a three-room quad to 211 for a two-room single.
A full kitchen, a dining room, a “snack” kitchen, 2 study rooms, and a living room with a flat-screen television are all available on the first floor of the 3-sided complex. The first floor also has a laundry room. The second floor also offers a laundry room along with a couple studies, a café area, and a print room. The third floor offers several study rooms, another living room, a meeting room, and another kitchen. The fourth floor offers another meeting room and a laundry room. Several elevators facilitate movement throughout the complex.
Current resident Shawn Fennell ’10 chose a single with a shared bathroom in Scully after hopes for Spelman didn’t materialize. Fennell, who is independent, said Scully is “just fine” for his needs. “There’s a kitchen right across the courtyard,” Fennell said. “[Scully’s] pretty self-contained…there are 2 print clusters, 3 laundry rooms.” Fennell also said Scully is simple to keep clean because the building and equipment are relatively new.
Scully is “in a pretty bad spot,” Fennell said. A comparative literature major, Fennell said Scully is not an ideal place for him because of the long walks to East Pyne and other buildings on campus.
Nevertheless, many upperclassmen will likely find the proximity to athletic grounds and science buildings ideal.
Real Estate: 2 Dickinson
2 Dickinson Street (2D), like 99 Alexander Street, is a dorm that likes to pretend it’s a house. It sits on a street near other residential housing. Only a close observer, or someone there at dinnertime, could tell that it in fact houses 19 students, many of whom are living together as members of the vegetarian cooperative that has been part of campus since 1977.
2D has three floors, plus a fourth “A” which houses the laundry room. In addition, there are 16 bedrooms and bathrooms on each floor. More importantly for the co-op it has its own large kitchen on the first floor, along with a dining room. Residents are not required to to be members of the co-op, however.
"For the most part it's like any other dorm," said Alex Gertner '10. "There are mostly single and double rooms, but most people that live in the co-op don't participate in the cooking," he added.
"The people are really nice. We're like a big family," said Zoe Saunders '10, a member of the co-op who does not live in 2D. "It's a University building but we're technically off campus...It's like family. It's a good balance - I'm separating my home life from school life," she said.
Real Estate: Pyne Hall
If you’ve been pining away for a great place to live with a group of friends, Pyne Hall may be the place for you. Pyne has a total of 108 singles, 19 doubles, 9 triples, and 3 quads.
Pyne typically gets filled with mostly seniors. “I would say the best thing about Pyne is the large number of seniors that live there,” Katie Thaeder ’09, who is a Pyne resident this year, said. “My favorite thing is that all of my best friends are close by, but we are all able to have singles or three-room doubles.”
Pyne was built in 1922 by the architects Day and Klauder and is named in memory of Moses Taylor Pyne, Class of 1877, a great benefactor of the University.
When Princeton first admitted women in 1969-70, these first female students were all housed in Pyne.
Pyne has a laundry room and a kitchen in its 6th entryway. There is a printer in the building, but no cluster. Nearby 1901/Laughlin does have a cluster, though. Proximity to Dillon Gym is another perk for Pyne residents.
Pyne can sometimes be a bit loud, though, according to residents. “I think the location of your room determines whether or not Pyne is quiet or noisy. I would say my room is noisy,” Thaeder said. “My room faces University Place, and every once in a while it gets loud.”
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Real Estate: 1901
Designed in the Jazz Age by then-campus architect Ralph Adams, 1901 Hall contains singles, doubles, triples and quads. All the rooms have public bathrooms—which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your point of view—with men’s and women’s rooms on at least every other floor.
There are plenty of study spaces throughout the building, a perk for people who prefer not to study in their rooms but don’t want to go far, as well as a computer cluster with printers in the basement of Laughlin.
Although 1901 does not have laundry facilities, Laughlin does. While this may be convenient for those who live near the northern end of the building, it may not be for those who live near the southern end; because of the building’s entryway system, “you have to go up and down a lot if you want to go from one end of the building to the other,” 1901 resident Brian Gurewitz ’09 said in an email.
Fiona Miller ’09, who shares a three-room double in 1901 with her roommate, also noted that the building is “central in the [junior] slums,” which is great if a lot of your friends live in that area.
If you like to work out, 1901 may be a good choice; the dorm is “about 30 seconds away from Dillon Gym,” Miller said in an e-mail. She added that the building also has a common room with a TV.
In addition, the dorm’s “proximity to the U-Store is certainly a plus,” fellow 1901 resident Julius Dimas ’10 said in an e-mail.
But be warned: “If you live in the basement of 1901 entry 1, you'll be serenaded on a nightly basis by the Nassoons,” Gurewitz said.
Real Estate: Spelman
Room draw as a freshman is a relatively easy process. You’re limited to your residential college, whose buildings you’ve come to love (or hate) over the past year. At most you have ten buildings to choose among. However, once you enter sophomore and junior room draw, a vast array of housing choices open up. There are 17 buildings available in upperclass draw in addition to rooms in Mathey, Wilson and Whitman. To assist you in the room draw process, the Prox staff will provide reviews of the 17 non-residential college buildings.
Spelman
Spelman Hall, the building so great it was built eight times. Designed by I. M. Pei, who is perhaps better known for the glass pyramid at the Louvre, the dorm was constructed in 1973 of prefabricated concrete. The building project was initiated because of the need for increased housing after the movement to coeducation in 1969. Spelman Hall was honored by the American Institute of Architects as a ``distinguished accomplishment in architecture'' in 1977.
Spelman is mostly quads, with a few doubles, all of which have private bathrooms. Each room also comes with a kitchen and dining area, which makes them attractive to independent students. You do not have to be an independent to live in Spelman, however independent draw times are earlier than regular upperclass draw times, which gives independent students preference. Last year Spelman 8 was added to Whitman College and earlier in the year Spelman 7 was slated to join it, but student protest halted the move and led to Spelman 8 transfer back to independent housing.
Current Spelman students Karen Petsche '10 and R.W. Enoch '09 both liked the suite set-up. "It strikes a great balence of having the privacy of your own bedroom and having the camraderie and community of ... roomates," said Enoch.
Brad Kern '10 enjoyed the space, but noted that the dorms are "getting a bit old...It needs to be fixed up, like new carpet."
Posts
