PKT25: Touring the House, Part 6: Second Floor Big Bedrooms
First we went downstairs, and having exhausted that area, now we're going up. We'll use that main staircase from the front hall and head upstairs.
This staircase was actually quite wide, with more than enough room for two people to pass each other going in opposite directions, or to carry a large piece of furniture like a green loveseat up the stairs without even nudging the composites that hung along it. It had a large landing 3/4 of the way up that looked out over an equally large set of windows. Sadly, those windows looked out over the vacant house next door, but at least they let in a lot of light.
On the ledge in front of those windows was the mailboxes, both for the individual members and the ones associated with certain fraternity offices. Somewhat strangely, despite us having chore sheets for all sorts of other things, the mail was distributed more or less by chance. If someone happened to feel like bringing in the mail and putting it in the correct mailboxes, they did, and if they didn't it was probably tossed on top of the mailboxes with the mail addressed to people who no longer lived there. Now that most bills and bank statements come via email, I'd guess that 90% of the mail that used to arrive doesn't even exist. I was always sort of amazed that we kept getting bank statements for people who hadn't lived in the house for years. I guess some people really don't notice what's going on.
From there landing the stairs wrapped around back toward the center of the house for a few steps, and brought us to the upstairs hallway. The portion of the hallway directly ahead of the top of the stairs was larger enough to hold a sofa along the wall without blocking any of the many doors. There was also several cabinets built into the wall on the right that stored various home improvement materials as well as the ritual closet. The ritual closet stored all the materials for the fraternity rituals, which I will not discuss in any detail because we all took some oaths of secrecy.
Anyway, if you went straight from the top of the stairs, you had three options.
- To the left (aka, toward the front of the house) was The Observatory.
- Straight ahead to the left was the door to the three rooms that made up The East Wing.
- Straight ahead to the right was the door that led to the front room of The Greenhouse. Through there was the both the back room of The Greenhouse and the two rooms of the Studio.
- To the right was a much narrower hallway.
We'll cover those named rooms above and save the rooms down that narrow hallway for another post.
The Observatory might have been the largest single bedroom in the house, even larger than The Bakery. It had great closets and good windows. The main drawback was that it was right above the Study Room and next to the stairs, so even late at night you could hear quite a bit of noise.
The East Wing was a series of three rooms. First there was a common area which usually had a television and sofas in it during my years in the house, plus some extensive built in closets. This was a popular spot for playing video games or watching over people play video games. There was also a purloined sign from the old Case Institute of Technology days in there. Most of the people who lived in The East Wing only closed the door to the common room when a party was going on or serious studying. There was also a door directly to the front room of The Greenhouse, although it was open so rarely that I may actually be imagining that.
The next two rooms in the East Wing complex were bedrooms. You had to go through the middle room to get to the back room. The back room was actually one of the extensions that had been added to the house. It was very clear that there had once been a second floor porch that went the length of the house which had since been enclosed into two new rooms. This provided more space, but neither the back room of The East Wing or its counterpart the back room of the Studio were very well insulated, nor did they have radiators. It got chilly in those two rooms and space heaters were de rigueur.
The East Wing and The Observatory were connected by sharing the phone number PKR4 as well as by a full bathroom which was actually one of the larger bathrooms in the house. Well, it was sort of a full bathroom. At some point in the past (stories varied, but tended to blame the brothers from the 1980s), someone had tried to grow pot in the bathtub. I don't recall hearing whether or not they successfully grew any pot, but they did manage to block the pipes and render the bathtub inoperable. This wasn't fixed until a year or two after I graduated, which I'm sure reduced the wait time for showers significantly and made those two bedrooms even more popular options.
The Greenhouse / Studio complex was actually similar to the East Wing in structure, if not size. The front room of The Greenhouse was large and square and usually served as a common area. I only remember one person, Amitai, actually sleeping in that room. There was usually a fridge in here as well, which is where I kept my stash of ice cream the two years that I lived in The Studio.
The two rooms of The Studio were practically mirror images of the back two rooms of The East Wing. I personally lived in the back room my sophomore year with Hsia in the front room. The back was the room that clearly used to be a porch, or maybe even just a roof. You had to step down into the back room, if you peeled back the carpet you could see a tarred roof, and it was cold in there even with a heavy duty space heater. Fortunately, I like the cold. I liked the noise less, as it was right over the Chapter Room which meant that during a party it was very loud right up until the party ended, and it wasn't much quieter during dinner or other events in the Chapter Room.
I lived in the front room of The Studio my first senior year and the summer between my senior years with Alberto in the back during the school year and Bovi in the back during the summer. This front room had a closet, but most residents just used the large glass armoire that was in there. This room was also the site of one of the funnier pranks I ever indirectly saw. Joe was living in there during (I think) my freshman year and went home for spring break or something. A couple of the brothers proceeded to acquire the room key and moved every single item out of his room and videotaped the empty room with a camcorder (remember camcorders?). Then they moved everything back. When Joe returned, they found an excuse to play the video for him and blew his mind.
The Greenhouse back room was one of the few rooms that made clear where the name of the room came from. At some point in the past someone had built an extension over the kitchen, and three of the four walls were windows. Even better, one of those walls was french doors out to a small porch, making The Greenhouse the only bedroom in the house with its own private porch. Of course, all that glass made it a very cold room, and required a lot of currents for anyone who wasn't into exhibitionism.
In addition to sharing that common space, The Studio and The Greenhouse shared PKT5 for a phone number.
Next time, we'll talk about what you saw if you went down that narrow hallway instead.
This staircase was actually quite wide, with more than enough room for two people to pass each other going in opposite directions, or to carry a large piece of furniture like a green loveseat up the stairs without even nudging the composites that hung along it. It had a large landing 3/4 of the way up that looked out over an equally large set of windows. Sadly, those windows looked out over the vacant house next door, but at least they let in a lot of light.
On the ledge in front of those windows was the mailboxes, both for the individual members and the ones associated with certain fraternity offices. Somewhat strangely, despite us having chore sheets for all sorts of other things, the mail was distributed more or less by chance. If someone happened to feel like bringing in the mail and putting it in the correct mailboxes, they did, and if they didn't it was probably tossed on top of the mailboxes with the mail addressed to people who no longer lived there. Now that most bills and bank statements come via email, I'd guess that 90% of the mail that used to arrive doesn't even exist. I was always sort of amazed that we kept getting bank statements for people who hadn't lived in the house for years. I guess some people really don't notice what's going on.
From there landing the stairs wrapped around back toward the center of the house for a few steps, and brought us to the upstairs hallway. The portion of the hallway directly ahead of the top of the stairs was larger enough to hold a sofa along the wall without blocking any of the many doors. There was also several cabinets built into the wall on the right that stored various home improvement materials as well as the ritual closet. The ritual closet stored all the materials for the fraternity rituals, which I will not discuss in any detail because we all took some oaths of secrecy.
Anyway, if you went straight from the top of the stairs, you had three options.
- To the left (aka, toward the front of the house) was The Observatory.
- Straight ahead to the left was the door to the three rooms that made up The East Wing.
- Straight ahead to the right was the door that led to the front room of The Greenhouse. Through there was the both the back room of The Greenhouse and the two rooms of the Studio.
- To the right was a much narrower hallway.
We'll cover those named rooms above and save the rooms down that narrow hallway for another post.
The Observatory might have been the largest single bedroom in the house, even larger than The Bakery. It had great closets and good windows. The main drawback was that it was right above the Study Room and next to the stairs, so even late at night you could hear quite a bit of noise.
The East Wing was a series of three rooms. First there was a common area which usually had a television and sofas in it during my years in the house, plus some extensive built in closets. This was a popular spot for playing video games or watching over people play video games. There was also a purloined sign from the old Case Institute of Technology days in there. Most of the people who lived in The East Wing only closed the door to the common room when a party was going on or serious studying. There was also a door directly to the front room of The Greenhouse, although it was open so rarely that I may actually be imagining that.
The next two rooms in the East Wing complex were bedrooms. You had to go through the middle room to get to the back room. The back room was actually one of the extensions that had been added to the house. It was very clear that there had once been a second floor porch that went the length of the house which had since been enclosed into two new rooms. This provided more space, but neither the back room of The East Wing or its counterpart the back room of the Studio were very well insulated, nor did they have radiators. It got chilly in those two rooms and space heaters were de rigueur.
The East Wing and The Observatory were connected by sharing the phone number PKR4 as well as by a full bathroom which was actually one of the larger bathrooms in the house. Well, it was sort of a full bathroom. At some point in the past (stories varied, but tended to blame the brothers from the 1980s), someone had tried to grow pot in the bathtub. I don't recall hearing whether or not they successfully grew any pot, but they did manage to block the pipes and render the bathtub inoperable. This wasn't fixed until a year or two after I graduated, which I'm sure reduced the wait time for showers significantly and made those two bedrooms even more popular options.
The Greenhouse / Studio complex was actually similar to the East Wing in structure, if not size. The front room of The Greenhouse was large and square and usually served as a common area. I only remember one person, Amitai, actually sleeping in that room. There was usually a fridge in here as well, which is where I kept my stash of ice cream the two years that I lived in The Studio.
The two rooms of The Studio were practically mirror images of the back two rooms of The East Wing. I personally lived in the back room my sophomore year with Hsia in the front room. The back was the room that clearly used to be a porch, or maybe even just a roof. You had to step down into the back room, if you peeled back the carpet you could see a tarred roof, and it was cold in there even with a heavy duty space heater. Fortunately, I like the cold. I liked the noise less, as it was right over the Chapter Room which meant that during a party it was very loud right up until the party ended, and it wasn't much quieter during dinner or other events in the Chapter Room.
I lived in the front room of The Studio my first senior year and the summer between my senior years with Alberto in the back during the school year and Bovi in the back during the summer. This front room had a closet, but most residents just used the large glass armoire that was in there. This room was also the site of one of the funnier pranks I ever indirectly saw. Joe was living in there during (I think) my freshman year and went home for spring break or something. A couple of the brothers proceeded to acquire the room key and moved every single item out of his room and videotaped the empty room with a camcorder (remember camcorders?). Then they moved everything back. When Joe returned, they found an excuse to play the video for him and blew his mind.
The Greenhouse back room was one of the few rooms that made clear where the name of the room came from. At some point in the past someone had built an extension over the kitchen, and three of the four walls were windows. Even better, one of those walls was french doors out to a small porch, making The Greenhouse the only bedroom in the house with its own private porch. Of course, all that glass made it a very cold room, and required a lot of currents for anyone who wasn't into exhibitionism.
In addition to sharing that common space, The Studio and The Greenhouse shared PKT5 for a phone number.
Next time, we'll talk about what you saw if you went down that narrow hallway instead.