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Student
Houses Sport a New Look
Whether they realized
it or not, when several hundred students moved in to campus
houses in late August, they entered buildings that look much
different, in some cases, than they did before students left
for the summer. Ten campus residences received renovations
and upgrades, including new furniture, paint, carpet and
draperies.
Here are descriptions, provided
by Physical Plant, of house renovations completed recently.
Haven House, built in
1896, houses 54 students and has just under 22,000 square
feet of area. The kitchen was updated a few years ago,
but has since been closed as part of the dining consolidation.
Haven
House received a thorough interior and exterior renovation.
Space was reconfigured to provide new suite style housing
for 14 of its residents. There are now a total of four suites,
each containing one single bedroom, one double bedroom, a
living area and private bath facilities. There is an additional
suite with two singles. Following its renovation, Haven houses
its students with a mix of singles, doubles, and suites.
The $5 million renovation of
Haven House, also included refinishing of floors, turning
the unused dining room with fireplace into a living room
(complete with a gas log in the fireplace), and turning a
little-used room at the rear of the house into a glassed-in
four-season porch. The main entrance of Have House was moved
from the north side of the building to the east side, facing
Campus Center.
Talbot House living room, refurbished |
Baldwin, Chase, Cushing,
Emerson, Jordan, Wilson and Talbot houses have received
new vinyl wall covering, painting of woodwork and doors,
wood floor refinishing, new corridor carpeting, corridor
and student room lighting upgrades, bathroom finishes,
new furnishings and new draperies. A total of 564 students—or about a quarter of Smith’s undergraduate
population—in these houses returned to newly refurbished
student rooms and corridors. Talbot House also received new
common space finishes and furnishings, and new bathrooms.
Wilson House received new common space finishes. Some smaller
projects in these houses are scheduled over winter recess.
The new Chapin Dining Room |
Due to
its convenient location, Chapin House Dining has become
the lunch location for students who take advantage of the
Grab ’n’ Go lunches served daily. More than
700 bag lunches are distributed to students Monday through
Friday from Chapin Dining Room. The Chapin Dining room
and kitchen were originally design to handle only the occupants
of Chapin House for a sit-down type meal, therefore renovations
were necessary in the dining room. The renovation included
a new entrance to the dining room to improve access and
circulation, and to protect the house space for Chapin
residents. Also, an an area was added to the kitchen to
provide additional food storage and walk-in cooler space.
Due to time restraints
portions of the 2006 Baldwin renovations were deferred
until 2007. Work included rebuilding of selected brick
parapet walls that were showing structural deficiencies,
structural repairs to the ornate front entry porch and
the addition of a new roof over the handicapped entry.
In addition new energy efficient windows were installed
to replace the existing units. |
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Haven House renovation and suites addition (completed summer
2007)
