PKT25: Touring the House, Part 7: Second Floor Small Bedrooms
Yesterday, I took us through the bigger bedrooms off the main hallway on the second floor of the Phi Kappa Theta house. This included The Observatory, which was a large room, and the three multi-room bedrooms - The East Wing, The Studio and The Greenhouse. Today, we'll stand at the top of the main staircase, but instead of going straight ahead we'll turn right down the much narrower hallway running to the back of the house. If you followed that hallway:
- Almost immediately to the right was The FOB.
- Just past the FOB on the left was the door to a full bathroom, which had another door leading to front room of The Greenhouse.
- In the middle of the hallway was a small closet that was big enough to hold brooms and a fusebox and not much else.
- At the end of the hallway on the right was the door to The Oval Office.
- The end of the hallway it met up with the stairs that went down to the basement or up to the third floor.
The FOB and The Oval Office were almost mirrors of each other. Both were off the same hallway, both had windows looking out over the driveway, they shared a half bathroom that could only be accessed through one of the two rooms, and they even shared a phone number, PKT3. The differences were relatively minor.
- The Oval Office got its name because the wall overlooking the back driveway was curved to avoid the rest of the stairwell. This extra exterior wall also gave it more natural light than the FOB.
- The FOB (or Fresh Off the Boat) was squarer. Because it lacked the second exterior wall and the corresponding windows, it was a bit darker, and because it was closer to the front of the house and the stairs, it was a bit louder. You could also go out the window to the fire escape, if you were really so inclined.
Both rooms were popular choices for singles, given that half bath that had no public access was an extremely rare commodity in the house. Once the Parlor bathroom became part of the kitchen, the only other such bathrooms were The Bakery and arguably the one between the Observatory and the East Wing, although the East Wing common room was basically public so it barely counted.
I personally lived in The Oval Office twice (spring 1999 semester and all of my second senior year). With all respect to my roommates in the Studio and The Bakery, it was by far my favorite of the rooms I stayed in. My sister shared the FOB with Tulip's fairy godmother KJF during the summer of 2000, when I happened to be the Summer House Manager.
The full bathroom on the other side of the hallway was sometimes referred to as The Greenhouse bathroom because it also opened into the front room of The Greenhouse. This was the only functional shower on the second floor when I lived in the house. I seem to recall that we did some minor renovations to the shower in there somewhere along the way, but the details escape me.
Next time, we'll go upstairs.
- Almost immediately to the right was The FOB.
- Just past the FOB on the left was the door to a full bathroom, which had another door leading to front room of The Greenhouse.
- In the middle of the hallway was a small closet that was big enough to hold brooms and a fusebox and not much else.
- At the end of the hallway on the right was the door to The Oval Office.
- The end of the hallway it met up with the stairs that went down to the basement or up to the third floor.
The FOB and The Oval Office were almost mirrors of each other. Both were off the same hallway, both had windows looking out over the driveway, they shared a half bathroom that could only be accessed through one of the two rooms, and they even shared a phone number, PKT3. The differences were relatively minor.
- The Oval Office got its name because the wall overlooking the back driveway was curved to avoid the rest of the stairwell. This extra exterior wall also gave it more natural light than the FOB.
- The FOB (or Fresh Off the Boat) was squarer. Because it lacked the second exterior wall and the corresponding windows, it was a bit darker, and because it was closer to the front of the house and the stairs, it was a bit louder. You could also go out the window to the fire escape, if you were really so inclined.
Both rooms were popular choices for singles, given that half bath that had no public access was an extremely rare commodity in the house. Once the Parlor bathroom became part of the kitchen, the only other such bathrooms were The Bakery and arguably the one between the Observatory and the East Wing, although the East Wing common room was basically public so it barely counted.
I personally lived in The Oval Office twice (spring 1999 semester and all of my second senior year). With all respect to my roommates in the Studio and The Bakery, it was by far my favorite of the rooms I stayed in. My sister shared the FOB with Tulip's fairy godmother KJF during the summer of 2000, when I happened to be the Summer House Manager.
The full bathroom on the other side of the hallway was sometimes referred to as The Greenhouse bathroom because it also opened into the front room of The Greenhouse. This was the only functional shower on the second floor when I lived in the house. I seem to recall that we did some minor renovations to the shower in there somewhere along the way, but the details escape me.
Next time, we'll go upstairs.