Moving into Bryan Hall its first year was a nightmare.
In the fall of 1949, two-hundred women, with luggage in hand, funneled into Bryan Hall, Ohio University’s new “dream dorm.” What they found — or more accurately didn’t find — became a housing nightmare.
Hammering, burning paint, rattling radiators and missing furniture became the norm for girls who had their hearts set on carpets, curtains and ample seats for entertaining.
Enrollment reached more than 5,000 students that year — the enrollment of male students alone increased more than 14 times since 1944. OU found itself in the midst of the post-war education boom and it had two choices: adapt quickly, or lose potential students — and their valuable tuition dollars. New dorms were built quickly, and students were ushered in as soon as rooms were available.
Bryan Hall, originally a women’s dorm, was one building erected to alleviate the housing crunch.
With 2015 enrollment more than five times higher than in 1949, the university again added residence halls. Four new residence halls on South Green offer 900 beds and faculty-in-residence apartments.
After construction was completed, the task of making these four-story dorm buildings feel like home was left to university crews.
“Whenever you open a new building for the first time you worry about the unknown,” Pete Trentacoste, executive director of residential housing, said in an email.
Northern buildings Tanaka and Carr Halls feature furnished multipurpose rooms including a TV, fireplace and small kitchen. Southern buildings Sowle and Luchs Halls offer two-story lounge areas with space for studying and ping pong tables.
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In contrast, when Bryan Hall opened to residents, the partially unfinished and unfurnished rooms lacked even basic essentials such as phones, chairs, desks and mirrors. Shipping trunks and out-of-order signs filled the lounge. Men sat on radiators to wait for their dates.
Building maintenance continued throughout the fall. The racket caused by hammering on the pipes, drilling in the basement and bulldozers beneath windows effectively woke the girls for their 8 a.m. classes. When the heat came on in the winter, the paint burned and the elevator got stuck between floors.
Crews from various OU departments were busy this summer with general clean up, installation and testing of the TVs, access control measures and other building equipment — not to mention the thousands of pieces of furniture and hundreds of mattresses that needed placed before students arrived.
“It feels like we're living in a very nice hotel!” Melody Weary, an undecided freshman living in Tanaka Hall, said.
Unlike when Bryan opened, the main complaint is water temperature problems.
“The water gets to that awkward temperature right before it gets hot so there's that,” said
Jessica Piurowski, a freshman biological science major living in Luchs Hall.
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