Housing Reviews 2017: Plimpton

After living without AC for a year, Plimpton looks pretty good.

Here comes another Barnard Housing review! This time, we are taking you north of campus to Plimpton, land of AC and Appletree fanatics.

Location: 1235 Amsterdam Avenue (at corner of 120th Street right next door to Appletree)

Nearby dorms: Wien and EC

Stores and Restaurants: Appletree, Flat Top, Subsconscious, Hartley Pharmacy, Kitchenette, Max Cafe, Serafina

Cost: $11,038 for a single and $9,510 for a double, though room rates are still subject to change.

Amenities:

Bathrooms: One private bathroom in each suite. Gotta clean it yourselves, though. This is the real world.
AC/Heating: Yes to both, and they can be turned on and off. Air is turned off in late September or early October each year.
Kitchen: One shared amongst the members of the suite. It comes with a full-size fridge, oven, gas stovetop (4 burners), and a good amount of counter space. However, the kitchen tends to get crowded if many people use it at a given moment.
Lounges: A study lounge, TV lounge, and computer lab in the lobby.
Laundry: Located in the basement. There are a good number of machines, so you don’t have to wait, but they often break and, like all Barnard machines, cost moolah.
Gym: Moderately close to Dodge, but fairly far from the Barnard gym. Walking up the hill from 120th to 116th counts as exercise, right?
Intra-transportation: Two fairly small elevators. Tend to be crowded at peak times.
Hardwood/Carpet: Spotted gray linoleum tiles–perfect for hiding dirt, but not known for being aesthetically pleasing.
Wifi: Yes, Barnard networks. People report fewer problems and faster connection in Plimp than on campus.

Room variety:

All suites have 4 singles and 1 double
Floors 7 and 8 are renovated, which means the wall between the kitchen and the common space is removed and replaced with a high bar, making the space more open.
Doubles are corner rooms and therefore have two windows.

Numbers:

Mix of sophomores and juniors. Juniors tend to take the renovated suites but generally live in the 600’s, leaving room for a good number of sophomores to live in Plimpton.

Bwog recommendations:

If you’re a sophomore looking for a single in a suite, Plimpton is by far your best bet.
If having AC is really important to you, pick Plimpton.
If you think that the corner of Amsterdam and 121st is far from campus, or if most of your social life happens at the bars, the walk to campus will be miserable.

Resident Opinions:

“It’s far enough away that you feel like you are going home but not too far that you have to leave forever to get to class.”
“A lot of the dryers don’t work, so you end up having to run your clothes twice in the dryer.”
“The desk attendants are the absolute best. Sherrod will be sitting at the desk at like 2am on a Saturday night when drunk people are particularly annoying with a big smile on his face.”
“It’s worth the extra few minutes’ walk to class… when it’s nice out. The block on 120th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam is a massive wind tunnel and will become your mortal enemy.”
“Appletree is the #1 drunk food location near campus (fight me), and also, they rarely card and sell this incredible white wine citrus sangria.”
“It’s nice to be further uptown – I’ve gone into Harlem a lot more this year because of it.”

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