Looking for quiet yet beautiful, gentle frosh dorm with ~hardwood~? Wallach Hall, or as this Bwogger/former Wallach resident likes to affectionately call it, Wally, is a solid choice.

Location: 1116 Amsterdam Avenue.

Nearby Dorms: Connected to John Jay (Wallach’s cool friend) and Hartley (Wallach’s younger, weirder brother).

Stores and Restaurants: JJ’s and John Jay Dining Hall are accessible from Wally without even having to go outside! In terms of real food, Wallach is also close to Strokos, Artopolis, the halal cart on 116th, HamDel, 1020 (lmao)

Cost: $7,928 (The standard for frosh housing. Yay, freshpeople!)

Amenities:

  • Bathrooms: On floors 3-8, seven private bathrooms per floor, with one being handicapped accessible. On floors 2-9, three private bathrooms per suite. These bathrooms are definitely bougie (see pictures at bottom), but cleanliness depends on floor residents.
  • AC/Heating: No AC, but yes heating.
  • Laundry: A laundry room in the basement is shared with Hartley and has 12 washers/dryers. If that wasn’t enough to sate your rabid, unending hunger for laundry rooms (you crazy clean freak, you), John Jay’s laundry is accessible from the basement too.
  • Kitchen: On floors 3-8, a kitchen per floor lounge. On floors 2-9, a kitchen per suite. These kitchens have stoves, ovens, and cabinet space, but no fridges.
  • Lounges: Lounges abound in Wallach Hall! There is a big, beautiful piano lounge in the lobby, floor lounges with kitchens on each floor, and a wonderful sky lounge study space on floor 10.
  • Computers/Printing: None, but a singular printer in the lobby. John Jay and its 2 printers are right around the corner, though.
  • Fire Escapes/Bike Storage: None :(
  • Floor: Mock hardwood flooring in all rooms. How fun!
  • Elevators: Two relatively-fast elevators and 4 staircases. The elevators are marginally better than the elevators of other freshmen dorms.

Room Breakdown:

  • Wallach has both doubles and singles. The 49 singles range from 94-125 sq. feet. The 190 doubles range from 200-206 sq. feet.
  • Upperclassmen: Pretty much all upperclassmen who live in Wallach have a single. Applications close in January, so better luck applying next year!
  • Freshpeople: Frosh have a pretty good chance getting smaller singles (<100 sq. ft) in Wallach, since some of the singles are reserved specifically for freshpeople. The doubles are very spacious, as well.

Bwog Recommendation:

Rooms in Wallach are nice, nice, nice, with hardwood, space, and good views. If you’re looking for a quiet and bougie dorm, Wallach is the way to go. That being said, walls are very thin and the shared bathrooms can sometimes get kind of gross.

But if you’re looking for ride or die friends, bonds of frosh kinship, and a still-bougie dorm, this Bwogger and former Wally resident would recommend you to live in Carman, which will be completely renovated in summer 2018 and still feature the same high standard of living Wallach has.

Resident Opinions:

  • “It made it a little harder to make tons of freshman friends.”
  • “Who can turn down beautiful bathrooms and huge doubles?”
  • “I love Wallach’s friendly, community-oriented atmosphere. The floor lounges are comfortable, homey spaces.”