Ezra Koenig swears he didn’t write that song about this dorm, but he should have.

Location: 544 W 110th St.

• Nearby dorms: Carlton Arms and Barnard’s 110.
• Stores and restaurants: Westside! H-Mart! Absolute Bagels! CVS! Thai Market! 1020! It’s all right there!
• Cost: The 2021-2022 year is projected to be $10,474 / year.

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: Three cheers for communal bathrooms! Two divided by gender, though floors 5 and 6 also have gender-neutral and handicap-accessible bathrooms. “Cleaned every day” is the promise.
• AC/Heating: No AC in the rooms, though there is weak AC in the kitchens and the gym (that’s right, the gym)!
• Kitchen: Fused with the lounge to create a nice kitchen-and-dining-nook thing (or a cramped space, depending on your outlook). Lots of cabinet space, a full-sized fridge, and an oven and stove. A good set-up for those seeking to free themselves from the meal plan. There is also a building lounge on the ground floor, and though it’s nice, it’s nothing fancy.
• Laundry: Four washers, four dryers, and it won’t be the worst laundry experience you’ve ever had.
• Computers/Printing: One PawPrint station + desktop set-up in the building lounge. 
• Fire Escapes: Alas…
• Gym: Yes! Floor 2! With AC! Two treadmills, a mat, and an assortment of weights.
• Elevators: One, and she does her best. 
• Flooring: “Hardwood.”

Room Variety:

• 80 singles! Their square footage varies wildly, from absolutely huge, bigger-than-doubles rooms to a terrifying 79 sq ft (on floor 8), so watch out. Most, however, are between 90 to 110 sq ft.
• 7 doubles scattered throughout, and nothing too small.
• Excitingly, there are also two six-person suites, one on the mezzanine, one on the first floor. These are composed of four normal-sized singles and one average double. 
• In case you haven’t guessed from those numbers, Harmony is small. Although it’s corridor-style, there are very few people on each floor.

Numbers:

• From the 18-19 year, so pre-online selection:
  • Singles: 10/1841
  • Doubles: 10/2712
  • Six-person suites: 20/2948
• What does this mean? Theoretically, sophomores have an okay chance at a single and a definite chance at a double, whereas six-person junior groups can probably snatch those suites.
• However, these are old numbers, and not necessarily reflective of the new system. When housing happened online for the first time last year (haha, remember when we thought that would work?), Harmony singles went fast, with only a handful <100 sq ft rooms remaining for sophomores, even in mixed-year groups. Though there’s no guarantee this wasn’t a 2020 exception, it’s worth noting. In sum: sorry, sophomores, don’t get your hopes up for one of those singles. Juniors can probably snag a not-oppressively-small single.

Bwog Recommendation:

To get personal: Harmony is the one that got away from me. Back in April 2020, when we thought that Fall 2020 was totally happening, I had gotten a nice little (little) room on the 4th floor, as a sophomore, and yeah, it was tiny, but it had two (2!) windows. I got a solid month or two of innocent fantasizing about that life before it all got taken away by the terrible reality of this pandemic. All to say, I’m inclined to like Harmony. I think it has a lot going for it: proximity to grocery stores, a small person/bathroom/kitchen ratio, an off-campus feel, a pre-war building! That being said, it might be a little too far and too small for more social people’s tastes. I might like Harmony, but I also lived in Furnald my freshman year, and I think Harmony is attractive for similar reasons. If you’re a junior aiming for a cozy single with an off-campus feel and some (hopeful) peace and quiet, Harmony might be for you.

Photos (from previous years):

Images via Bwog Archives and Columbia Housing