EC without the annoying elevator? Yes please!

Location: 70 Morningside Drive. AKA, across the bridge, right next to IAB and the Law Building, across from Faculty House, or up the stairs from Wien courtyard.

• Nearby dorms: Wien (easy mailroom trips!). And also PrezBo’s (soon PrezNouche’s) mansion!
• Stores and restaurants: Arts & Crafts, HamDel, Appletree, Friedman’s, SubsConscious, Dunkin Donuts under Plimpton, Hartley Pharmacy, Elysian Fields, Massawa.

Cost: $11,574 (projected upperclassmen rate for the 2023-24 school year)

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: Each suite has a bathroom with two sinks, a shower, and a toilet in a separate stall. All the townhouses have been renovated, and these bathrooms are really nice.
• AC/Heating: All EC suites have AC.
• Lounge: No floor lounges (because there aren’t really common floors). Every suite has a nice living room with new furniture.
• Kitchen: As with the bathrooms, all townhouses have nice kitchens complete with an oven, stove, dishwasher, sink, microwave, and fridge. They also have a kitchen island, which gives you almost as much counter space as a typical suburban kitchen.
• Laundry: In the basement of the highrise. The machines got replaced this year, so they’re all very nice and shiny and mostly always work.
• Fire escapes: None.
• Bike storage: Available in the Wien courtyard.
• Computers/printers: There are computer lounges in the highrise with one printer each on floors 10 and 18, and there are two printers in the lobby.
• Gym: Two gyms, located on floors 8 and 16 of the highrise. They’ve got treadmills, bikes, and ellipticals in various states of order.
• Intra-transportation: Townhouses are kinda confusing at first, especially looking at Columbia’s floor map. In short, it’s two suites stacked on top of each other, and each suite has three floors. The bottom suite has a door that opens out to the courtyard, but to get to the top suite, you take a staircase outside. There is also a staircase inside your suite from the door to the living room to the bedrooms.
• Hardwood/carpet: All hardwood.

Room variety:

• 10 townhouse 4-person suites with 4 singles.
• 12 townhouse 6-person suites with 4 singles and 1 double.
• 28 townhouse 6-person suites with 6 singles.

Numbers:

• 83% seniors and 17% juniors.

Bwog recommendation:

A townhouse is basically a highrise suite plopped down on the ground. Same great benefits – common space with your friends, a full-sized kitchen, basically just an apartment. You don’t need to ride up an elevator to get to your room, which definitely cuts down commute time and makes fire alarms way easier. The downside of being on the ground though is your views really aren’t great. The singles look out over the EC plaza, and common space windows face the courtyard, which doesn’t get much light. Overall though, a fantastic place to live, and if you choose the right housemates, can make even the most boring days fun.

Resident opinions:

• “Probably the nicest amenities on campus.”
• “So much space, really great for hosting stuff.”
• “Townhouses are fantastic. You don’t have to wait in line for the elevators, and they’e renovated. The only drawback is less natural light in the living room and no view of the city, but the pros outweigh the cons. Townhouses > high rises!”          

My friend’s suite via my friend