Freshpeople Housing Reviews 2023: Wallach

The style of John Jay, the atmosphere of Furnald, and a sprinkle of unique Wallach wiggles.

Location: Between 115th and 116th and Amsterdam

Nearby dorms: Hartley and John Jay
Nearby dining halls: John Jay, JJ’s Place
Nearby stores: Strokos, Hamilton Deli, 116th and Broadway Halal Cart.
Close proximity to Hamilton Hall and Butler Library
Cost: The 2023-2024 projected first-year rate is $10,440.

Amenities:

Bathrooms: Each floor has seven single-use private bathrooms (three in each of the two main hallways, and one in the center of the floor), with their own showers, toilet, and sinks. The bathrooms are honestly quite spacious and overall kept quite clean (they are cleaned twice a week).
AC/Heating: Tragically, no AC, and also no control over the heat (it’s just always on during the winter), so invest in some fans and keep your windows open (honestly not too bad if you get the right balance of fans and open windows).
Lounges: There is a lounge located in the middle of every floor; mine features a table, a large TV, and several well-cushioned chairs. The lounges feel quite open and spacious, in this Bwogger’s opinion. They are cleaned daily during the week.
Kitchen: Located in each lounge is a kitchen with an oven, a stovetop, a sink, a microwave.
Laundry: One room, shared with Hartley and located in the bowels of the basement tunnels underneath Wallach and Hartley. These are cramped, but in a fun Tomb Raider way. And, of course, they’re a vital part of Columbia’s history. Beware of exposed wiring, though!
- To say nothing of the 2022 Hartley-Wallach Laundry Crisis, when somewhere around nine of the twelve total washing machines were fully broken for several weeks this spring.
Printing: There is a PawPrint printer in the lobby of Wallach.
Fire Escapes: None.
Elevators: One on each side of the building; as far as elevators go, these are fairly speedy and clean and overall respectable!
- However, only one elevator goes to the 10th floor.
The 10th floor features the Wallach Sky Lounge, a neat little study room filled with chairs and bookshelves, with some (small) windows facing out onto campus.
In the middle of the lobby, across from the security desk, there is the Wallach Gamer Lounge, a newly-renovated space for e-gaming.
Just like Hartley, there is a pavilion/seating area right outside the doors of Wallach, with several tables and benches available.

Room Variety:

Across nine residential floors, there are 141 singles, ranging roughly from 100 to 125 square feet, and 51 doubles, each at around 200 square feet.
The views from windows facing into campus (overlooking Butler Library and Butler Lawn) are very pleasant. Views that face east have a great sunrise view.

Bwog Recommendations:

Wallach Is extremely nice to live in (though it definitely depends on your floormates). Especially with the communal kitchen areas, some people may not clean up after themselves, but as long as you have a respectful floor that should be no problem. The location is perfect for quick access to the dining halls.the singles are spacious as well.Wallach is a pretty solid place to live! It offers a private quality, but also one interconnected to a majority of the First Year class through passageways to Hartley and John Jay.
Wallach is a pretty solid place to live! It offers a private quality, but also one interconnected to a majority of the First Year class through passageways to Hartley and John Jay.
Like Hartley and John Jay, being located so close to several dining halls is very convenient, and it is generally centrally located and never a far walk from anything located immediately on campus.
The size, privacy, and cleanliness of our bathrooms are a consistent source of jealousy from friends in other buildings.
I have personally never seen a cockroach on my floor, only a few baby cockroaches in the lobby at one time (are young cockroaches called babies?), though I do have friends that have seen some.
The walls and doors are generally fairly soundproof (when walking in the hallway, I will hear noises from other rooms, but upon entering my room I can’t hear anything from outside); however, the rooms closest to the lounges do seem to be susceptible to sound, especially when the door to the lounge is kept open.
Wallach is pretty understated since it is less communal and (seemingly) quieter than Hartley, its companion building, but it is overall very clean and spacious, and a chill and enjoyable place to live.

Read past Wallach reviews here!

Resident Opinions:

“Definitely a less rah-rah first-year experience than Carman and John Jay.”
“Living on the third floor, I saw quite a few pests, I saw more cockroaches in a month than I saw when living on the third floor of Hartley my entire first year.”
“The kitchens are nice and I’d take wood floors and single-occupancy bathrooms any day.”
“It’s a laidback community with plenty of opportunities to meet people with different interests and backgrounds.”
“Living in Wallach was a hot mess: constant fire alarms, hospital sirens, and large roaches in the bathrooms from time to time.”
“I had a kitchen as a first-year and surprisingly large single use bathrooms.”
“Be prepared to invest in a large fan because it gets hot in there.”