Blue walls, fire escapes, and beautiful suite style living just west of Barnard.

Location:

• Nearby dorms: Elliot, 600s, Woodbridge, Schapiro
• Stores and restaurants: Located basically on 119th St, Claremont is a bit of a hike from most stores. The closest options on Broadway are Shake Shack, Pret, and Morton Williams. Tucked away up north are some cute restaurants, most notably Pisticci, a super cozy Italian restaurant that sometimes hosts live music. Living close may give you an excuse to try them out!

Cost: $11,600 (projected rate for 2024-25)

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: There is one private bathroom per suite, so the main thing to note is that the ratio ranges depending on how many people you live with. There is a big difference between 7:1 and 3:1. It gets cleaned by facilities every week! Good sized shower, sink, and toilet. 
• AC/Heating: No AC, so things can get toasty in the hot months. For heating there is a radiator in big rooms and heating pipes (they rattle sometimes but in a kinda fun way) in small ones. 
• Kitchen: Good sized kitchen with oven, microwave, and refrigerator. It is centrally located in the suite so it’s a good place to hang out.
• Lounge: There is a spacious lounge in the basement which has a TV and a single use public bathroom. Nearby is a computer lab (2011 called…) and a conference room that both provide good study spots. 
• Laundry: There are 4 washers and dryers in the basement. Wait times are mostly a non-issue. 
• Computers/Printing: There is a printer on the first floor and a computer lab in the basement. 
• Fire Escapes: Yes! Yay! There is one on the street and one in the shaft. They are very cute. There are cameras (but that doesn’t stop people…). 
• Gym: There is a gym in the basement with a few cardio machines (most of which were broken last year). 
• Bike Storage: None
• Intra-transportation: There is a slow elevator that can be used to go from floor to floor. As inconvenient as it is, it is really fun. The door needs to be pulled open and it has a little porthole that makes you feel like you are in a submarine. There are stairs that go from the first floor to the sixth which are frequented because the building is not high and the elevator is slow. To get to the basement, you have to take stairs that go outside.
• Hardwood/Carpet: Hardwood! Just another fun feature that makes Claremont cozy.

Room variety:

• 10 seven-person suites with three singles and two doubles. One single is tiny, one single is normal, and one single is huge. Both doubles are medium sized.
• One six-person suite on the ground floor with one double and four singles
• One five-person suite on the ground floor with one double and three singles
• Six four-person suites with four singles one of which is smaller than the others
• Six three-person suites with three singles one of which is smaller than the others. Three of these six are reserved for RAs (plus two riders), who preside over two floors each. The remaining three can be selected into. 

Stats:

From Columbia Housing: Room Selection 2023 data shows that the students who selected into this building were 34% rising sophomores, 38% rising juniors, and 28% rising seniors.

• 100% of students who selected into this building participated as part of a group
• 25% were in mixed point groups with an average point value of 24
• 18% were in rising seniors groups
• 32% were in rising juniors groups
• 25% were in rising sophomore groups
• 3 and 4 person suites were chosen by rising seniors and 5-6 person suites were chosen by rising juniors, leaving 7 person suites for remaining groups 

Bwog recommendation:

Claremont is beauty. Claremont is grace. Claremont is a home, not just a place.

At its core, Claremont is wonderful suite style living that makes you feel like you live in an apartment and not a dorm. A bit removed from campus (but very accessible to Barnard), Claremont is nuzzled on a quiet street with easy access to Riverside Park, removing you from the buzz of campus life every night when you go home. However, the perks of dorm life do not disappear. Bathrooms and kitchens are cleaned by the incredibly kind Facilities staff every week, allowing you and your friends to enjoy each other’s company without some of the stress that comes with sharing communal spaces.  

Claremont’s beauty is in the detail. Blue walls, crown molding, and fire escapes are just a few of the touches that remove you from the feeling of corridor style dorm living. In the seven person suites, there is enough room to host gatherings if you open the doubles and use the kitchen.

As easy as it is to romanticize, it does come with some downsides. Ratio is a big factor when it comes to Claremont, with there being a big range in bathroom and kitchen space when a suite is a 7:1 vs. a 3:1. Additionally, the three and four person suites can be a bit dark because they are not exposed to the street. Finally, there is a large disparity in the room size of the singles, meaning someone in the group is going to be stuck with a converted closet that is under 100 square feet, in many cases just 81 square feet. 

Resident opinions:

• “Fire escapes to feel cool, alt, and indie”
• “Nice creaky floors so you get a warning of when your roommate is coming back!”
• “Very homey environment, fridge, microwave, and stove are clutch”
• “The blue walls are aesthetic and match my seasonal depression :D”
• “I don’t think enough people realize how insanely accessible it is to Barnard through the tunnels”

Photos via Bwog Staff