Wash your hands in the comfort of your own room!

Location: 411 West 116th Street

Nearby dorms: East Campus

Stores and restaurants: Hamilton Deli, Arts and Crafts, Strokos, Appletree Deli

Cost: $12,180 (projected upperclassmen rate for 2024-2025)

Amenities:

• Bathrooms: Multi-use gendered bathrooms on each floor, ~3 stalls and 3 showers each. Most floors also have a single use ADA bathroom.
• AC/Heating: No AC. Very effective steam heat.
• Kitchen/Lounge: Each floor has its own lounge with a microwave, stovetop, and sink (full kitchen with oven on the second floor). There is a very spacious lounge on the ground floor, with a grand piano.
• Laundry: Laundry room with 9 washers and dryers for the entire building on the second floor.
• Computers/Printers: There is a computer lab on the second floor. This lab has a printer, and there is a second in the entranceway.
• Gym: Nope!
• Intra-transportation: Two (pretty fast) elevators, three staircases.
• Hardwood/Carpet: Plastic hardwood.
• Wi-fi: Yes.
• Bonus: Every room comes with a sink!

Room Variety:

283 singles and 45 doubles. Singles average around 110 square feet. Standard doubles (16) average around 200 square feet. Walk-through doubles (29) have one room around 110 square feet, and one around 90, plus hallway space.

Numbers:

From Columbia Housing: “Room Selection 2023 data shows that the students who selected into this building were 58% juniors, 33% seniors, and 9% sophomores”

Rising juniors with anything but a very low lottery number should be able to pick into Wien.

Bwog’s Recommendation:

Wien is a decent place to live. It is almost entirely singles, with a few doubles. Some of the smaller singles are in pairs with a private hallway and share a sink—these show up as suites, so there might be some available for your two-person group if all of the regular singles are gone! The rooms are not particularly large, but have a reasonable shape and most contain a very generously sized closet, with a rod for hangers and several shelves. There’s enough space that I didn’t even have to loft my bed! The bathrooms are fine, they have good and reliable water pressure. Each floor lounge has a table, couch & chairs, and a TV in addition to the kitchen. To the east of the building, only the president’s house and Faculty House are between Wien and Morningside park, so especially the higher floors (six and above) have a fantastic view, very similar to that from EC. The mailroom being located in the basement is almost a luxury, as is the close proximity to Fac Shack and Fac House dining halls during the week. Wien is great if you want a comfortable, reliable, unexceptional living situation.

Resident Opinions:

“Sinks”

“In the heart of campus stands Wien, so tall,
A residence hall that has it all.
Close to Fac Shack, a culinary treasure,
Quick bites of pleasure, beyond measure.
Fac House, just a stone’s throw away,
Offers the best campus food, so they say.

With a lounge that’s big, grand, and fine,
And a TV in each, for downtime to shine.
A kitchen, though barely in functional state,
Still serves its purpose, albeit not great.
A mailing center, right below, quite neat,
For shopaholics, it’s a treat so sweet.

But not all’s perfect in Wien’s embrace,
Some downsides do mar its grace.
Cockroaches in showers, a dreadful sight,
Turning cleanliness into a fright.

From Friday evening till Monday’s light,
Bathrooms not cleaned, oh, what a plight!
Things can get nasty, fast, indeed,
A cleaner schedule is what we need.

And then there’s the scent, oh floor nine,
Your carpeted hallways do not smell fine.
An exquisitely bad aroma fills the air,
A plea for freshness, a need for care.

Yet, with its flaws, Wien stands proud,
Its advantages singing loud.
A mix of comfort and challenges it brings,
In the heart of campus, where the spirit sings.”

Images via Bwarchives