Welcome to Harmony Hall, that distant land of tiny singles and, according to Ezra Koenig, snakes in the walls.

Location: 544  W 110th St.

  • Nearby Dorms: Carlton Arms, 110 (Barnard)
  • Shops and Restaurants: H-Mart, Westside Market (24-hour), CVS, Chipotle, Koronets, Panda Express, Five Guys, Starbucks, Absolute Bagels, Mel’s, the Hungarian Pastry Shop, 1020, Thai Market, and Pressed Juicery. Duane Reade and Tom’s are also relatively close by.

Cost:

  • Standardized at $9,872/year for the 2019-2020 academic year. (Prices have not been set for 2020-2021)

Amenities:

  • Bathrooms: At least two showers per floor, usually more. Restrooms are divided by gender and there are stalls in each, except on Floors 5 and 6 which have large gender-neutral, handicap-accessible bathrooms. Floor 1 and the mezzanine only have five residents and each floor has one bathroom. Bathrooms can be a little messy at times but given the limited number of people on each floor, they’re never too terrible. And they’re cleaned every weekday!
  • A/C and Heating: No A/C in any of the rooms, which is unfortunate because they can get pretty stuffy when it’s hot out/when the heat is turned up. Crack your window, buy a fan, and hope for the best. Or deal with the so-so A/C in the kitchen or camp out in the air-conditioned gym until things cool down to your liking.
  • Kitchens and Lounges: Every floor has a big kitchen with a ton of cabinet/drawer space, an electric stove and an oven, a sink, and a full-sized fridge. The trade-off for this nice kitchen is that it’s also the lounge, as can be seen by the table and 4 uncomfortable chairs shoved in the corner of the room. The only exception to this is floor 2, which separates its kitchen and lounge. There’s a pretty nice building lounge on the first floor with a comfy couch, a few armchairs, a low table, and acoustics that swallow your voice and yeet it into the void.
  • Laundry: 4 washers and 4 dryers in the basement. At peak times, the competition to use a machine can be pretty steep but it’s not uncommon for all 4 to be entirely empty. There’s also a large clothing donation bin. It’s usually pretty clean and warm down there; definitely the best laundry room that I’ve used in my time at Columbia thus far.
  • Fire Escapes: Unfortunately, none.
  • Bike Storage: In the basement.
  • Computer/Printer: One Pawprint station and one desktop computer in the first-floor lounge.
  • Gym: On the second floor. Includes two treadmills, a mat, and some random weights and an A/C unit (according to reports by people who have actually been to said gym; I get my exercise by making the trek from 110th to campus every day)
  • Elevator: One. Relatively fast. The most you will ever see of the other people who apparently live in this building.
  • Hardwood/Carpet: Hardwood! No ugly grade-school-esque carpet for this dorm.

Rooms:

  • 80 singles and 7 doubles of various shapes and sizes on floors 3 through 8. The singles are as large as 140 sq. ft (1 per floor), with the mid-sized singles ranging from 110-120 sq. ft and the smallest usually sitting at ~90 sq ft. The smallest single is a 79 sq. ft single on the 8th floor.
  • For those on the hunt for the suite life, check out Floor 1 and the mezzanine. Each have one suite that fits 6 people. The rooms in the mezzanine suite are slightly larger suite has more room (135-153 sq. ft for singles; 214 for the double) than Floor 1 (108-139 sq. ft for singles, 186 for the double).

Cutoff Points:

Note that Housing has taken cut-off information off from their online portal so these numbers are taken from old Bwog housing reviews and Bwog’s internal data. They may or may not be indicative of how housing will work out under the new system being put into place.

  • Doubles (Basically, if you’re a sophomore and you want a Harmony double, you’ll probably get it.)
    • (18-19): 10/2712.
    • (19-20): ~10/2877
  • Singles
    • (18-19): 10/1841
  • 6 person suite:
    • (18-19) 20/2948.
    • (19-20) 20/2182

Bwog Recommendation:

Harmony is great for people looking for peace and quiet, a little bit of freedom from the daily hustle and bustle of campus life, and for those looking to get off the meal plan. The latter is especially key; there’s really no beating Harmony’s proximity to grocery stores and it’s resident:kitchen ratio. The distance can be daunting, and there will be days, particularly in the winter, where you simply have no desire to trek the 6 blocks to campus, but it’s honestly really relaxing to make the trek and have a chance to clear my mind before I stroll into class about 2 minutes late. Living here is especially nice if you have friends living  Carlton Arms, Nuss, McBain, etc. So while this probably won’t be your first, or even your second choice, don’t fear if you end up in Harmony.

Gallery:

Harmony Hall via Bwog Staff