Chadbourne House

<googlemap lat="42.711997" lon="-73.207596" type="satellite" zoom="18" width="400" height="300" align="right"> 42.711752, -73.208036, Chadbourne House

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42.711756, -73.20751, Shortcut through trees to Science Quad and points west. 42.711733, -73.207328 </googlemap>

Chadbourne is a white, two-story co-op located on Stetson Court between the Jewish Religious Center and Harper House, and across from Bascom House. Its contains ten singles and one double room and features one of the best kitchens on campus adjoining a comfortably furnished common living room.

Plan

The ground floor of Chadbourne is organized around a central hallway stretches straight back from the house's front door, branching right to a group of two large singles and a double, opening left into the common area and kitchen, and plunging straight back down a short staircase to a group of five more singles, the laundry room, bathroom, and back door. A staircase to the house's second floor begins off the left of this central hall.

Doors

Sole access to Chadbourne is granted through the west-facing front door to the ground floor, and is hampered somewhat by the long access ramp that is railed all around as though to keep marauders at bay. The railing is just high enough to make leaping it annoying, though possible. A gap between the outer patio and the railing offers just enough space to squeeze through, and in the winter one will witness footprints leading to this.

A rear door from "lower Chadbourne" leaves the house through the southern wall. Due to deformation of its frame in winter, the door has been known in past years to sometimes close improperly, leading to frequent sounds of its alarm buzzer.

A unique but very useful second floor door exists to provide access to the terrace and exterior staircase there. Like all external doors it is self-locking and alarmed, making enjoyment of the terrace difficult without illicit procedure.

A nearly useless door exits the common room. It is so close to the front door, so heavy, and so often located directly behind the couch that its use as a viable fire exit is confined to very extraordinary circumstances involving highly localized blazes.

Ground floor

The older, streetside half of Chadbourne is also the nicer in terms of private and common space. Further back along the central hallway, past a small laundry room and large bathroom and down a flight of about five steps, one descends into a newer and tangibly different half of the house.

To the rear, "lower Chadbourne" contains five singles, two very nice ones on the back corners of the house, and three small ones in the middle of the ground floor. Of these latter three, the northern two should be picked into with caution: each has only one window that faces north, is at ground level, and located under a staircase. The amount of light these let in is literally depressing.

Lower Chadbourne is slowly settling as a structure. Random creaks are audible many nights, and are seasonally affected. Possibly from this settling, the rear door has become warped in the past, preventing its automatic closing and resulting in frequent sounding of the door buzzer.

The laundry room is not much to speak of, except that current residents can thank Ken Brown and his admirable supply of tools for the fact that the washer on the left has a left-opening door and the dryer on the right has a right-opening door, making transfer of clothing sensible and simple.

Second floor

The second floor of Chadbourne may have the overally finest singles on campus; the northwestern room up here went to pick #1 in the Spring 2004 room draw. Each sizeable room has multiple large windows and its own bathroom. There is also a one-way door out to a small east-side terrace, from which descends a staircase that handily feeds exiters towards the Science Quad.

Fun facts