Snell-Hitchcock
Encyclopedia
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Built in 1892 (Snell) and 1901 (Hitchcock), they are the oldest residence halls still in use as such on the university's campus. Snell is built in a Collegiate-Gothic style, while Hitchcock is Prairie-Style-inspired Gothic. The buildings both feature limestone exteriors and fireplaces and hardwood molding and trim.
Snell–Hitchcock is currently known for having a high level of community spirit and involvement, which are best displayed at the annual University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt
University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt
The University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt is an annual four-day team-based scavenger hunt held at the University of Chicago, USA, in May.- Overview :...
. Also known as Scav Hunt, it marks the high point of the year for many of the inhabitants of the two dorms; as of 2010, the Snell–Hitchcock team has won 12 of the 24 hunts to date, and holds the longest winning streak (four years) in the history of the game. The dorm is on the northwest corner of the University's Main Quadrangles at the corner of 57th St. and Ellis Avenue. It is connected via emergency exits to Searle Chemistry Laboratory.
Snell–Hitchcock's mascot is the armadillo
Armadillo
Armadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
.
Hitchcock Hall
Hitchcock was built in 1901, and is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is built in a Collegiate Gothic style, like Snell and most of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
's campus, but has many Prairie School
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
elements, such as stone corn husks instead of gargoyles and flat-roofed instead of gabled dormers.
Hitchcock is built in the European "landing" style of dormitory with five stairwells linked through the front cloister and basement, though only the basement is used now in order to ensure that the building is more secure. The three interior "sections" (Sections II-IV) are each built around a single staircase. Each interior Section consists of two floors of four double-rooms with a fourth floor that has two suites (doubles with a large living room and separate bedroom). Most of the rooms have non-working fireplaces. The first floor houses the apartment for the Resident Masters, a live-in faculty couple. Traditionally, each section has had a women-only and a men-only floor, with the suite floor being either single or mixed-sex depending on the desires of the residents.
The outermost sections of Hitchcock (Sections I & V) house primarily upper-class students. They have small hallways with six to eight residents per floor, many in single rooms. Section I is the farthest from the front desk of Hitchcock and each floor is mixed-sex with a shared bathroom. It has some of the largest rooms in Hitchcock Hall, and includes several rooms known as "octagons" which are located in a turret-like structure and have many windows overlooking 57th and Ellis. The basement entrance to this section opens up into the common area that connects Snell and Hitchcock. Section I also contains "horseshoe doubles," (room #1x7) large doubles with separate niches and closets for each resident. The horseshoe doubles also have a (nonworking) fireplace and large hearth. Section I was also home to noted astronomer, Emmy award winner, and Pulitzer and Hugo award winning author Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
in the 1954-1955 academic year.
Section V is built above the Green Room, a large lounge, which is properly known as the Charles Hitchcock Memorial Library. Unlike Section I the first two floors are alternating single-sex (female, then male) with the top floor remaining mixed-sex. Section V has some of the more unusual rooms in Hitchcock, including several which have their own names.
On the second floor is the Fermi Room, where Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
is said to have lived while working on the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
in the 1940s. It is rumored that he chose that room because it had its own bathroom with tub; though the bathroom remains, the tub was replaced with a shower in 2008. Linked to the Fermi Room is the Fermi Blackboard, which is usually granted to a physics or mathematics concentrator and is said to be the same blackboard Fermi used to do his calculations, although this may be an urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
. This possibility does not, nevertheless, detract from many students' desire to possess it.
On the fourth floor is The Ranch (room 541), a sprawling single which extends across the north side of the section. It gives a wonderful view of the Regenstein Library
Regenstein Library
The Joseph Regenstein Library is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. Holding over 7.9 million volumes, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world, and is noted for its brutalist architecture.-History:The...
and Ratner Athletic Center and on a clear day the Sears Tower
Sears Tower
Sears' optimistic growth projections were not met. Competition from its traditional rivals continued, with new competition by retailing giants such as Kmart, Kohl's, and Wal-Mart. The fortunes of Sears & Roebuck declined in the 1970s as the company lost market share; its management grew more...
can be seen in the distance. It is usually one of the most sought-after rooms in the House's annual housing lottery.
The main lounge in Hitchcock, the Green Room, is a large reading room with tiled floor, a grand piano, a working fireplace, and portraits of namesake Charles Hitchcock, benefactor Annie Hitchcock, and University of Chicago patron Daniel Shorey. Hitchcock also has a kitchen, a bike storage room, and a laundry room. Each section has its own door onto Hitchcock's cloister (known as the Arcade), but the doors are used for exiting only and all entry must be through the main entrance. The Snell–Hitchcock front desk and mail room are located in Hitchcock's main entrance. Hitchcock has two assistant resident heads (RAs) and one set of Resident Heads, often a live-in graduate student couple.
Snell Hall
