Village House / Lopata

<p>Wondered if there are any students out there who live in or have lived in Village House or Lopata? What are they like? What are the room sizes? If you came from a newer dorm on the South 40, were these rooms a step down? Do most of the students over on the north side eat in Village House? How is the food compared to the food in the Wohl Center? Are there any photos of the rooms/suites in these buildings anywhere you know of? Just give your general opinion on those two housing areas in general. Thank you very much!</p>

<p>A kid from our hometown lived in Village two years ago and I visited him a few times; he has a four singles in suite and it was a little smaller than the ones on South 40; they had no common room, just a tiny hallway and a small bathroom. He always complained that everything was far away, but maybe it was just him because my S is living off campus and he likes it, he doesn't mind the long walks everyday.
The Village seems quiet during the day, even on weekends.</p>

<p>Technically, the "North Side" area is closer to the main academic area of campus than the South 40 is... but it depends on which building you're in and where most of your classes are. Walking from the North Side to the academic buildings is crossing a small campus road and then up a cascading staircase. Either way you're not walking more than 5 - 10 minutes, so it's kind of a moot point. The North Side in total includes the Village Building, Lopata House, fraternities, Millbrook, Village East, and the Millbrook Pool (which is essentially open only in the summer).</p>

<p>The Village East is the newest building in the North Side, completed in August of this year. Village East has double beds(!!!!!), bathtubs, dishwashers, lounges, etc, in each suite. This is more apartment-style housing, but is on campus in a really fancy looking building that matches the exterior look of the Village building and Lopata. Millbrook is also apartment-style living, but they were built in the 1960s so are a built older... but have a pretty strong following of dedicated students. There's a handful of the Millbrook units that are actually two floors, and range in size of 3 person suites to 7 person suites. The majority are 4 or 6, though.</p>

<p>It's been my experience that the common rooms in upperclassmen suites (either on the South 40 or North Side area) are larger in the older buildings than the newer buildings... but the individual bedrooms are larger in the newer buildings and smaller in the older buildings. A benefit in living in older upperclassman suites is that most have balconies, which make the larger common rooms even larger. </p>

<p>There are 9 buildings on the South 40 that house upperclassmen... which represents about 1/2 of the 3000 total students who live on the South 40. There are about 800 upperclassmen who live on the North Side area, excluding the fraternities.</p>

<p>The Village area has it's own mini-convenience store and eatery, which serves mostly the same type of food as Bear's Den, but it also has a tasty stir fry area. But no matter where you go on WU's campus, you're always going to find great food that is open late :)</p>

<p>You can find floor plans of all the dorms on this website: WU</a> Housing Selection Website - The North Side</p>

<p>Here's a small collection of photos: The</a> Village - The Village Images</p>

<p>The village is NOT quiet on the weekends after 9pm. There is usually a lot of activity since many of the frats are located on the "lower row." Any other time, yes, the village is quieter than the 40. Less people hanging out in the quad area, less activity in the dining hall... Yes, many people eat at the village house, but the Millbrook apartments have full kitchens so many that live there do not. While the Millbrook apartments are older, I like the layout and common space a lot better than the newer buildings. Plus some have balconies, as mentioned.
The north side has a small pool, but its not open most of the academic year.</p>

<p>Lopata/Village singles are among the largest on campus, and larger than those on the south 40, but you don't have a common room in your own suite.</p>

<p>My single in Lopata last year was about the same size as my double that I lived in at NYU this summer.</p>

<p>How do you feel about not having a common room IN your own room? I can see pluses and minuses. </p>

<p>Oncampus - how are the rooms in Lopata/Village House? Are they a step down from the newer dorms on the South 40? Are they carpeted? </p>

<p>How is the cafeteria in Village House? Do you also get your mail in Village House if you live on the North Side?</p>

<p>I found a page on the ResLife site that shows the smallest single rooms to be 8.5' X 11' in Lee, Beaumont, Rubelmann, and Liggett (Liggett is the strange one in that group!).
The largest are in Danforth, Dardick, Koenig and Lien at 10.5' X 14'.
It says singles in Lopata and Village Houses are 8.5' X 14.5', which is nice.</p>

<p>My D stayed in Lopata House over the summer (HSSP) and they are not a step down from anything I can possibly imagine (the Ritz Carlton, perhaps?) The rooms are carpeted and public areas are kept immaculate by the staff, as are the common rooms which are on each main hallway. If I had a dorm like that when I was an undergrad many years ago, I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven. My D has stayed at several other college dorms over the years and nothing else even came close.</p>

<p>The food choices at the Village seemed pretty reasonable and varied despite its smallish size, although my D enjoyed eating various places on campus during this past summer (both Wohl and the Food Court were closed this summer and the DUC had not opened yet.) Village Housing is not too far from "the DUC" now too, so residents can eat there if they get sick of the Village Cafe food. The main campus post office is at the Village too which is definitely a plus.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The largest are in Danforth, Dardick, Koenig and Lien at 10.5' X 14'.
It says singles in Lopata and Village Houses are 8.5' X 14.5', which is nice

[/quote]
Other than RA rooms, I don't believe there are singles in Danforth, Dardick, Koenig or Lien - Those are all new freshmen dorms.</p>

<p>My single in Lopata was about 9.5 x 14.5 , as some rooms are a bit wider.</p>

<p>As far as which buildings have singles and which do not, I was going off a page ResLife directed me to about a year ago <a href="http://reslife.wustl.edu/pros_stu/faq/faq-dimensions.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://reslife.wustl.edu/pros_stu/faq/faq-dimensions.htm&lt;/a>,
but no longer seems to be up. The singles in the modern buildings might just be RA rooms -could also be ADA rooms. If anyone would like to see it, PM me with your e-mail address and I will scan the paper copy I have and e-mail it to you.</p>

<p>Sounds like Village and Lopata House are great places to live! </p>

<p>Sorry, another question I have - do mostly juniors live in those two buildings?</p>

<p>My D lived in Lopata when she was a sophomore. (She was a transfer student, and after an unhappy roommate situation at her prior school, she wanted a single. None were available on the 40, where most sophomores live.) Lopata is positively palatial. Her room was part of a unit of 4 singles with 2 shared bathrooms. It was larger than her double had been at her previous college. New, well-appointed, well-maintained, with beautiful common areas. Lopata is the nicest dorm I've ever seen.</p>

<p>Lopata was mostly juniors, with a pocket of sophomore transfers, the year my D lived there.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if Village House and Lopata are basically the same? i.e. the way the rooms are laid out, date of construction, etc.</p>

<p>I couldnt even find the university drive apartments on the map...they seem to be cheaper and not very far away from campus and I dont need to buy the chunky meal plans. any ideas?</p>

<p>What are the best Freshmen dorms?</p>

<p>What do you mean by "best"? As far as "socially," I don't know. All dorms seem to encourage dorm (and floor) camraderie from day one - for the incoming freshman ceremony each dorm dressed in similar colored t-shirts with dorm names/logos and sat together in the gym - quite an impressive sight (Wayman</a> Crow Residential College - Move-In and Convocation 2008). They all have dorm events and often "compete" against each other - e.g., kickball, dodgeball, which dorm is "greenest," movie nights, bbq's, etc. </p>

<p>As far as physically, the dorms themselves are almost all fairly new and all awesome! Two good-sized rooms (with two to a room) share a bathroom. They have lounges with big screens, study rooms, kitchens/kitchenettes, etc. Each room is air conditioned. At least where my D is, the room is carpeted (industrial carpet, but carpeted nevertheless). There are still 2 (I believe) "traditional" dorms, which I have not seen that were scheduled to be torn down & replaced with the "modern" dorm in the near future; not sure what will come of that given the endowment issues. Traditional room is less expensive. One floor in each dorm is designated "healthy living." Doesn't seem to be any stigma to choosing one of those floors.</p>

<p>Let me clarify Palmalk's post--</p>

<p>First, there are currently 3 traditional dorms--Rubelmann, Lee, and Beaumont. Umrath was a traditional that was torn down and is being built RIGHT NOW (I see it coming up right before my eyes). These three dorms are expected to be torn down in the next three years (one for each year). However, with the endowment issue, I'm not so sure what the plans are.</p>

<p>I'm pretty sure not every dorm has a "healthy-living" or a "sub-free" floor. Some dorms do. But this year, I think Eliot 1 changed from a sub-free to a non-sub-free dorm
because no one on that floor wanted it.</p>

<p>As for the best freshman dorms, I would say that the traditional and the modern dorms offer two very different experiences. The modern dorms tend to be bigger and more spacious. Each suite has their own individual bathrooms. The traditional dorms offer more of a "traditional" college feel. They have public bathrooms. Lee has common rooms. Beaumont does not and I don't think Rubelmann does either. However, IMO, the traditional dorms tend to be a LOT more social. The rooms in the traditional dorms are a lot closer together so it's a lot easier to hang out with other people. Not having a common room means that people hang out in the hallways instead. In the modern dorms, the hallways are nice and wide but people tend to stay in their rooms more.</p>

<p>I wouldn't necessarily say that the traditional are more social. I know people in traditionals who still don't know everyone on their floor because of the "riot-proof" hallways.
It may just be my floor, but my modern dorm is ridiculously social and outgoing.</p>