Litchfield Towers
Encyclopedia
Litchfield Towers, commonly referred to on campus as "Towers," is a complex of dormitories
at the University of Pittsburgh
's main campus
in the Oakland
neighborhood of Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
. Litchfield Towers is both the largest and tallest dormitory at the University of Pittsburgh, housing approximately 1,850 students.
Designed by the architectural firm of Deeter & Ritchey, the complex was completed in 1963 and was named for former chancellor
Edward Litchfield
following his death in an airplane crash in 1968. The complex consists of three towers, which during construction were designated A, B, and C in the architectural plan
s. The names stuck after the towers were completed, and the towers are still so named today.
Towers A, B, and C house mostly first-year freshmen
. The towers are all of different heights, and differ slightly in their living accommodations. Tower B is the tallest of the three, at 22 stories. Tower A is 19 stories tall, and Tower C is 16 stories in height. Rooms in Towers A and B are the same size, roughly 17 ft (5.2 m) by 11 ft (3.4 m). These measurements are not exact, however, because the three towers are cylindrical in shape (although actually twenty-sided) and the rooms themselves are therefore somewhat trapezoidal.
residences, as well a parking garage in its bottom level. Construction was initially delayed a year due to perceived high expense, but the dormitories opened in September, 1963 at a cost of $14 million with initially 1,150 residents filling approximately two-thirds of the spaces.
The reference to the three towers as A, B, and C, which originated in their designs, remains to this day, although from their inception, the towers have been designated with unofficial nicknames reflecting the similarity of their shape to the canister packaging of the coinciding to the commercial cleansing products Ajax, Bab-O, and Comet
. Due to the obscurity of Bab-O cleanser in more recent years, Tower B has often been referred to by the nickname Bounty.
Collectively, the dorms were at first simply referred to by the university as the Tower Residence Halls. In 1971, the university formally named the complex Litchfield Towers in honor of Edward Litchfield
who had served as Pitt's chancellor during their construction and subsequently died in a tragic 1968 airplane crash.
and several couches and tables for studying. Communal and university-sponsored events frequently take place in the various lounges throughout the towers. Every floor shares a communal bathroom, with several shower and restroom stalls. Each floor has twenty rooms, except for the lounge floors, which only have seventeen. Each floor's resident assistant
lives alone in their respective room, meaning each floor houses 39 people. On the ground floor of Tower A there is a small fitness center containing treadmill
s, ellipticals, bikes, and weight equipment. A fully functioning post office and all student mailboxes are located on the ground floor of Tower B. Due to the fact that both Towers A and B are exclusively residences for first year students, they are both designated as alcohol-free. Its distribution, sale, and consumption, is punished if discovered.
Previously, there had been several specialized student communities in Litchfield Towers which are set aside by the university, although they have since moved to other on-campus housing spaces. Students Pursuing Academics and Careers in Engineering, commonly referred to as the "SPACE" floors, was located on floors 8 through 11 of Tower A until it was moved to Forbes Hall
in 2011. The University Honors College
first-year Living Learning Community was housed on floors 11 and 12 of Tower B prior to 2005, and then on floors 11 through 14 after 2005, and the University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration Living Learning Community is located on floors 9 and 10 of Tower B. After the 2006-2007 school year, The University Honors College First-Year Honors Community was moved to Forbes Hall until 2011 when it moved to Sutherland Hall, while the College of Business Administration Living Learning Community was moved directly to Sutherland Hall in 2007.
Until the 2007 academic year, the ground floor of the Litchfield towers complex housed two University dining facilities, both run by the French food service conglomerate Sodexho
. "The Marketplace" (formerly known as C-Side) was an all-you-can-eat buffet
serving traditional foods such as pastas and salad. The menu changed throughout the day, starting with breakfast foods such as waffles and cereal and ending with dinner dishes such as lasagna.
"Eddie's" was structured more like a food court, with several stand-alone food shops serving such foods as sandwiches, chicken, and hamburgers. Eddie's also contained a small grocery store mainly selling snack foods and pre-packaged dinners. The grocery store offered a small selection of kosher foods. The small shop in the lobby of Towers, "Common Grounds," which sells coffee, juice, bagels, and various other baked goods still remains.
For the fall of 2007, the Litchfield Tower dining facilities were completely remodeled. The newly renovated dining hall has been named "Market Central," and contains six new all-you-can-eat venues, along with a Taco Bell
and two takeout areas ("Market-To-Go" and "Quick Zone"). Often referred to as just "Market" by campus residents, Market Central's venues offer a great deal of variety. The Flying S-T-A-R Diner, for example, offers around-the-clock breakfast while Magellan's serves up food from around the world such as eggrolls and other ethnic specialties. Upon entering, students present their campus IDs to gain access to all six venues for their entire duration in the facility. Meal passes or dining dollars can be used for admittance.
During the designated moving-in/moving-out periods at the beginning and end of semesters, the elevators in all three Towers can access the basement garage, allowing students and visitors the ability to travel freely between Towers.
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
at the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
's main campus
Campus
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
in the Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
neighborhood of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Litchfield Towers is both the largest and tallest dormitory at the University of Pittsburgh, housing approximately 1,850 students.
Designed by the architectural firm of Deeter & Ritchey, the complex was completed in 1963 and was named for former chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
Edward Litchfield
Edward Litchfield
Edward Harold Litchfield was an American educator and the twelfth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. He is best known for a major expansion of the university, but also a failure to raise sufficient capital to fund such growth, eventually leading to his resignation in July 1965.He earned...
following his death in an airplane crash in 1968. The complex consists of three towers, which during construction were designated A, B, and C in the architectural plan
Architectural plan
An architectural plan is a plan for architecture, and the documentation of written and graphic descriptions of the architectural elements of a building project including sketches, drawings and details.- Overview :...
s. The names stuck after the towers were completed, and the towers are still so named today.
Towers A, B, and C house mostly first-year freshmen
Freshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
. The towers are all of different heights, and differ slightly in their living accommodations. Tower B is the tallest of the three, at 22 stories. Tower A is 19 stories tall, and Tower C is 16 stories in height. Rooms in Towers A and B are the same size, roughly 17 ft (5.2 m) by 11 ft (3.4 m). These measurements are not exact, however, because the three towers are cylindrical in shape (although actually twenty-sided) and the rooms themselves are therefore somewhat trapezoidal.
History
The original proposal for the "unusual skyscraper dormitory" complex, designed by Dahlen Ritchey of the architectural firm of Deeter & Ritchey, was unveiled in June, 1960 and called for three towers to contain living quarters with unobstructed views for 1,868 male students. The towers were preliminarily designated as A, B, and C, with undergraduates to occupy tower A and B and graduate students tower C. The towers would rising from a three story base that included a dining room accommodating 14,000 students, serving men from the towers and women from the nearby Schenley QuadrangleSchenley Quadrangle
Schenley Quadrangle is a cluster of University of Pittsburgh residence halls that is a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark and are contributing properties to the Schenley Farms National Historic District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.The five residence halls...
residences, as well a parking garage in its bottom level. Construction was initially delayed a year due to perceived high expense, but the dormitories opened in September, 1963 at a cost of $14 million with initially 1,150 residents filling approximately two-thirds of the spaces.
The reference to the three towers as A, B, and C, which originated in their designs, remains to this day, although from their inception, the towers have been designated with unofficial nicknames reflecting the similarity of their shape to the canister packaging of the coinciding to the commercial cleansing products Ajax, Bab-O, and Comet
Comet (cleanser)
Comet is a powdered cleaning product sold in North America and distributed in the United States by Prestige Brands. Scratch Free Comet with Bleach Disinfectant Cleanser contains 1.2% sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate and 98.8% "other" ingredients...
. Due to the obscurity of Bab-O cleanser in more recent years, Tower B has often been referred to by the nickname Bounty.
Collectively, the dorms were at first simply referred to by the university as the Tower Residence Halls. In 1971, the university formally named the complex Litchfield Towers in honor of Edward Litchfield
Edward Litchfield
Edward Harold Litchfield was an American educator and the twelfth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. He is best known for a major expansion of the university, but also a failure to raise sufficient capital to fund such growth, eventually leading to his resignation in July 1965.He earned...
who had served as Pitt's chancellor during their construction and subsequently died in a tragic 1968 airplane crash.
Towers A and B
Towers A and B are very similar to each other. All rooms in both towers are doubles, meaning that two people share each room. There is a lounge the size of three dorm rooms every third floor, containing a large televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and several couches and tables for studying. Communal and university-sponsored events frequently take place in the various lounges throughout the towers. Every floor shares a communal bathroom, with several shower and restroom stalls. Each floor has twenty rooms, except for the lounge floors, which only have seventeen. Each floor's resident assistant
Resident assistant
A resident assistant , commonly shortened to RA is a trained peer leader who supervises those living in a residence hall or group housing facility...
lives alone in their respective room, meaning each floor houses 39 people. On the ground floor of Tower A there is a small fitness center containing treadmill
Treadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...
s, ellipticals, bikes, and weight equipment. A fully functioning post office and all student mailboxes are located on the ground floor of Tower B. Due to the fact that both Towers A and B are exclusively residences for first year students, they are both designated as alcohol-free. Its distribution, sale, and consumption, is punished if discovered.
Previously, there had been several specialized student communities in Litchfield Towers which are set aside by the university, although they have since moved to other on-campus housing spaces. Students Pursuing Academics and Careers in Engineering, commonly referred to as the "SPACE" floors, was located on floors 8 through 11 of Tower A until it was moved to Forbes Hall
Forbes Hall
Forbes Hall is a residence hall of the University of Pittsburgh and is located in Forbes Pavilion on Forbes Avenue approximately four blocks from the Litchfield Towers complex...
in 2011. The University Honors College
University of Pittsburgh Honors College
The University of Pittsburgh Honors College is an undergraduate college providing a program of advanced study at the Oakland campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
first-year Living Learning Community was housed on floors 11 and 12 of Tower B prior to 2005, and then on floors 11 through 14 after 2005, and the University of Pittsburgh College of Business Administration Living Learning Community is located on floors 9 and 10 of Tower B. After the 2006-2007 school year, The University Honors College First-Year Honors Community was moved to Forbes Hall until 2011 when it moved to Sutherland Hall, while the College of Business Administration Living Learning Community was moved directly to Sutherland Hall in 2007.
Tower C
Tower C is different from Towers A and B in several ways, but primarily in the fact that its rooms are single occupancy. The rooms are 2/3 the size of rooms in Towers A and B, and like Tower A and Tower B, every third floor has a lounge containing a television, couches, and tables for extra study. In addition, each floor has 30 rooms, except floors containing a lounge, which have 27. No official specialized student communities are housed in Tower C, but designated male and female floors are 24 hour Quiet Living Communities. Up until 2010-11, Tower C was was open to students of any year, however it now houses primarily first-year students.Student services
As the largest dormitory on the University of Pittsburgh's campus, Litchfield Towers is home to several student services in order to accommodate its large population.Panther Central
Panther Central is the center for most basic student services. Some of these services include issuing of student ID cards, replacement of lost ID cards, verifying residential status for students with forgotten ID cards, dispensing of general information, placing maintenance requests for rooms, and other such services.Dining services
Sodexho
Sodexo is a French multinational corporation headquartered in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Sodexo is one of the largest food services and facilities management companies in the world, with 380,000 employees, representing 130 nationalities, present on 34,000 sites in 80 countries...
. "The Marketplace" (formerly known as C-Side) was an all-you-can-eat buffet
Buffet
A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events...
serving traditional foods such as pastas and salad. The menu changed throughout the day, starting with breakfast foods such as waffles and cereal and ending with dinner dishes such as lasagna.
"Eddie's" was structured more like a food court, with several stand-alone food shops serving such foods as sandwiches, chicken, and hamburgers. Eddie's also contained a small grocery store mainly selling snack foods and pre-packaged dinners. The grocery store offered a small selection of kosher foods. The small shop in the lobby of Towers, "Common Grounds," which sells coffee, juice, bagels, and various other baked goods still remains.
For the fall of 2007, the Litchfield Tower dining facilities were completely remodeled. The newly renovated dining hall has been named "Market Central," and contains six new all-you-can-eat venues, along with a Taco Bell
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
and two takeout areas ("Market-To-Go" and "Quick Zone"). Often referred to as just "Market" by campus residents, Market Central's venues offer a great deal of variety. The Flying S-T-A-R Diner, for example, offers around-the-clock breakfast while Magellan's serves up food from around the world such as eggrolls and other ethnic specialties. Upon entering, students present their campus IDs to gain access to all six venues for their entire duration in the facility. Meal passes or dining dollars can be used for admittance.
Security
Although Panther Central, the Towers Lobby which connects all three towers, and the dining services located on the ground floor are accessible to everyone, only residents are allowed in the individual towers and must present their student ID card to a 24-hour security guard to gain entrance. Visitors to any of the Towers must be signed in by a resident of the Tower, and must present either their student ID card if they are a student or a valid form of photographic identification if they are not. Guests signed in by residents must be signed out and leave the Tower by 2:00 AM. If not, an overnight stay request must be completed, of which a student can only file a certain number each academic semester. No resident is permitted to sign in more than five people at one time.During the designated moving-in/moving-out periods at the beginning and end of semesters, the elevators in all three Towers can access the basement garage, allowing students and visitors the ability to travel freely between Towers.