A heat wave the first week of school forced many Howard House residents to temporarily move to Lowrey House, because of Howard’s lack of air conditioning.
In late August, the Midwest was engulfed in a heat wave. On Aug. 28, just as Principia students were moving back into their dorms, the highest temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded. Temperatures that high hadn’t been recorded since 2012, according to National Weather Service reports.
“It was the first day that the heat wave came,” said Gaby Quintero, one of Howard’s presidents, “and it was horrible to be in everyone’s room.”
Although not all 36 students who live in Howard House chose to move to Lowrey House where there is air conditioning, some 22 did.
“That was rough, you would just wake up constantly sweating throughout the entire night and the day,” said first-year Howard resident Mackenzie Brown.
Quintero said Howard House RC Tina Hussey scrambled to find solutions for the heat. “Tina sent a poll asking if we wanted to either have facilities move in mattresses to the living room [where it was a little cooler than the rooms] or if we wanted to have the option of getting a room in Lowrey,” she said.
Quintero said the RC then created a room chart and worked with security to grant the Howard residents access to the air-conditioned – and empty – Lowrey dorm for a full week till the heat wave passed.
“I am genuinely grateful that not only did many people graciously go through hoops to make Lowrey ready and available during those hot days,” Hussey said in an emailed statement to the Pilot. “But also that many of the Howard women chose to go over there with sheets, blankets and homework in tow.”
In her email Hussey said the college was taking steps to ensure that houses lacking A/C get that issue resolved. She said that she believes a team of architects have been working for a long time on the plans for the upcoming renovations, along with a dedicated person to help them with gathering the funding for such a large project.
Lee Eubank, the director of Facilities on the Principia College campus said it’s been challenging to put A/C in Howard, Buck, and Brooks houses, which were built by renowned architect Bernard Maybeck between 1931 and 1946. The unique historic architecture creates a look and feel that the college plans to keep, he said. But it makes it difficult to renovate them.
Eubank said it cost several million dollars to put air conditioning, to replumb the bathrooms and add wiring upgrades to Sylvester, alone. Modern buildings, he said, are easier to rewire, plumb and do duct work.
“These are historic houses and they’re concrete walls between 8 to 12 inches concrete,” Eubank said, “These Maybeck buildings being solid concrete, it is not easy to [ update the houses by adding air conditioning, and updated plumbing]. That reason leads to millions of dollars in cost.”
How much would it cost to add air conditioning to Buck, Brooks, and Howard?
“We’re looking at 20 plus million,” Eubank estimated. “They did some fundraising for Howard house alumni, and they got some money for that, but it still wasn’t enough,” Eubank said. “I’d love to get air conditioning in these buildings but unfortunately, when we’re talking about this kind of money, it takes a bit of time to modernize the buildings.”
