Mauck, Sigma Chi undergo renovations to preserve historic look

Home Campus Mauck, Sigma Chi undergo renovations to preserve historic look
Mauck, Sigma Chi undergo renovations to preserve historic look
Mauck gets a new look. Julie Havlak | Collegian
Mauck gets a new look. Julie Havlak | Collegian

Mauck Residence is undergoing a full renovation for the first time since 1927.

Renovations on Mauck began in the summer and will continue through the fall semester, making it the fourth residence to get updated since 2014, as the college continues to renovate each of the dorms on campus, said Rebekah Dell, assistant dean of women. The renovations on Mauck aim to update and modernize facilities while still maintaining the building’s historic charm.

“We’re thrilled,” Dell said. “It’s the old lady on campus, and we have the opportunity to restore and preserve those details that make it so special.”

Renovations will leave the dorm with air conditioning and heating, updated lighting, new flooring, a kitchenette on each floor, a full kitchen, and communal bathrooms. Two new chandeliers will hang in the solarium above reupholstered furniture.

“They’re trying to preserve the antique, historic feel of the building,” said senior Deborah Stevenson, Mauck house director. “Mauck did have that old, slightly creepy, but also endearing mansion feel, and I think that will stay. But it will cease to be creepy.”

As the renovations continue, Mauck’s future residents are living in Park Place on Park Street and the Boardwalk on Manning Street. They are two off-campus houses owned by the college that exist under on-campus housing rules for the semester, including visitation hours and paying the new $50 fee included in housing for the new quarter-free laundry across campus. Residents, however, do have the option of taking off-campus meal plans.

“Because of all the maintenance issues Mauck has had to deal with and the side effects of all of the single rooms, people have often felt that Mauck is an isolated place, a run-down place,” Stevenson said. “But we’re looking forward to reintroducing campus to Mauck and the lovely community that lives there.”

Mauck is not the only building undergoing changes to preserve its historical character. JS Hodge Construction LLC renovated the exterior of the Sigma Chi fraternity house this summer. The projects, which alumni are funding for $65,000, include fixes to the balcony, repairs to the gutters, and a yellow paint job for the outside of what is believed to be the second-oldest house in Hillsdale County that had previously faded to white, said senior Drew Jenkins, Sigma Chi president.

“We bought it from the Cook family, and one of the stipulations was that the outside be painted yellow,” Jenkins said. “When I heard it was painted yellow, I was a little skeptical, but when I showed up on campus, it grew on me. It has more of a classic old-house feel to it.”