A large wooden swing sags on the Paul House’s flaking gray wood porch, one side still chained to the ceiling.
The Hillsdale College administration thinks it’s time for a facelift. The outside windows and shutters are just a few things that need to be done to the outside, said Diane Philipp, dean of women.
“I have had a wish and desire to do something to that house for a long time because it is a beautiful house and want to keep it a jewel on Hillsdale Street,” Vice President for Administration Rich Péwé said.
Péwé said the exterior windows need to be replaced with more energy efficient ones, latticework and the shutters need to be stripped and repainted, and the entire exterior needs to be overhauled so that it does not deteriorate any more.
The house also has interior issues. There is mold and a trouble- some toilet in one of the upstairs bathrooms, and in the resident assistants’ bathroom the tile around the shower is peeling off.
Head RA Brittany Baldwin, a senior, said that the administration had approached her about the renovations and she thinks there have been plans in place for a while. But with the influx of new students, the project got pushed back a summer.
The Paul House is a hub of activity, serving as a Friday night hangout and a gathering place for club meetings. From the tall ceiling to a tower on the third floor where girls enjoy studying in the warmer months, Baldwin said there is a lot of character in the house.
Lorenzo Dow and his wife purchased the house in 1918, hence the house’s official name, the Lorenzo Dow House. The Paul family then purchased it in 1948, before it became property of the college. It then served as the Alpha Xi Delta sorority house until the early 2000s — when the sorority lost its charter with Hillsdale College. It was then converted into a women’s dormitory.
“It is a great on-campus place for people to gather and there is a great amount of space,” Baldwin said.“It’s a really comfortable place to live and everyone who came in knew that it had its share of quirks.”
One of those quirky moments came last December, when sophomore Rachel Maloley was getting ready for an 8 a.m. final. She noticed something gray that had jumped on her roommate’s forehead.
“It was a mouse with dark circles around its eyes, or at least it looked like a mouse to me,” Maloley said.
The mouse then scrambled around in Maloley’s clothes before jumping at her and driving her into the bathroom.
“It is very chaotic,” Maloley said of the house. “But there are always people there, so I just love it.”
