Firelands
Firelands apartments consists of a seven-story skyscraper (that's big for Oberlin!) near the corner of South Pleasant Street and College, behind the now-demolished Rax and the FAVA Gallery. There are maybe 50 or 60 small-ish apartments in the Firelands, including studio (open) doubles, studio singles, two-room doubles, and a couple triples.
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[edit] History
Firelands used to be a retirement home, so the halls and bathroom doors are extremely wide in order to accommodate wheelchairs. Additionally, all halls have rails along the side, presumably so that the fogies could hang on while they walk.
The apartments are nice for student apartments, but also somewhat sterile and institutional, as expected for an ex-retirement home. Additionally, the kitchens tend to be quite small, and the apartments are shoddily constructed and often falling apart. On the bright side, some of the rooms, particularly those higher up, offer some of the best views in all of Oberlin.
Some of the apartments have a strange odor. Perhaps it's the spirit of the old people who once inhabited them.
The apartments are across the street from a playground.
[edit] Elevators
The Firelands elevators are notorious for the tiff caused by their vandalizing, concluding with ResEd shutting them down briefly and fining every resident $100. [1] Ultimately, carpets were put up on the walls of the elevator to discourage vandalism. This has not stopped vandals from venting their rage on the uncarpeted doors, however.
[edit] Doppelganger Firelands
Apparently the archictectural plans for Firelands were used in at least one other construction. In the city of Lorain, there is a building called Firelands apartments, identical architecturally, but with a different parking lot layout.
Could there be evil anti-students living out their lives perfectly unaware of their counterparts in real, Oberlin Firelands? Or are we the doppelganger Firelands residents and they the originals? No one knows for sure. And no one knows if the universe would collapse in on itself if any two were to meet. One can only hope it will never come to be.
[edit] Opinions
- Living in Firelands has its pros and cons. I would rather live in any other on-campus apartment, but my options were limited by a mid-range lottery number. Regardless, Firelands has its merits, such as privacy, the great view, lack of S&S/RA worries, and the niceties of having my own room and bathroom. However, it is also terrible in many ways. Our apartment is falling apart at the seams, cigarette smoke travels through the building very easily, there is NO community, and the building is depressing as hell (until I get to my apartment). I wouldn't recommend Firelands to anyone who is depressed or lonely, but if you have found your niche of friends and don't mind the THX1138-like sterility [2], it's really not that bad. McGlaven 04:58, 11 January 2008 (EST)
[edit] Images
Vertigo-inducing shot of Firelands.
Porches in the front of Doppelganger Firelands. Real Firelands' are the same, only the tree configuration is different.
The front of doppelganger Firelands, signs visible. The painted one is a bit nicer than ours. They also don't have a front driveway.
