Don’t forget the 
and 
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Aside from the environmental/health/reputational concerns, it was one of the ugliest buildings on campus IMO. Rivaled by Dabney and Cox.
Glad to see they’ll be tearing Poe down. After not having any ground-up, new construction for a while on main campus, we’ll have Woodson Hall on the Brickyard and whatever Poe’s replacement will look like in relatively short order.
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I kinda liked the way Poe looked actually. Brutalism will be missed when it’s all bulldozed.
Gardner was the worst imo. A confusing layout, moldy insides, and AC that never worked.
Lee and Sullivan were pretty bad too. Uneven floors, sinking concrete. But it’s a rite of passage for every college student to have a terrible building to complain about. And nothing will replace Harrelson for that. So bad it was good.
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I only had one (freezing cold) French class in Poe Hall. IMO it is an eyesore on campus and should be replaced with something more fitting with campus (ala red brick 
). Bring on the wrecking ball.
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I still have dreams where I hear of Harrelson’s hvac rumbling along.
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I never lived on West Campus. I was in a dorm on East Campus (Bagwell) due to its location near the Design School. I liked the suite style of West Campus, but I did like that my room in Bagwell had its own sink for the makeshift kitchen we set up (no cafeteria when I was a Freshman and Sophomore), I don’t think that Bagwell rooms have sinks in the rooms anymore. Lee and Sullivan weren’t that bad way back when, and uneven floors that you report concerns me given structural issues of other buildings their ages. I don’t remember them being uneven in the 1980s when visiting friends.
I didn’t have any classes in Poe but my Freshman year studios were next door in Leazar. I won’t miss Poe at all. IMO, it wrecks Court of North Carolina. I’m not against a modern building there, but that brutalist building looks completely out of place.
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I was class of 2010. Lee and Sullivan are being decommissioned and replaced soon IIRC. Very real issues with those. In my opinion, North Hall also had some suspicious concrete work, though I don’t think there are any plans to do anything about it.
Bagwell was well liked. I was a fan of it, but I spent most of my time on east campus mainly because I knew of a good parking spot.
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Last Summer on one of my evening walks, I walked through west campus and noticed very concerning concrete spalling on Sullivan in particular. I knew that they were stated for demo, and that can’t come quickly enough IMO for safety sake. Of the west campus dorms, the only modern one that I find architectural compelling is Bragaw.
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Agreed. I liked Bragaw. Only one on west campus that had a room format I considered acceptable. Sadly that one is coming down too I believe. Nothing unsound about the building as far as I know, they just want better architectural harmony with the other new buildings in that part of campus.
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I don’t know about Bagwell specifically, but I know that as of the 24-25 academic year Becton still has sinks, so I would assume Bagwell still does too (Tucker too iirc). I never lived there but I knew a few people that did, I couldn’t imagine sharing a closet with a random roommate but for a freshman dorm it didn’t seem too bad. I lived in Gold that year… not that bad, if you ignore some of the events that happened that year (some related to the news reporting around Poe).
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Nice, I was an east campus resident for 2 years as well. Syme (1998-99) and Gold (1999-2000). No AC back then and the steam pipes running through our rooms kept us hot year round. During marching band season, we took 3 showers a day to keep cool. (The midday on field rehearsals were no joke!) I think the only time we closed our window in either room was over Christmas break. Good times.!
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The dorm rooms are now configured differently than they were back when I lived there. my room had a central entrance flanked by two equal sized small closets: maybe 36 inches.
As you entered the room, the sink was on the left side wall. There was room beyond the sink for bed on that same wall, but we built a loft above to put our mattresses up and then built a lounge area under it. The sink was paired with a dorm fridge, a hot plate burner, and a plug in hot pot. We stored dishes and food in milk crates that we stacked up beside it.
I do see from the university housing website that the rooms have been reconfigured but retain the sink in the location of the former second closet. It also looks like they lowered the ceilings and buried the radiator pipes in the walls. Those were exposed back then and were hot as hell, and of course we didn’t have AC. Then again, I think that we only paid $275 each per semester for the room.
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