The Chapter House

Locations:

• Design began in September 1920
• House plans were revised in the summer of 1924
• The deed was granted by the university in October 1924
• The construction contract was let on February 18, 1925
• The ground was broken in March of that year and completed in the early fall
• The “lodge”, as it was originally named, was dedicated on November 7, 1925.

The new Chapter home is a house of the Georgian type following out the general design of the new Watts Dormitory and the Varsity Hall.² It will be a fireproof structure built of the same texture and color of brick laid in Flemish Bond. The stone trimmings are of white Indiana limestone. A graduated slate roof³, using thick slates at the base and diminishing thickness toward the ridge of the roof is specified. These slates will be in shades of bluish grey and green. The house is designed to normally take care of thirty-six men with extra rooms for servants and guests.

The exterior follows somewhat the same lines as the English Tudor house plans originally suggested. A walk from Burrowes Street leads directly to the central entrance in front. The house has an overall length of 110 feet along Burrowes Street. A terrace which is about twenty feet in width will extend along the front, this terrace to be paved with slabs of white stone in irregular shapes. A similar terrace extends along the rear of the House.

The hospitable front entrance door in white, above which, in broken pediment, is a Sigma Nu Coat of Arms in stone. On either side of this entrance, large stone pilasters extend to the main pediment in the roof.

The right of the main portion of the House is a sun-parlor porch which can be enclosed in winter and opened in summer⁴. The kitchen wing extends to the left of the main part of the house, and to the rear.

Basement

From a service standpoint, there is provided a large laundry with an entrance to the kitchen yard. Also a kitchen stores room, and a cold storage room⁵. The laundry, kitchen stores room, and cold storage room are convenient to the fire tower which extends from the basement to the third floor and is used as a rear stairway from the kitchen to the basement. The coal storage room will accommodate two carloads of coal. This room has a built-in coal chute to the rear yard. The furnace room adjoins with the furnace and hot water heater. An ash lift is provided from this room to the rear terrace. Provision is made for a large trunk room and toilet.⁶

The Billiard and Pool room⁷ will at present be left unfinished but can be completed as our finances permit. The main feature of the basement is the Chapter Room 37 feet long and 26 1⁄2 feet wide. This room is arranged so that members can enter from the front basement hall, while pledges can only enter through a special preparation room. A wide brick fireplace for burning logs is located in the center on one side. An emergency entrance to the fire tower is provided.

Main Floor Hall

Passing through the front Colonial doorway we enter a vestibule and then another door opens to the main hall. To the right of this entrance, the stairway leads to the second and third floors. To the left is a large cloakroom where a telephone booth is also located. On stepping into the hall one notices three large double doors which frame the fireplaces in the living room, library⁸, and dining room. The hall will be finished in dark-colored gumwood.⁹

Living Room

To the right of the hall, one enters the living room which is also finished in dark wood. This room is 37 X 26 1⁄2 feet in size. Across the ceiling extend four large hand-adzed spruce beams. In the center at one side and inviting fireplace with a Tudor arch in stone forms an attractive feature. French doors on either side of the fireplace¹⁰ lead to the enclosed porch. At either end of this room are two large windows. Another side window with four wide entrance doors assure plenty of light. Our plans call for this room to be eventually paneled in dark woodwork from floor to ceiling.

Library

This room lies to the rear of the main hall, and between the living room and dining room. On either side of the entrance door from the hall are built-in bookcases. Along the rear wall is a fireplace, having a French door on either side, these opening onto the rear terrace. This room is finished in ivory-cream-colored woodwork.

Dining Room

Two wide French doors, one from the main hall and one from the library give access to this room which is of the same size as the living room and Chapter room. The fireplace is of strict Georgian design, the opening is lined in front with black marble, and the woodwork, including the fluted pilaster on either side, is finished in ivory-cream color. Four large windows, in addition to two French doors, supply plenty of light, while two extra doors, one to the pantry and one to the rear hall, take care of service. The room is planned to normally seat forty-five men but is large enough to accommodate seventy-five during House Parties.

Service Wing

The kitchen is planned to take care of the maximum requirements of the house. A large range, a sink for washing wishes, tables, and cupboards are supplied. An incinerator opening in the kitchen to the basement incinerator¹¹ and a special can set in the concrete floor of the kitchen porch take care of garbage disposal. The pantry room which lies between the dining room and kitchen gives plenty of shelf space for deserts and serving, and under the window, a second sink for filling water glasses is provided.

A side door from the kitchen leads into the rear hall, from which are located the refrigerator room, two servant bedrooms, the servants (sic) bathroom, and the fire tower.¹² The fire tower stairway gives access to the basement service rooms and upper rear halls, One door of the tower opens to the rear terrace, the other doors are automatic self-closing as called for by State Laws. Provision is made in the fire tower for the addition later on of a trunk lift to the third floor or the basement.¹³

Second Floor

Eleven large study rooms, each with closet space, as well as two guest rooms and one large lavatory onto the hallway. Between the guest rooms, which look out onto the rear garden and over the College Golf Course, is located the guest bathroom with a white tiled floor. Each study will have space for at least two single desks and two chiffoniers, with two desk chairs and one easy chair. The room light is located in the center of the ceiling with individual desk lamps for each student. The main lavatory provides four washbowls, two toilets, and two shower baths. Two linen closets open onto the side hallway.

Third Floor

On this floor are located a dormitory, eight study rooms, two linen closets, a trunk room, and a lavatory of the same size as the one on the second floor. The dormitory has five windows and two doors which assure plenty of air. It will accommodate forty-five men if necessary, although some of the men will probably prefer to have their beds in their study room. During House party times the door to the front stairway can be locked, so that the boys may use the fire tower stair and turn over the second floor to the girls and the Chaperones.

There are many features of the House that are to be added at a later date when finances will permit.

The following endnotes are provided by Brother Nelson, ΔΔ916.

1. This article, “New Chapter House is a Magnificent Structure,” appeared in the March 1925 edition of the Delta Delta News.” Based on this date, the article was published after house construction plans has been approved and about one-month after construction had begun. Based on other historical records and accompanying photographs, the foundation had been completed and construction of the first floor had started by the date of publication. It is unknown as to how accurately this description matches the finished structure.

2. Watts, the first of the existing West Halls dorms, was built in 1923. Irvin followed in 1925 and was likely under construction at the same time as Sigma Nu. Jordan was built in 1930. The recently constructed Varsity Hall would be renamed as Recreation (Rec) Hall.
3. I believe a remnant of this slate roof still exists on the overhang above the kitchen door entrance.

4. Later enclosed (date unknown) and became the House Mother’s Suite (HMS). The HMS was converted to an uncovered patio in 2021.
5. Presumably, the four rooms in the south basement with original terra cotta foundation blocks appear to confirm.

6. The configuration and location of the coal storage room, furnace, and water heater is unknown. These may have been located below the library in the room behind the basement trophy case (later used for a walk-in beer keg cooler and before that, an unfinished file room). Access to a chimney would have been required and there is evidence on the wall below the library fireplace of the needed penetrations. A portion of the ash lift appears to remain in a bricked-in recess in the southwest corner of the north basement and directly under the rear terrace. Interestingly, this recess is not shown in the fire reconstruction drawings. If it existed, plumbing for a toilet is no longer evident.

7. This room is in the north basement. Used as an unfinished chapter room following fire reconstruction and later finished with paneling for party use.

8. The double doors to the library do not appear in the dedicated pictures of this room. Rather, an open curved arched entrance was built.
9. The article refers to wood in many locations on the first floor. The first-floor pictures in the chapter house dedication program show dark wood beams in the living room but paneling on the walls is not evident unless very light in color as described for the library.

10. The French doors on the west side of the fireplace (left side when looking at the fireplace) are not evident in the living room photo included in the house dedication program. The reconstruction drawings show a solid brick wall in this location. This door was apparently bricked-in when the patio was converted to a suite. Evidence of this brickwork can be seen from the patio.

11. Thus the need for the now unused kitchen chimney.
12. To this point, the configuration of the kitchen, pantry room, rear hall, refrigerator room, and “servant” bedrooms is difficult to understand given the current configuration. The description of the dining room exit states that the exit connects to the rear hall. It’s likely that the other rooms described in the Service Area were in what we now call the pantry/commissary that runs along the west wall of this wing. Apparently, the pantry room ran along the east wall of the kitchen. This would explain the described pantry room window and sink for filling water glasses. Both the window and glass filling station remain today. This conclusion regarding the location of the pantry is supported by the reconstruction drawings which state “Remove Part.” This partition apparently separated the cooking area from the pantry. Based on this understanding, in order to enter the kitchen from the dining room, one had to first enter the pantry room or the rear hall.
13. A continuous vertical opening along the fire tower stairs from the basement to the third floor still exists but is obstructed by a pipe run.

The house is included, with a photo, in the Farmers High School listing of the National Register of Historic Places, along with Phi Gamma Delta, Alpha Zeta, Sigma Chi, Phi Delta Theta, and Beta Thea Pi.

The Fire

The chapter house was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of February 23, 1966. A report of the fire appeared in the June 2000 issue of the Delta Delta.

“The Day of “The Fire”, by Robert J. Niznik, ’68, ΔΔ855

It was a cold day on February 23, 1966, but then again, aren’t they all cold in State College at that time of the year? I was trying to stay awake in my E. Mch. Class in one of the engineering buildings on the southwest part of campus. I was wondering why I was still in mining engineering, being on the verge of flunking out after two consecutive terms on the dean’s list. (The dean has two lists, you know, and the one that I was on was not the one your parents normally brag about.) I kept getting interrupted from my drowsy state by the background blare of sirens and bells from fire engines. Something, not good, was definitely going on.

As class was over and I was walking up the mall, I heard murmurings about a fire on campus. Rounding the corner heading back to the house, I could see smoke billowing in the distance. It was then that I heard some students saying, “Frat house on fire.” My pace quickened as I thought “It must be the ancient ratty-looking Sigma Chi house next door.” As I got closer, however, I realized that it was not Sigma Chi but someplace further up the street, and the next thing up the street was us. Now I was running, and then I saw it … smoke pouring out of all the windows, fire trucks everywhere, chaos on the ground, and all the spectators gawking.

I forced my way to the front of the crowd, pushing people out of the way, up to the police barricade where I was told to “move back.” When I told them that I lived there, their entire attitude changed, and they quickly ushered me in, eager to know who I was. As I saw some of the other brothers there, I saw looks of relief on their faces, as I had been put on the list of people who were “missing.” No one had known of my whereabouts, nor those of my roommate, Bud Hirshberg ’66. We were the only two residents of the “little dorm” and had not been seen that day. I knew for certain that Bud was at the ROTC building – of course, where else would he be – and sure enough, his Monza came zooming into the parking lot shortly thereafter.

My recollections of the events of the fire were as follows: early on that morning, John Hoyt ’67 (a.k.a. the “Rochester Flash”), Don Bain ’65, and some of the others guys were having breakfast in the kitchen while most of the others were still asleep. When they left the kitchen and entered the foyer there was smoke beginning to billow from the basement stairwell. They knew it was a major problem and dashed back to the kitchen to get fire extinguishers. When they returned a few seconds later, there were flames shooting out of the basement stairwell. Hoyt ran up the stairs throughout the house sounding the alarm. Unfortunately, since most of the brothers were asleep, they did not really comprehend the seriousness of the event. Others said later that they thought John was an excitable guy and was maybe exaggerating the gravity of the situation. At this point, there was scant evidence that a fire was raging. The next thing you knew, bam, the fire had broken out from the walls, the ceiling, the floors, everywhere. For those who had not heeded John’s initial alert, it was now deadly serious.

Brian Circosta ’68 was in the second-floor shower when smoke started pouring in. He “barely” managed to get to the corner window, push it open, and push a six-pack of Pepsi off the window ledge. The Pepsi landed on the head of Don Bain, who was on the ground encouraging Brian to leap – which he did – au naturel, where Don Bain and others broke his fall to the snowy terrain below. They quickly provided Brian with a jacket to cover up.

Lew Powell ’66 had a worse time from the third floor, jumping all that way and landing in the hedges in front of the house, miraculously escaping serious injury. Bill Kirschner ’66 got on the roof of the house mother’s room and debated going back in and taking the stairs or leaping to the ground below. Wisely, he chose to jump, and he too avoided injury. Most of the guys scrambled down the back stairs known as the fire well (or fire tower). All in all, the brotherhood was lucky … all of the guys got out. It was not so fortunate for our housemother, Mrs, Margaret Yungerth, who perished in the fire.

[Editor’s Note: According to the news account, the correct spelling is Margareath Yuengert. She was 67 and died at the Centre County Hospital in Bellefonte as a result of second and third-degree burns.]

When the alarm was sounded, Mom Yungerth also was in bed but awakened, and assured the person who alerted her that she was on her way out. When she did not come, she was summoned again and was even told that she should exit out of her first-story window. No one is sure what happened next. Speculation was that she, being a proper woman, did not want to exit out the window. Another version is that she did leave the house but could not find our cook, and went back inside to assure that she also escaped. Mom probably may have glanced into the living room, seen what she construed as safe passage, and started to make her way to the front door. The smoke was then so thick there that she overshot the front door, walked into the dining room, and was overcome by smoke. That is where she was discovered, a victim of the lightning-fast fire.

We were shocked and saddened. We cried. It was not possible to believe. I can still see her playing cards with Bobbi and Bob Spinelli ’67, the Bains, Brokenshire, John Ruland ’65, or Tom Boyd ’66. I’ll always remember her impeccable appearance, always a lady. There was speculation about what caused the fire, but as far as I remember, they always had two theories about the reason. The first was that the electrical wiring, which was old, shorted out and started it. The other theory was more intriguing. For years everyone had been tossing cigarette butts into the fireplace in the study. It was thought that the trap in the floor had a breach in the opening. A cigarette butt went down, landed in the false ceiling above the chapter room [Ed Note. Now the north basement or bar room], ignited and, literally burned internally, all night long, suddenly bursting out all over the place.

Whatever the cause, the effect was devastating: one life lost and scores of others inextricably altered for years to come. We were lost, homeless, and depressed. Ironically, it was Ash Wednesday.”

The fire destroyed all of the brothers’ possessions, the House furnishings, and the vast majority of the Chapter’s memorabilia including its extensive and prized trophy collection. However, the Chapter’s charter was saved.

Rebuilding

Immediately after the fire, a number of fraternities provided housing and meals for the displaced brothers. Over the next several years, the brothers lived in the Nittany Garden Apartments at 1006 South Pugh Street, a large stone house on the northwest corner of Beaver & Garner Streets, and the old YMCA building that stood on West College Avenue. Led by Brothers Wilbert F. Hobbs, Dave Girard, and Harold R. (Ike) Gilbert, the alumni responded to the challenge and rebuilt the Chapter House which reopened in the fall of 1968.

Because of building code requirements that had changed over the previous 40 years, many of the original features could not be rebuilt, including the open front staircase. Other fire safety features had to be added, including a metal fire escape for the bedroom floors on the north side. Other fire safety design features included poured concrete floors, concrete block interior support walls, and a front staircase enclosed in concrete blocks. Metal fire doors were added to this staircase and the rear “fire tower.” The renovated kitchen included state-of-the-art fixtures with the exception of the stove and griddle which were previously used.

The rebuilt House Mother’s Suite (although never again used for this purpose) consisted of a full bath, small bedroom, closet, and large living area. An exterior door and a door to the living room provided access.

The former house steam heating system (with steam supplied by the university) could not be replaced. Because electricity was relatively cheap at the time, the new heating system consisted of ceiling-mounted electric heating panels, allowing both room-by-room and zone temperature adjustments.

Some unfortunate rebuilt features included parquet wood floors on the first floor, asbestos-containing vinyl tile in the bedrooms, bedroom hallways, front stairwell and basement, and a poorly designed roof for the House Mothers Suite. The former was very difficult to maintain. The roof did not allow proper drainage and was not properly sealed. It definitely was not designed for repeated foot traffic. The asbestos-containing tile prevented removal without very expensive asbestos abatement.

Later capital improvements (not mentioned elsewhere) have included: a whole house sprinkler system; replacement insulated windows in all locations; vinyl plank flooring throughout the first floor; removal & replacement of all basement vinyl tile; renovated main bathrooms; gas-fueled water heating system; water softener; wall mounted and baseboard heating units where ceiling heat has failed; a foundation drainage system for the north basement, and a front brick walkway. Major equipment replacements have included the oven and dishwashing machine. With the exception of the sprinkler system, all improvements have been completed without a loan of any type.