B U I LT F O R S I S T E R H O O D
A Premier Housing Experience, Past and Present The late 1950s and early 1960s saw the construction of new facilities and major renovations at Pi Beta Phi chapters across the United States. The Arrow featured projects at chapters such as Kansas Alpha, Oklahoma Beta, Colorado Gamma, Washington Alpha and California Zeta, sharing photos of happy collegians and alumnae gathering outside stately mansions and in formal living rooms. Sixty years later, many of those chapters have once again renovated their facilities or built new ones. While the overarching goal remains the same — providing a premier housing experience where Pi Phis can build community and Sincere Friendships — the concerns, considerations and scope of work involved in these projects has shifted significantly during the past six decades. Those old issues of The Arrow highlight the pride points of each housing project, as well as some insight into the facility challenges of the day. The Winter 1962 issue shared notes from the new houses at Kansas Alpha and Oklahoma Beta. “The French Regency home with a
mansard roof is completely air conditioned and houses 60 girls plus the house mother … Leading in from the back patio, the terrace room is a popular place to play bridge or listen to the stereo set before dinner,” we wrote of the Kansas Alpha chapter house. Our coverage of Oklahoma Beta’s new facility included pages of details on decorative touches (including a custom baby-blue grand piano) and a few notes on practical considerations. “The bedrooms for the 72 girls in the three-story house are all decorated in similar style with varying color keynotes … A desk and pole lamp for each girl and a dresser finished in walnut for each two girls complete the furniture arrangement,” we shared. “Everywhere there are telephones in special wall insets — an absolute necessity, as everyone will agree, when 72 girls are living together in one house. There is also a lounge with a coffee urn handy for late hour studying, a laundry room equipped with two washers and two dryers, and a sundeck laid in redwood, an added feature for those sunny Oklahoma days.”
Six decades after its construction in the early 1960s, the Kansas Alpha Chapter house remains a place for Pi Phis to build community and Sincere Friendships.
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