Student Housing: That Was Then (1968), This Is Now (2013)

The Domain at Allenhurst

That Was Then (1968)

Allenhurst, a World War II-era, two-story "garden apartment" complex, was purchased by the State University of New York at Buffalo in the mid-1960s to accommodate the growing number of baby-boomers needing "campus" housing.  All 120 units, each of them shared by five students, had the same floor plan.  Allenhurst, as we always referred to it -- never shortened to the 'Hurst or some such name -- was located about 1 mile north of the old campus at Main & Bailey.  The school provided shuttle bus service from early morning to late night.

The apartments offered the most basic of amenities.  How we survived I have no idea.  None of us at 482-A Allenhurst Road (Herb Kleinberger, Paul Rosen, Kenny Tuchman, Tony Szczygiel, and yours truly) owned a TV, and Kenny kept his stereo in the bedroom that Tony and I shared with him.  (Tony, the last to arrive, slept on the top bunk.)

First floor:

• "living room"
• two wooden desks and chairs
• one Naugahyde coach with no arms
• A 6x8 area rug given to me by Renee Shulman's dad, who owned a carpet store in Warren, PA
• Plus this collage, made by Mardi and Joan, which was dropped off with the carpet a week or so after I settled in.  (Frame added more than 20 years later.)

• "dining room"
• three wooden desks and chairs
• kitchen
• stove
• refrigerator

Second floor

• 2 bedrooms
• larger one with 1 twin bed, 1 bunk bed, 3 dressers, and 2 night stands.
• smaller one with 2 twin beds, 2 dressers, and 1 night stand.
• bathroom

This Is Now (2013)

In Student Housing, Luxuries Overshadow Studying. (The New York Times, 6/14/2013)

Excerpt: The Domain at Columbia, which is set to open here this year, includes a full-swing golf simulator, a video game room and a theater room. On its Web site, which opens with a two-minute video set to music, the development says it has “the largest resort style pool in Columbia and the most over the top amenities.”