Welcome to a place where students learn the true meaning of the phrase “peace and quiet,” where great, non-dining hall-food is just around the corner, and which, until this year, was unknown to most first-years. Welcome to Blackstone Hall. In the past, the dorm housed only upperclassmen and transfer students, but since last year first-years can call it home as well. Blackstone is the perfect place if you are looking for a living arrangement with a prime Hyde Park location on a quiet residential street that is still just steps away from one of the neighborhood’s most bustling areas.

Located appropriately on South Blackstone Avenue, Blackstone is about a 10-minute walk from campus. Though the distance is certainly a disadvantage for some, the silver lining is Blackstone’s proximity to the excitement of 57th Street, which is home to coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, and more. Campus buses do pass by Blackstone, and residents will also soon discover the Jackson Park Express, or #6 bus, which stops a few blocks away on South Stony Island Avenue and is a great alternative to taking the El downtown.

Blackstone itself is a six-story dorm composed primarily of apartment-style suites. The architecture of the aged building means not all floor plans are exactly alike, but all suites comprise two large singles with a shared kitchen and bathroom. The first floor houses a grand piano that is in tune most of the time, a fireplace that thaws out residents returning from campus during the winter season, a big-screen TV, a computer lounge, and the ever-important laundry room.

Students who crave an active house community should consider a different dorm, as most Blackstoners enjoy their privacy and the quiet environment of the building (oftentimes quieter than the Reg, though lately that isn’t saying much). It isn’t uncommon to share the ancient (yet beloved) elevator with another Blackstone resident whom you’ve never seen before, though the dorm has become more social with the arrival of first-years.

—Steve Trubac