Affiliate: [Phoenix]
[5.12.03] - Roosevelt University, Chicago
Explorers: Phoenix (me), Skippy
First off, I should explain what makes Roosevelt
University so unique. The school is located inside the building which
was once the Auditorium Theater in Chicago. Built in 1885-1889, it
served as an opera house and hotel and was the tallest building in
Chicago. Below you can see the building itself:
On the left is the entrance to the
theater, on the right is the entrance
to the old hotel, the part which now makes up the majority of our
school.
On the other side of the building is our dorm, which is where all our
adventures started. We were curious to see if we could find a way into
the
main building (normally locked at night) from the dorms. Before
actually
discovering a way into the school, we found a freight elevator that led
to
the cafeteria and a back way into the fitness center. Sadly I didn't
notice that my camera was out of film, so none of that is documented.
Eventually we found our way into the boiler room, below the dorms.
The above are some pictures of the boilers and the pipes that filled up
a
series of rooms. We discovered a stair leading to some kind of tunnel.
It
was going in the right direction to get to the school itself, so we
decided
to take a look around.
If you can't read it, this sign basically says that there is asbestos in
the walls, floor and ceiling at "various locations" throughout the
tunnels. Nice.
(Some of the tunnels were very nice.)
(Others were not.)
We made a startling discovery in one of the back rooms:
(Apparently, Sars originated at the financial
aid office at Roosevelt in
1986!)
(Nice to know that they keep the elevators well lubricated.)
(Here's Skippy standing in a tunnel filled with a higher
than average
number
of pipes and noisy machines.)
We discovered a stairway leading to the dressing rooms and orchestra pit
below the theater itself. Sadly all the doors were locked and we were a
bit too tired (and poorly dressed) to go climbing through the trap door
in
the ceiling.
(A nice little alley behind the school.)
We finally found a way in, but it involved sprinting behind the manned
security desk. We took this picture on the second floor and then got
back
to our dorms. We would have kept exploring except that this is far from
an
abandoned building, so between the three security guards and numerous
janitors that were wandering around, we decided it would be best to not
be
caught trespassing and risk getting kicked out of school.
-Phoenix
