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Interesting reference there.
You may or may not know that there have been several major renovations to the Gamma Zeta house since 1914. Currently the house is divided into two section, the original house, which closely resembles the 7 other houses located on frat row, and the addition in back, which was put on a couple decades ago.
I lived in the original section for some time. You can still see the outlines of blocked off doorways, walls that have been removed and rebuilt, old staircases, sliding doors that have been removed and boarded up. I know that once there used to be a porch accessable on the second floor where the roof of the first floor porch is now. (I don't know if you understand that or not, it is difficult to describe without pictures). I cannot imagine fitting 16 rooms into the original part of the house. I know that from talking to some alumni, some of which had lived in the house 50 and 60 years ago, that everyone used to sleep in the attic on bunk bed style beds. The rooms downstairs were primarily for studying, relaxing, etc, and they would only sleep in the attic. I really have no clue as to where the original kitchens or bathrooms were since the "kitchen" in there now is under the "new" addition.
I do know that the house is much older than 1914 based on the construction materials of the foundation. The house is located on the corning of fearing st. but it now has a different house number. It is located on "frat row" and the original style of the house matches that of the 6-7 other fraternities on the row. It can be compared to today's modular or factory homes where they all look and are designed the same except for 1 or 2 minor differences and features. I do not know if the houses, including GZ, were built with the purpose of housing fraternities. The house is located very near to campus, but in 1914 before Umass expanded, I would say it would take quite some time to walk the distance to the original part of campus at that time.
Even today that "state road and the corning of Fearing" is still one of the most busy and important roads in Amherst.
The new addition was built a little over 20-25 years I think. All it really is is a big box attached to the original house. It did double the size of the house and added alot of room to the basement where a laundry room, kitchen and dining room were added.
As far as I can tell, all the original electrical was replaced. I am very familiar with turn of the century houses as my family owns and rents several of them in the Western Massachusetts area, some older than GZ. The heating system was added later as you can tell by the countless pipes across the ceiling running all over the place.
As far as I can tell the house probably went through several major renovations. One a couple decades ago, the first probably in the late 30's, early 40's, and another in the late 50's early 60's. I have seen photos of the house in the early 60's and it does not match what the house is described as prior to that decade (ie: window placement, porches, doors, etc.).
I do know that from all the alumni I talked to, the basement was the location of all initiation rituals which was something that continued to the last brother being initiated.
I'm going to try to think of some more things later on that might be of interest to you. I tried to be as accurate as possible in my recollection but I know I probably got one or two things wrong.
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