Friday Afternoon Follies: Watch Your Step Edition

The other day I needed a photo of the back side of the Chemistry Building for someone and I discovered that I couldn’t find one. After some thought, I realized that I may never have actually seen one. So I wandered over to take some pictures myself and discovered this door I’d never noticed:

Whoa! That’s quite a drop off, a couple of feet anyway.

On further investigation, the sign confirms this:

Maybe it’s just me, but it strikes me that the sign might be on the wrong side of the door.

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11 Responses to Friday Afternoon Follies: Watch Your Step Edition

  1. Richard Schafer says:

    What’s particularly amusing is the inclusion of a Braille version of the sign under the wording. Of course “2 foot drop” is quite wrong in this situation.

  2. Rachel '01 says:

    Uh…no kidding…and….is that Braille underneath??!! I mean, nice thought, but…wow

  3. Richard Schafer says:

    I suppose there could really be a two foot drop on the other side of that door, too. But that would be really peculiar. I wonder if this was an artifact from some of the several phases of construction that were done to the Chemistry building in the 80s(?).

  4. effegee says:

    There was an addition put on the north (back) side of the building when it was gutted and renamed Keck in 1998-99. It IS strange that a drop like that was permitted. I wonder if this was intended to have an ADA ramp that was eliminated. (Don’t have my set of plans anymore.)

    Mudd Lab was built with a 4-6 INCH drop right at the west entry doors that someone pointed out as a building code violation well after the building was occupied. The stone was extended on the porch to create enough of a landing outside the door to meet code.

  5. James W. Hajovsky says:

    Even if the sign was suppose to be on the inside of the door, “2 foot drop”, oh boy what a surprise, it looks more like a 3 foot drop. I agree that this may have been for a handicap ramp. The doors are beautiful.

  6. Grungy says:

    This could be a theme for a photo essay.
    Where else are there orphan doors on campus?
    With “orphan door” to mean “a door not meant to be used regularly (if at all)”, and leave the reason why (or why not) to be determined.

    • loki_the_bubba says:

      My favorite is under the west concourse of the stadium. It’s about 15 feet up the wall.

  7. marmer01 says:

    I find it hard to believe that this is actually within code. I suspect there may be a similar sign on the other side. My guess is that a corridor was eliminated or a larger space was subdivided and emergency exit doors were no longer needed there but the most cost effective solution was just to leave the doors rather than trying to fill in the doorway with matching brick. I guess it wouldn’t be that hard to go look… 😉

    • Richard Miller (Hanszen '75 & '76) says:

      I wonder if there was a tempory building or structure attached there. In addition to the other comments, this door appears to be an interior door. It could have been installed backwards (we are seeing the side that should have been inside) but the hardware involved does not look what one would expect on the outside of an exterior door. ( A door lever and no real lock set)

  8. tomt127 says:

    Before they remodeled the building in the 90’s that door was inside the old Chemistry Stockroom.

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