Chatham Buildings as Zodiac Signs
Here’s the thing about Chatham Buildings — we have a lot of them, each with its own unique personality or “vibe,” if you will. And while you may find yourself spending more time in certain buildings depending on where you live and study, we encourage you to explore them all. In fact, we’ve become so enthralled with them over the years that we’ve matched them with corresponding zodiac signs. Read on to see what building pairs with your sign (and please, we beg you, don’t take this too seriously):
Aries ♈️: Athletic Fitness Center
Energetic. Intense. Competitive. Multi-talented. Destined for leadership. It’s easy to see why the Athletic Fitness Center is a natural Aries. Younger than most of our buildings, the AFC had to work twice as hard and twice as fast to establish itself as the place to be on campus, but here we are, nearly two decades later, with an exercise and recreation space that students, faculty, and community members can’t get enough of. And in typical Aries fashion, our AFC can be a little bit moody—never ASSUME you can get in the back door via your ID!
Taurus ♉️: Eden Hall Campus Lodge
Though Taureans thrive on the finer things — food, love, expensive gifts — their stronger drives may be their patience, devotion, and stability. Which, if you consider how much change Eden Hall Campus has undergone in the last ten years, the Lodge is one heck of a constant. Taureans love working with the land, harvesting the fruits of their labor, and surrounding themselves with good food, good people, and plenty of beauty—characteristics of Eden Hall even before we inherited it. You could also argue that everything around the Lodge changed while it stubbornly remained the same, funky basement bowling alley and all. An unmistakably Taurean defiance.
Gemini ♊️: Laughlin Music Hall
If there is any building on campus that capitalizes on having wildly different personalities, it’s Laughlin Music Hall, where a Gemini’s artistic and communicative strengths (Marketing & Communications), gifts and appreciation for music (Music Department), and social nature (Welker Room) all coalesce. Having previously been a home for IT offices, the library, and more, the Laughlin Music Hall is highly adaptable, flexible, and able to learn quickly. And like Geminis, it tends to be wildly underrated — we may be biased.
Cancer ♋️: Carriage house
The Carriage House has long been a space of community, comfort, and safety for our students, even before it underwent renovations to become a more accommodating student lounge. For these reasons, we see it as a natural Cancer, the sign of nurture, sentiment, family, and the home. Though it’s not a formal home, the ambient lighting, comfortable seating, and community gatherings that take place in the Carriage House provide an unparalleled sense of ease. The Carriage House is also home to the Office of Student Engagement, a department that works to ensure students nurture their own tendencies to give back to and empower their communities.
Leo ♌️: Campbell Memorial Chapel
What building can you see from across the entire campus, glinting, beaconing, welcoming? The Campbell Memorial Chapel, of course, whose Leo energy is so intense you can feel it from the bottom of Chapel-ahem-Hill. Even though the Chapel has a palpable ego, we can’t help but love and cherish the space where our campus community can gather in its entirety. Whether we’re ushering in the new school year at Opening Convocation, basking in the mirth of the season during Candlelight, or engaging in a campus-wide lecture that will help spark community change, the Chapel brings us closer together: the mark of a generous, natural leader, a Leo.
Virgo ♍️: Jennie King Mellon Library
How obvious to make JKM Library the Virgo, but we implore you to consider that sometimes the obvious choice is the right choice. Virgos are known for their hardworking nature, their immaculate organizational tendencies, and their ability to be the ‘good man in a storm.’ They also love books, details, research, and analytics. So like, what else are we supposed to do? And there is a 24-hour lab because Virgos are well-acquainted with anxiety.
Libra ♎️: Braun Falk Coolidge
Cooperation, balance, diplomacy. Tenets of the Libra way and also testaments to how our three-for-one building manages to house such a diverse array of activities. From the Copy Center to International Affairs to the Women’s Institute, this building is filled to the brim with wildly divergent spheres that all contribute to a highly functional Chatham. Libras value friendship and peace while boasting strong intellectual skills. They are also terribly indecisive which is maybe how this building wound up having three different names.
Scorpio ♏️: Rea House
Imagine a beautiful house—stately, historic, commanding. In the basement, you find a door to a room that is locked. If you were to open that door, however, you’d discover a technicolor brick room filled with the graffiti musings of Chatham students across generations: Rea Coffeehouse. Obviously, Rea House is a Scorpio: alluring, mysterious, deep as a well, and absolutely worth the work it takes to win them over. As the home of the Honors Program Living Learning Community, Rea House is warm, inviting, and devoted to the brave and passionate pursuits of friendship and intellectual evolution. It’s also filled to the brim with secrets—have you ever heard the story of the love tunnels? Truth or legend, she’ll never tell.
Sagittarius ♐️: Eddy Theatre
Sagittarians have strong theatre kid energy; they are philosophical, friendly, hilarious, extroverted, and teeming with enthusiasm and ideas. Eddy Theatre has long been the home of Chatham’s theatre kids and Chatham has long been a place that dispels the myth of the misfit theatre kid; song, dance, and skit are built into our very DNA. Many, many Chatham students have found their way to the Eddy Theatre stage, regardless of previous performance experience. There is something distinctly Sagittarian about believing anything is possible to the point where it becomes contagious.
Capricorn ♑️: Mellon Building
Capricorns are often regarded as the most stoic and serious members of the zodiac; they’re also known to value ‘high-quality craftsmanship.’ And while Mellon is arguably one of the most beloved buildings on campus, there is no way around it— this building takes itself seriously, with oak-paneled walls, ornate carvings at every turn, an in-house library, a stunning staircase that leads to the office of Chatham’s President. Capricorns are smart, calculating, and what many consider the power players of the zodiac. And though Andrew Mellon wasn’t a Capricorn, his house continues to call the shots.
Aquarius ♒️: Esther Barazzone Center
Which of these buildings is not like the other? Unique, standalone, difficult to pin down — the Esther Barazzone Center is distinctly individual, exactly what an Aquarius strives to be. Built to be the hub of Chatham’s Eden Hall Campus, the EBC is designed to accommodate intellectual lectures, community workshops, and social gatherings that work to build a more sustainable future, an ambitious enough humanitarian effort to appeal to any Aquarian. And beyond that, it’s beautiful in a weird way: only an Aquarius could commit this successfully to a lime green color scheme.
Pisces ♓️: Art & Design Center
We feel that the Art & Design Center doesn’t get nearly enough love for what a creative and visual space it affords our art and design students, not dissimilar from how Pisces are often discounted as fragile members of the zodiac. Pisces are artistic, intuitive, creative, compassionate, and extremely dreamy; what better combination could an artist ask for? The ADC has spacey skylights, high ceilings, and a rich Chatham history (it used to be the gym!); it’s an artist’s wonderland. If you’re looking for some inspiration, we implore you to walk to the ends of campus for this one-of-a-kind space.
Looking to form your own opinions about what the stars say about these buildings? Schedule a visit and decide for yourself!
