The residents of 1226 Broad Street are enjoying life as housemates on the brink of campus. However, Kevin Charette, Gus Fulgoni and Linda Omana (all ’15) and Uri Milian ’16 don’t like to be restricted by the idea of a house name.
“We’ve never, like, come up with something communal,” Fulgoni said when asked about the name of the house.
Although the house doesn’t have a title, this hasn’t stopped the housemates from creating a close-knit community. The group spends most weekends together hosting parties, playing video games, watching movies and napping.
“We all sleep a lot, it’s a communal activity,” Charette said.
“Everyone sleeps wherever they want,” Milian added.
The house also boasts honorary resident Enrique Romero ’15. He confirmed that the house community has developed through the group’s shared interest in naps.
“They sleep a lot,” he said.
The housemates have also bonded over their culinary interests. Charette and honorary resident Romero are both founding members of Filla Dilla, and the group frequently cooks and eats together.
“We eat a lot of food—we make really good food,” Charette said.
“I can make pizzas from scratch,” Omana added.
Charette, Fulgoni, Omana and Milian are the first collective group of students to call 1226 Broad Street their home—the building had a unique history before housing students.
“This house wasn’t owned by students before us,” Fulgoni said. “I was renting with the same landlord. She was thinking about buying the house and making it a place where students could live.”
Prior to their arrival, 1226 Broad was a church, complete with bells on the porch that rang every Sunday and a dungeon-like basement room.
“My room used to be the chapel,” Milian said.
The church’s remaining elements have proved to be mostly enjoyable for the group, but some of the building’s structural elements are a little unsettling.
“There’s a creepy room downstairs that you can lock yourself in but only from the inside,” Omana said.
The group has made a home on Broad Street no less, enjoying good friends, good food and an overall good time. The housemates’ only complaint is their limited view of campus.
“It’s annoying that we can see ARH all the time,” Fulgoni said.