The last time high-rise apartments looked this good, Penn students grooved to disco music and Richard Nixon was still president.
For the first time since Harnwell College House was built in the early 1970s, it's gotten a renovation.
New appliances and surfaces, tiled floors and efficient storage space will greet students moving in this fall to the top 10 floors.
Changes were also made behind the walls.
In a building formerly plagued by broken pipes and failing appliances, the renovated floors feature new plumbing in the kitchens and bathrooms and new electrical systems throughout the apartments.
Although some high rise problem areas persist - students will still have to deal with erratic and slow elevators - the general opinion of the renovations is positive.
College sophomore and Harnwell resident Natalie Hamilton, who also lived in Harnwell last year, said she is "ecstatic" about the new look.
The biggest difference, Hamilton said, is that the new space feels much cleaner and the appliances are brand new.
The apartment did have a few issues, Hamilton admitted. Soon after moving in, she had to file minor repair reports - the door would not shut, the hanger space was almost nonexistent and the hall sinks leaked.
The Harnwell renovations are the first phase of President Amy Gutmann's $106.5 million program to renovate the three high-rise dorms on campus.
Ten of Harnwell's 24 floors have been renovated so far - the top two floors were renovated last summer, and the preceding eight were completed this summer.
Each room's refrigerator, formerly attached to the other kitchen utilities, is now housed in its own alcove in the kitchen.
Dave Dunn, project manager for Penn's Division of Design and Construction, said this will make refrigerators easier to fix.
The oven comes with burners on top, also a change from the old apartments, where the stove was a separate unit.
Based on student comments from the previous year, the kitchen shelves were re-spaced to make room for a microwave.
Doug Berger, director of Housing and Conference Services, said that Penn will continue to seek student feedback regarding the renovations throughout the year.
Students living below the renovated floors will still benefit from the summer construction - the entire building was outfitted with new pipes for air conditioning and heating.
Berger said that most of the campus residential facilities will eventually undergo changes. The high rises were given priority due to the number of students affected whenever pipes leaked or air conditioning failed.
A flood on the top floor could affect all of the floors below it, Berger said, which made the high rise renovations a necessity.
Berger and Dunn said that they were pleased with the construction process this summer, which stayed on schedule and within its budget of $16.5 million.
