Havemeyer tunnel system

The Havemeyer tunnel system is one of two tunnel systems that are officially open to the public (the other is the Kent tunnel system. Like its twin on the east side of campus, it is unusually clean and well-lit by tunnel standards. This tunnel system includes Havemeyer Hall, Lewisohn Hall, Mathematics Hall, and Dodge Hall. Sometimes Havemeyer-Mathematics is closed, and sometimes Dodge-Lewisohn is closed. Whether the doors are open depends on whether maintenance has propped them open. From Math-Lewisohn, an eastward branch leads to the Earl tunnels, but as of a few years ago, workmen have installed a locked door here.

At the Havemeyer end of the tunnel system, you will find a (sometimes locked) door that leads towards the not-officially-open upper level of the Old Powerhouse. The region of the powerhouse that you reach when entering from Havemeyer is quite unusual. For one thing, once you pass through the aforementioned sometimes-locked door, you'll notice that there's a huge open space above it and in the direction of the west side of Havemeyer. You can actually climb on top of the tunnel that got you in this way and explore the enormous open space. For another thing, there is a large anteroom before you get to the walkway around the upper level of the Old Powerhouse itself, and workmen offices line this space. This anteroom was built right in the space where the original first floor entrance to Havemeyer used to be, before the decision was made to raise campus level by a full two stories. You can actually see bricked-over Havemeyer windows that used to open to the outdoors. In some spots, you can also see above you the support arches that are holding up the brick plaza that is on what is now campus level in front of Havemeyer.

The door with a padlock on (101C) is an office. More mysteriously yet, the door next to it (101D) leads into another huge open space that extends up two stories above you. The pitch darkness is broken by light streaming in from above you - the ceiling of this room is actually the metal grate that is right next to the campus-level entrance to Havemeyer on the north side of the building. There is also a door in the general vicinity which will get you into the old Computer Center, and a dark, elevated passageway behind some machinery which leads in the direction of Mathematics.

Entry points

• From the Havemeyer lobby, take the X stairway that is on your left to the bottommost floor. Through the doors and around your right is the entrance (double doors) to the tunnel to Math.
• From the Math lobby, take the main stairway to the bottom floor and go through the steel door at the bottom (it's always open).
• From the Dodge College Walk door, go down the short staircase and straight through the door. Follow the hall all the way around. Just short of the double glass doors at the end of the hall is a blast door which may be open.
• If any door in this system seems locked, just hit the wheelchair opener button. This works every time, even when the doors are locked normally.