University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, October 15, 1991
IN THE TOWN
5
Abandoned Theta Chi house lures partiers, sightseers
By Alexander Bloemhof Kansan staff writer
"Welcome to Lucifer's."
The spray-painted message lures trespassers into the deserted Theta Chi fraternity house at 1329 W. Ninth St.
"There is this devilish atmosphere," said John Wise, Lawrence sophomore. "This old, abandoned fraternity house is just sort of an institutionalized
spooky place.
"The attraction is
just going
there late at
night and not
knowing what
you o ' l
encounter.
Ben Douglas.
No Trespassing
Lawrence sophomore, said the fact that the building was off-limits also might attract visitors.
"It's just kind of fun, probably because you're not supposed to be there," Douglas said. "Plus, with the empty rooms, the darkness in there and the graffiti, you adrenaline being when you're in there late at night."
Roger Rieder, who lived in the house from 1965 to 1970 with 45 to 65 fraternity members, agreed.
"It's kind of spooky right now," Rieders said.
But he prefers to remember the house's past.
"It was a nice place to live," he said. "We had parties on the rooftop, and from the tower you could see over the whole valley, basically."
Empty beer cans, discarded cigarette packs and scorched logs indicate that the building has been used for parties even after it was abandoned. But the police have reeves of the Lawrence police said police routinely patrolled the building
erings up there," Reeves said. "There have been some beer parties, but the biggest drawback the building has had was from prowling and homeless people."
Some people have said that the skeletal remains of the building have been used for devil-worshiping and Satanic rituals.
We've both complained about gath-
"The graffiti indicate that some-
might like that
might have
gone on, but
it has never
firmed.
firmed."
Reeves
Reeves referred to grand such as "Welcome to Hell" and "Lucifer Lives" — headlines for paintings of skulls and crosses.
but Timothy Miller, assistant professor of religious studies, said he did not believe the rumors.
"I think they're just kids with lively imagination, who think it's neat to talk about Satan," Miller said. "To my students, it's been any serious cult organization."
Most of the graffiti, however, honor first loves or musicians such as The Who or Lenny Kravitz. Some of the artists they attract sightseers on weekends.
But the neon colors and the vines that cling to the walls emphasize that the building is a ruin.
John Shaver, who owns the building,
said he put up N trespassing signs to
deter people from having parties in the
shell and to prevent accidents.
Structurally, however, the building is sound, said Shaver, of Salina.
"There is no problem that way," he said.
instructors who criticized the building's plan when it was submitted by a student.
That the shell of the building remains intact after more than 30 years seems to refute architecture
When De Ros Hogue, a 1984 KU graduate and member of Theta Chi, received a bad grade on his architecture project, he decided to put the plan to the test of reality. With money from his father and the Greek Builders Inc. holding company, Hogue completed the house in 1959.
He claimed to be the first one in the United States to use slip form construction in a residential building. With the slip form construction method, concrete is poured into prepared molds. The method was used primarily for building grain elevators.
Theta Chi lost the house in 1972 because of declining membership and loss of funds, said Brad Proctor. Theta Chi also chaperon and chapter adviser for the fraternity.
"In the early '70s, being in a fraternity was not the thing to do," Proctor said. "Membership dwindled and we couldn't pay the mortgage anymore."
After the fraternity closed its Lawrence chapter, a commune group lived in the house, before it was abandoned for good.
Ujanaa West was a group of 24adults and five children who wanted to explore communal living. Ujanaa means extended family in Swahili.
The group had to end its project and move after less than a year, when the building changed owners.
It changed hands several times since then, but no one has lived there.
Rieder said it was sad to see the ruins.
"You can't spend that much time in a place, have so many friends and so many good times and not have feelings about that place."
Jesse Blevins, 14, of Lawrence, sees "Lucifer's House" as an opportunity to climb around and have fun (above). Many late-night artists have practiced their work on the walls of the old Theta Chi house (left).
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