Our Chapter House

138 Gray Avenue | Ames, IA 50014

First Floor

Once you step inside the main entrance of our house, you are in the Grand Entrance Hall. The wood in this room is solid walnut, ¾-inches thick. The lighting fixtures are reminiscent of the arts and crafts / mission style that you find throughout the house.

When people enter the house for the first time, their eyes are naturally drawn to the transom above the grand staircase leading to the second floor. The center panel of the transom features the Acacia Crest, with stylized panels in Acacia colors on either side. Above the crest are the words Acacia Fraternity and below the crest are the words Koph Chapter Est. 1909.

On either side of the main staircase are two corridors that lead directly to main dining room in the chapter house. The Pugh Library is to the left of the grand stairway, and the Baker Classroom is located to the right.

The Pugh Library is a nice, quiet study space located on the first floor of the chapter house. In the center of the room, there is comfortable, semi-formal seating. On the back wall, a fireplace with a mantel on which the current composite of the chapter sits. Large windows on the left wall allow natural light to flow into the room. While the right side of the room features a set of five bookshelves on which trophies of the chapter are prominently displayed.

On the front wall of the library (not show) our historic grandfather clock is located next to the two doors to the library. These glass doors can be kept open or closed as needed.

While Brother Pugh did not live to see the completion of the room that bears his name in the chapter house, we feel certain that he would have been very happy with the final result.

One other room on the first floor is the Dr. Phillip L. Baker Classroom. This room features a fireplace, and above the mantel is a 75-inch smart TV. The room also contains five tables capable of seating 30+ people. The tables and chairs are mission-style furniture (stained walnut), continuing the overall theme of the chapter house.

On the west wall, all of the “Gold Book” Awards that we have won at Conclave since 2002 are on display. To the or left of these awards there are plaques with the names of all Iowa State Acacians who have won the Order of Pythagoras, Award of Merit, George F. Patterson Jr. Award, and the Roy C. Clark Award as well as the Iowa State Acacian of the Year Award.

If you ever wanted to know what a “five star” kitchen looks like, just take a look at these pictures! When you see them, the first two words that come to mind are “stainless steel”. Everything in this kitchen is stainless steel.

When we set out to design this kitchen, we gave our chef a piece of paper with only the outline of the room and told him, design the perfect kitchen for a fraternity that can be kept as clean as possible, as easily as possible, specify the ideal equipment that you would need, and do not worry about the cost. The result was a world class kitchen that we have been told is the equivalent of any kitchen that you would find in your finest a five-star restaurant. This kitchen has no equal in the Iowa State Greek Community.

The walls are stainless steel panels that can be readily cleaned and sanitized. Large refrigerators and a freezer provides ample storage space for food. Moveable storage racks provide plenty of space for dry goods, and a workstation for meal planning and record keeping is provided for the exclusive use of the chef. We also installed a ventless dishwashing system that can cycle a load of dishes once every 90 seconds. The water temperature reaches 180 degrees, and the dishes air dry with two minutes of exiting the dishwasher.

The one rule that we have established is that absolutely no one except the chef may use this kitchen – ever! We have kitchenettes on the second and third floors for use of members.

We also have a second refrigerator and ice machine (available 24/7) in the kitchen. The second refrigerator is used to hold leftover food and is avaliable 24/7. The ice machine is the only piece of non-dishwashing equipment that the men in the house can use in the kitchen whenever they wish.

The food service that we have contracted for provides for fifteen meals per week Sunday Dinner through Friday Lunch. There is also cereal, yogurt, granola, oatmeal, fresh fruit and toast with jelly, peanut butter and cream cheese. Breakfast food items are available every day of the week, 24/7.

Basement

Our recreation room features a pool table (which can also be converted into a ping pong table), a 14-foot shuffleboard table, a Foosball table and a poker table with six padded leather chairs. A small mini-refrigerator is also provided.

Additional seating includes high pool table chairs. Just outside the room across the hallways is small kitchenette with a microwave over for cooking snacks, and sink for cleaning up the area.

The recreation room is sponsored by Brother James M. Hanson. It is important to have an area where the Brothers can relax and have a good time, and the board made certain to address those needs when designing the chapter house!

Our personal theater features an 85-inch smart TV along with a Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X for watching movies and playing video games.

Comfortable seating for a minimum of ten members is provided, with plenty of room for additional seating as needed. A surround sound system will be added later once we decide on the ideal system for this space. In addition to overhead lighting (which can be dimmed as need), indirect lighting can be used as well to provide the true “theater experience”.

The theater is sponsored by the 1964 and 1965 pledge classes consisting of Brothers Louis Ball, Paul Figge, Michael Walker, Robert Cramer, Terry Thoem, Randy Elkin, David Fifield, Robert Howlett and Gary Barton.

The basement study area features a smart 65-inch TV. White boards will be added along the east wall (left side of the picture) as will an area rug to complete the room. The table and chairs are from the previous chapter house, as the men in the house wanted some of the rooms to utilize furniture from the previous house to carry the heritage of that house forward.

This study room is just off of the large workspace study room in the basement. It is arguably the quietist room in the house as all four walls and the ceiling are fully insulated. Being the basement, it is far from any other noise in the chapter house. As with all of the study and common areas of the chapter house, the lights turn on automatically as soon as you enter the room.

Second Floor Common Areas

The premier study room on the second floor was sponsored by Brother Richard Taylor. A prominent feature of this room is a stained-glass panel of the Grand Seal of Acacia. The view from this room is spectacular. Situated on the south side of the house, directly above the main entrance, the south wall is nearly all windows which allows for the maximum amount of natural light to flood into the room. One large table and six chairs, made from solid hickory, fills this space quite well without giving it the feel of being crowded.

The second study on the second floor is the Harold D. Zarr Jr. Study, who is also sponsoring the second floor gathering space and kitchenette, located just outside this room.

This room features a combination of furniture intended for different uses. On the west side of the room there is one large hickory table and eight hickory chairs that are useful for either individual or group study. On the east side of the room, a set of more relaxed and casual leather furniture is provided for the men so that they can sit and read a book or have a casual conversation. Windows on the south and in the southwest corner provide an excellent view of the street and Greek area.

Gathering spaces were an essential element of the original design of the chapter house. Although not shown in the picture, a 65-inch smart TV is located on the east wall of the gathering space that the members may view as they wish while they are relaxing in this space. The second floor common room features a single bar height table as well as a couch.

You will note that in the back of the picture it shows the kitchenette that is available on each of the top two floors of the chapter house. These are available for use by the members 24/7. If a Brother should chose, they can purchase and store individual food items in this space. Each kitchenette has a full-sized refrigerator, stove, microwave oven, sink and plenty of cabinet space. They also come fully furnished with a complete set of kitchen cooking utensils and dishes, plus cleaning supplies.

Third Floor Common Areas

On the third floor is the Thomas M. Whitney / GRIT Group Heritage Library. This room has always been designed to be the premier room of the chapter house. On the north wall is a portrait of Tom Whitney who founded the GRIT after graduating from college. The portrait of Tom Whitney was painted by his son-in-law, Gordon Smedt.

This room is the only one on the third floor with an eleven foot high ceiling. The walls are floor to ceiling solid ¾-inch walnut. Not walnut paneling or walnut veneer, it is the real thing! The door to the hallway and to the presidential suite both use electronically coded locks to protect the items in this room.

The table in the room was sponsored by Jim and Dianne McDonald. The table top is made from four pieces of solid 2-inch thick walnut. The wood used to make this table includes wood from Iowa walnut trees, making this table especially unique. The table seats eight.

You will note that on the south wall there are a series of large windows. In the center is a stained-glass panel that features the Acacia Crest. At night, this panel (as are the others in the house) is back lit so that it can be readily seen from the street. All of the stained-glass panels are original works of art based on Acacia symbols by Richard Shook, an artist who lives in Slater, IA. At night, the look of these panels just simply takes your breath away.

The bookshelves hold copies of books such as the Iowa State Bomb (former Iowa State yearbook) and other historical books from the chapter. Copies of the book written for the 100th anniversary of the chapter in 2009 are also kept here.

On the east side of the room is a locked glass cabinet that contains some of the most prized possessions of the chapter. The charter containing the names of the members when the chapter was recolonized is contained here, along with some of the most precious and historic items, photographs and other documents of the chapter and Fraternity. We also have a sign-in book from the early days of the chapter that contains the signatures of some of the original founders of the chapter.

This gathering space on the third floor is similar to the second floor space, but slightly different in design. This room has a 65-inch TV as well as a kitchenette off of this gathering space to the right of this photograph. Because the size and space of the room is slightly different from the second floor, this gathering space features two high-top tables.

We want these spaces to be inviting, relaxing spaces where the Brothers can take a break from their studies and build friendships with the other members of the fraternity, which is an essential part of our brotherhood.

Suites

Suite Style A

The house features three of the Suite Style A, one on each of the first, second, and third floor. Each of these suites has two sides, each housing two men with their own door to the hallway. Between each two sides is a bathroom shared by the four men. The first floor variant features an ADA compliant bathroom, and is there to accommodate any member who has a temporary or permanent disability. Each of these suites are located on the South-West corner, with the first floor rooms right by the stairwell and laundry room.