herr2ck: Mushroom Kingdom

I wrote up this entry pre-mushroom situation, and its intended name was “The Suite Life of Lawrence Tower,” (a pun on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody,) which I regret not being able to use.

September 2025.

Lawrence Tower is a weird outlier among dorms on Ohio State’s campus in that it was not originally built for nor occupied by the university. It was first a Holiday Inn, and was purchased by Campus Partners and converted to a dorm in 2009. It is located north of campus itself, north of St. John Arena and Lane Avenue, south of Tuttle Park, east of Riverwatch Tower and the Olentangy River, and west of Tuttle Park Place and off-campus housing north of Lane.

History

Lawrence Tower as a Holiday Inn in 2007. (Google Maps)

I thought Lawrence Tower was a Mid-Century Modern design, but it doesn’t appear on the historic campus map until 1980 (give or take a few years, since the aerial doesn’t update with every year). I’ll attribute it as late Modernism with certain Postmodern styling cues.

Since Lawrence Tower was first built as a hotel, every room has a bathroom with a bathtub (the only other bathtub I’ve seen thus far on campus was one literally filled with cockroaches in Jones Tower). Some rooms are triples, which is also an unusual compromise between a double and quad. It had the creative original name of “Lane Avenue Residence Hall” until it was renamed in tandem with the new north dorms to its current name. Lawrence also served as quarantine housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think the consensus on Lawrence Tower is that the rooms are nice, but students find it annoying to have to cross Lane to get to classes, and it’s far from food options. It seems better than the crappy south campus dorms and the old ones up north, but one could still do better.

Lawrence Tower gained notoriety in fall 2024, where an interesting situation befell the dorm. A resident in the building noticed a mushroom growing out of their bathroom wall, which was posted onto Reddit, and the situation later grew in magnitude from there. I am somewhat proud to admit that I knew this individual personally, and recommended that they post the image onto r/bathroomshrooms, where it gained a lot of traction. They then reposted it onto Ohio State’s subreddit, which resulted in concern from parents and attention from the student government.

The infamous mushroom in Lawrence Tower. (u/frickgurrrll on Reddit)

Apparently, Lawrence Tower suffered a water leak, which caused issues such as the aforementioned fungus growth, as well as mold. Per classic OSU fashion, the whole debacle has pretty much been swept under the rug by the administration. The Lantern, and eventually larger Columbus news outlets, have picked up the issue and published articles of their own. If you want to read more about the mushrooms from primary sources, here are some Reddit posts:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OSU/comments/1gcxtj7/mushroom_growing_out_of_wallpaper_in_lawrence/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OSU/comments/1gj6d63/update_on_lawrence_tower_mushroom/?rdt=40486

https://www.reddit.com/r/OSU/comments/1gjrkys/lawrence_mold/

At the moment, USG is attempting to pass a resolution that condemns the usage of Lawrence Tower as a residence hall. Several lawsuits have been filed, and the dorm remains closed. As a result, this post will only cover the exterior. (If it reopens by spring 2026, I’ll update this article with interior pictures, though.)

MAJ Robert Lawrence Jr. (Wikipedia)

To continue the theme of dorms named after veterans that attended Ohio State, Lawrence Tower was named after Major Robert Lawrence Jr. in 2015. Born in Chicago in 1935, he attended college at Bradley University, earning his degree in chemistry. He was commissioned into the Air Force Reserve as a second lieutenant after he graduated, and after becoming designated as a pilot, he served as an instructor for the German Air Force. He earned his PhD in physical chemistry from Ohio State in 1965. After earning his doctorate, Lawrence was selected as the United States’ first Black astronaut. Sadly, he never got to go to space, as he was tragically killed during an airplane crash while teaching another pilot. Had he lived, he would likely have flown aboard the Space Shuttle.