Escher House has a rich history of being a pretty sweet house.  ''The [[Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC)|ICC]] page has more information on the history of the ICC.''

During the 1950s, the [[wikipedia:University_of_Michigan|University of Michigan]] responded to post-war growth by developing North Campus, ensuring future demand for nearby student housing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://umhistory.dc.umich.edu/mort/north_campus/North%20Campus/|title=The University of Michigan Millennium Project|website=The North Campus|access-date=2016-08-30}}</ref> The ICC persuaded the University to set aside three acres of a hilltop off Broadway for a "cooperative village." When the [[Recession of 1958wikipedia:Recession_of_1958#Governmental ActionsGovernment_actions|government made low-interest loans available in 1958]], the ICC began planning in earnest. Due to University hesitation to co-sign, however, the project was delayed until Congress removed the co-signature requirement in 1964.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.icc.coop/prospective/houses/escher/eschermore.php|title=Inter-Cooperative Council|website=Escher Cooperative House|access-date=2016-08-30}}</ref> The ICC finally procured a $1.24 million, 50-year low-interest loan from [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Developmentwikipedia:United_States_Department_of_Housing_and_Urban_Development|HUD]] for its North Campus project in 1968. This was the first-ever HUD loan to a non-profit student-owned housing program, marking a high point of student organizing at the campus which had already helped birth the 1960s student movement through the [[wikipedia:Students_for_a_Democratic_Society|Students for a Democratic Society]]. According to Luther Buchele, the shaggy ICC delegation that traveled to Chicago to accept the loan underscored this unprecedented level of student activity:<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>One middle aged woman in the HUD office noted the long hair on John Atchaz, John Gourlay, Rex Chisholm, and Smokey Geyer. She said haughtily to me "This must be a delegation of visitors." "Would you like to loan a group like this a million dollars?" I asked. She answered, "I certainly would not!" I then informed her that HUD had indeed made such a loan and she looked sour.</blockquote>[[Image:georgia o'keeffe cooperative.JPG|thumb|250px350px|right|Escher Cooperative House]]Tampold & Wells, an architectural firm which had designed co-ops at several Canadian universities, laid out a complex consisting of eighteen interconnected "houses" arranged around the crest of the hill the ICC had reserved. [[File:Nc-construction.jpg|300px|thumb]] Although a fall 1970 opening had been scheduled, the building was not ready in time for the start of classes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.icc.coop/story/history/history2.php|title=History - Part 2|website=www.icc.coop|access-date=2016-08-30}}</ref> Prospective residents slept on the floor at the adjacent fraternity house (now the Stearns Building) until the building was finished.

Despite the initial plans, it does not appear that the North Campus building ever functioned as eighteen separate co-ops. Instead, the planned eighteen were consolidated into nine “houses” making up the “North Campus Division” of the ICC. Each house had 24 members and its own treasurer, although co-op meals were shared in the two basement dining halls. The names of the houses reflected the social, political, and literary interests of members at the time: [[Sinclair ]] was named for then-imprisoned Ann Arbor poet and activist [[wikipedia:John Sinclair (poet)|John Sinclair]], [[Russell ]] for pacifist philosopher [[wikipedia:Bertrand Russell|Bertrand Russell]], [[Zapata ]] for Mexican revolutionary [[wikipedia:Emiliano Zapata|Emiliano Zapata]], and [[Bag End ]] for the home of [[wikipedia:Bilbo Baggins|Bilbo Baggins]] in [[wikipedia:J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s [[wikipedia:Shire (Middle-earth)|Shire]].With 9 houses, members possessed both a housing contract ''and'' a boarding contract in one of the kitchens - O'Keeffe was the Northwest Boarding Coop, Renaissance was the Southeast Boarding Coop. Southeast Boarding Coop meals were vegetarian whereas Northwest Boarding Coop meals were not.  Residents joked about the "[[Tofu Curtain]]" dividing the building just as the [[wikipedia:Iron Curtain|Iron Curtain]] had divided Europe.<ref name="Campeau, 2010">{{cite news|last1=Campeau|first1=Lisa|title=Remembering the Tofu Curtain|url=http://www.icc.coop/story/alumni/cooperator/AlumCooperator2010Final.pdf|accessdate=2 March 2017|work=The Alumni Cooperator|publisher=Inter-Cooperative Council|date=2010–2011|page=19}}</ref>

By the early 1980s, the North Campus co-op system showed signs of strain. To address rising vacancies and turnover, the board voted in 1984 to make the building's large rooms optional singles, instead of assuming that each would have two students. Despite this policy, the building effectively shut down for lack of members in 1985occupancy remained lower than desired. Consultant Jim Jones, who had worked with other large houses at the [[wikipedia:University of Texas Inter-Cooperative Council|Inter-Cooperative Council of Austin]], attributed the problems to the limited time of the co-op population, which consisted almost entirely of graduate students. Jones also considered the administration of nine separate houses to be inefficient.[[File:Escher-bonfire.jpg|300px|thumb]]

With the ICC Board, Jones oversaw the 1985 rebirth of North Campus as two houses: Renaissance and O'Keeffe. Each was organized around one of the two basement kitchens, similarly to the Austin College Houses model. Consolidating the nine co-ops into two may have saved the North Campus project from the unfortunate fate that befell other large student co-ops like Berkeley's [[wikipedia:Barrington Hall (Berkeley, California)|Barrington Hall]]), although cultural factors may have also played a significant role.

Over the 1990s, and into the 2000s, Renaissance and O'Keeffe had distinct cultures. For a time, Renaissance meals were vegetarian while a point of contention was that the larger O' Keefe house could afford both vegetarian and omnivore meals were not. Residents joked about the "[[Tofu Curtain]]" dividing the building just as the [[Iron Curtain]] options, whereas Renaissance had divided Europe.<ref name="Campeau, 2010">{{cite news|last1=Campeau|first1=Lisa|title=Remembering the Tofu Curtain|url=http://wwwno vegetarian options.icc.coop/story/alumni/cooperator/AlumCooperator2010Final.pdf|accessdate=2 March 2017|work=The Alumni Cooperator|publisher=Inter-Cooperative Council|date=2010–2011|page=19}}</ref> The increasingly expensive Ann Arbor rental market prompted a gradual increase in the number of undergraduate and international students at co-opsthe Renaissance and O'Keeffe. The old problem of inefficient administration reared its head once more, as two separate teams of officers coped with peak occupancy.

== History from the old wiki = Notable Events === As the University of Michigan expanded onto the green fields of North Campus in the 1950s, members of the Inter-Cooperative Council saw a unique opportunity for expanding the co-op system as well. They persuaded the University to set aside three acres of a hilltop off Broadway for future co-op development, but it was not until the 1960s, and the promise of assistance from the United States government, that the dream of a new North Campus co-op moved closer to reality.{{:nc-construction.jpg?300 |}}In the 1960s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was funding a range of new housing across the country, including affordable housing for college students. Working with the University, ICC members managed to secure a $1.24 million, 50-year low-interest loan from HUD to build a brand-new housing co-op complex. This was the first-ever HUD loan to a non-profit student-owned housing program, marking a high point of student organizing at the campus which had already helped birth the 1960s student movement through the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Society|Students for a Democratic SocietyPlumbageddon]]. Tampold & Wells, an architectural firm which had designed co-ops at several Canadian universities, laid out a co-op complex consisting of eighteen interconnected "houses" arranged around the crest of the hill. Although a fall 1970 opening had been scheduled, the co-ops were not yet complete for the start of classes. Its prospective residents students slept on the floor at the adjacent fraternity house, now the Stearns Building, until the building was finished. Despite the initial plans, it does not appear that North Campus ever functioned as eighteen separate co-ops. Instead, the planned eighteen were consolidated into nine "houses" making up the "North Campus Division" of the Inter-Cooperative Council. Each house had 24 members and its own treasurer, although co-op meals were shared in the lower level dining halls. The names of the houses reflected the social and political concerns of members at the time - Sinclair was named for then-imprisoned Ann Arbor poet and activist <br>[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sinclair_%28poet%29|John Sinclair]], Russell for pacifist philosopher [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_russell|Bertrand RussellCOVID-19]], and Zapata for Mexican revolutionary <br>[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emiliano_Zapata|Emiliano Zapata]] - as well as more literary inspirations. By the early 1980s, the North Campus co-op system showed signs Northeast blackout of strain. To address rising vacancies and turnover, the board voted in 1984 to make the building's large rooms optional singles, instead of assuming that each would have two students. In 1985, however, the building was technically shut down for lack of members. Consultant Jim Jones, who had worked with other large houses at the Inter-Cooperative Council of Austin, attributed the problems to the limited time of the co-op population, which at that time consisted almost entirely of graduate students, combined with what he viewed as the inefficient administrative structure of nine separate houses.{{ :escher-bonfire.jpg?300|}} With the ICC Board, Jones oversaw the rebirth of North Campus as two houses, Renaissance and O'Keeffe, organized around their respective kitchens, based roughly on the Austin College Houses model. The Board also considered the option of consolidating the entire building into a single co-op, but decided against it. Jones, noting that the North Campus building had been artificially "defined out of existence" as a cohesive whole, in 1987 proposed creating the institution of a new "third body" to represent the shared interests of all North Campus co-op residents, substituting for the old "North Campus Division." This entity became Escher House. The consolidation of the nine co-ops may have averted the unfortunate fate that befell other large student co-ops, such as Berkeley's Barrington Hall, although cultural factors may have played a significant role as well. Over the 1990s, and into the 2000s, co-op residents maintained distinct cultures at Renaissance and O'Keeffe House. For a time, Renaissance meals were vegetarian while O' Keefe meals were not, prompting talk of a "Tofu Curtain" dividing the houses as the Iron Curtain had divided the city of Berlin. In recent years, the increasingly expensive Ann Arbor rental market has prompted a gradual increase in the number of undergraduate students at the co-ops, and they have attracted an increasing number of international students as well. The co-ops are truly a global microcosm, but continue to share in the simple pleasures of Work Holiday and groundhog observation. In April 2014 Renaissance and O'Keeffe House voted to unite and formed Escher House. A new [[https://drive.google.com/a/umich.edu/#folders/0B_E9e2KLqwRSV1dCZ1RtQTFjeUE|Constitution2003]] was written, through combining the two old Constitutions and creating new positions and committees to help run the house as efficiently as possible.<br>