The Cottage has been an important figure of the CHS community since the 1950’s. A continuous stream of students could be found heading towards the cottage. Some were finishing assignments, some were helping to get the various broadcasts and publications up and running, and some came just to hang out. Whatever the reason, most students would eventually find their way to the squat brick building on the other side of the quad at some point in their CHS careers. Now, the demolition of the cottage marks the end of an era.
The Cottage is slated to be demolished in October, according to the Prop S construction plans. The demolition will make way for a new Science and Technology wing of the building. The new wing will house the currently displaced Wardrobe, Yearbook, GNN, Cooking, and Globe program, as well as a renovated science and languages wing. Until completion, which is estimated to be around 2011, the programs will be housed in several trailer/annexes, which are located just off of the math wing.
As the Cottage comes to an end, more and more find themselves looking back further, into the older days of the Cottage.
“None of the walls were there, it wasn’t classrooms like that, and there was only one bathroom,” Honors Calculus and Integrated Math Four teacher Stacy Felps said. “There was a real working fireplace, with actual wood that would burn and everything. It was not classroom feeling like, at all.  It was very much more like it was a converted home.”
Others remember days spent in a space that was more of a real cottage than what is found today.
“I was a student at CHS, and I had sewing in the Cottage with Mrs. Smith,” Broadcast and Yearbook teacher Christine Stricker said.  “We also had a women’s rights group that would meet in the living room area, which is where the Yearbook and Broadcast space is now.  There was a big couch and a coffee table and a thick rug… It was really like a living room.”
Although, more recently the Cottage held the Journalism, Yearbook, Wardrobe, Broadcast and Cooking classes, the subjects taught used to be more limited in the space.
“The child development classes used to be in there…  All of the things you would associate with Home Ec,” Felps said. “They had family living, child development, and those kind of things, all of that in the Cottage.”
This idea of classes within a home was quite modern for the early time period of the Cottage.
“I ran into an alum recently, who was here when the Cottage was built, and he said that the Cottage and the tech building were ahead of their time,” CHS Principal Louise Losos said. “First of all, you had the college campus feel of walking among buildings, and for the Cottage, what they had was a little home on the school grounds where they taught sewing, cooking, etc…  So it was a Home Ec in a home, and that was well ahead of its time.”
Some actually believed that the Cottage was a home, thanks to a little encouragement from the teachers.
“I actually had freshmen believing that our Principal, Don Hugo, lived there, which was why there was a bathroom and a kitchen and stuff,” Honors Geometry and Calculus AB teacher Michael Rust said. “I said that he lived in there when it was the floods of ’93.  That’s why they put the bathrooms in, so he could use it since his house was flooded.”
As the demolition looms closer, students and staff reflect on life in the Cottage. Separated from the school, many felt that the Cottage possessed something more for the students.
“I feel that the students really thought of the Cottage has a home of sorts,” Stricker said. “They spent a lot of extra time there, working on assignments, and it just became a big part of their lives. It was so cozy and comfortable; it really was like a second home.”
Students agree, claiming that the cottage was different. The break from a normal classroom setup allowed students more freedom.
“It’s separated from the school, so it’s kind of like its own little world,” sophomore Alexa Stanley said. “You can do a lot of stuff there, like Ms. Williams would always let us eat there, and she would always let us roam around… You can’t really do that, in just a regular classroom.”
The Cottage also holds a special place in other’s hearts, as former students reminisce about their days in the building.
“Over my four years I got to know that office quite well,” former CHS student Jeremy Bleeke said. “It was always a mess, it usually smelled like Indian food, and for all we know it may have harbored asbestos, but despite its flaws it was definitely my favorite place on campus.”
Even for those who did not take specific classes in the Cottage, it was always thought of as a comfortable place to hang out.
“I never took Yearbook or anything like that, but I used to go over because my friends were there,” Integrated Math One and AP Statistics teacher Chris Moody said. “It was just a comfortable place to be, and a lot more informal then the classes in the regular building.”
“The faculty held my wedding shower in the Cottage” Marketing and Personal Finance teacher Marci Boland said. “It was the week before my wedding and it was so nice to relax with friends.”
Although the dynamic and memories created by the Cottage will certainly be missed, others will mourn more specific aspects of it.
“I’ll miss the window by my desk,” Stricker said. “It looked out onto the Quad, and I saw a lot of stuff through that window. Camp-outs, senior pranks, fights, games… I saw it all through the window, just as it was happening. That was really special.”
Still others will miss the connections the Cottage provided, not just to students and staff, but to those who inhabited the building before them.
“There was, for me, a sense of connection there, not only with my fellow members of the managing staff but also with the students who had worked there before me,” Bleeke said. “The awards on the walls and the old Globe issues stacked up in the storage closet were a constant reminder that this was a place with a long tradition of student journalism.”
At the moment, students and staff agree that the temporary homes found in the trailers will suffice, but it just isn’t the Cottage.
“It’s going to be different, because Ms. Williams only gets half of an annex, and that’s pretty small,” sophomore Caroline Kennard said. “It’s pretty small to fit an entire studio into, so it’s going to be pretty cramped.”
The trailers focus more on functionality than on creating a homey environment.
“I think for the students, the annexes/trailers are generic and characterless,” Losos said. “The cottage, for all its faults, had a certain feel to it… The trailers are just four walls.”
After saying goodbye to the Cottage, people turn their sights to the new building wing that is set to replace the Cottage. Some hope for a similar experience in the new space.
“Students who use the new facilities will form their own memories there, and that space will be special for them,” Bleeke said.
Others are doubtful of the same Cottage dynamic existing in the wing.
“They’re not rebuilding a new cottage in its place; it’ll just be a building.  It’s not really the same,” Stanley said. “It takes a long time for a place to become old like that.”
And so, as October looms ever closer, staff and students prepare themselves for a fond farewell. Cottage memories will be cherished by those who had the privilege of working within its doors. Whether things will ever be the same again, only time will tell.
“It will be sad day when it comes down, because it’s an old friend, and it’s a part of what has helped make Clayton a great school,” Losos said, “but it’s time to turn the page, and start building for the next century.”