Open the door to a narrow hallway. Look straight, right, then at your phone to check the room number. Damn it, where is my math class? Loop around the hall, pass the classroom numbers: 101, 102 10- where the hell is 103? No seriously, it just doesn’t exist. 

Every year, students wander the halls of Holt like they’re trying to navigate a corn maze, running into the same student and laughing about how they just don’t understand where they are. Even returning students have a difficult time navigating this place. 

If you’ve been lucky enough not to get lost yet, the video provided below will give you a good idea of what students are up against. 

“Even though there are ‘directions’ to find classrooms, they don’t help much,” said Beatriz Rosales, a second-year student. She has had a couple of classes in Holt Hall and was evidently late for her first few classes. 

So what’s the story behind this labyrinth of a building?

In 1962, seven years prior to Holt Hall’s construction, Jacqueline Kennedy enlisted John Carl Warnecke to help design Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. Warnecke was a contextual architect, designing based on the existing surrounding environment. Although Warnecke was praised for creating new buildings that fit in with the old, contextual architecture is sometimes criticized for being plain and unoriginal. 

In 1969, Holt Hall’s $5 million construction began with Warnecke at the lead, perhaps influenced by pre-existing buildings like Kendall Hall on campus. Whatever the reason for this design choice, the outside of the building fits in well with Chico State’s aesthetic. The interior, however, remains bewildering to students. 

Despite this, Holt Hall remains a frequented building with a deep history. The previous life sciences building was Ayres Hall, but the summer of ‘72 changed everything for those in the science field. 

This big project even had a major impact on the campus layout. Sol-Wil-Le-No Avenue was removed and replaced with a walkable and bike-friendly area for students that lines the creek. 

Honoring Vesta Holt, a biology professor and faculty member from 1927 to 1957, the new life science complex was finally constructed. In 1974, the building was officially dedicated to Holt, her studies and her foundation of Omicron Theta Epsilon. 

Today, Holt Hall is filled with mostly biological science, math and nursing classes. Beyond the classrooms, it is home to the Ahart Herbarium, which preserves Chico’s rich history of plants – one of many hidden treasures found throughout the maze. 

Despite the confusing halls, this quirkiness is part of the charm and often the topic of conversation. “All the time, every single semester, probably five students per class [are late] for the first week,” said Dustin Paisley, a math professor in Holt Hall. 

Paisley has tried to give some tips to confused students: “Odd numbers are outer walls, even numbers are inner walls, large numbers are east, small numbers are west.” Even things that should be simple can get confusing and comical in Holt. “It is funny to see the looks on faces when you have to tell them how many turns to find a bathroom.”

Even those who have to know every nook and cranny still get lost from time to time. “I’ve been getting lost the past seven years,” said Adam Doak, a custodian in Holt Hall. He added the building is not only confusing, but possibly haunted and, at the very least, very eerie. “I’ve seen ghosts in this room before, too, no joke,” he said, referring to a mysterious locked room in the corner where a few cadavers are kept. 

Although Holt Hall may never be redesigned to make sense, there is more to this building than just confusing hallways. In some weird way, getting lost in there is what makes it unique. If you can navigate Holt Hall, maybe you can navigate life — or at least find something crazy to gawk at in the hallways. 

Maya DeHoyos can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].