For first-year students living in the dorm hall, Amstutz, it is known that the ninth-floor button in the elevator appears not to work and creates a mystery about the floor’s existence.
Some students speculate that it is an extra floor used for housing COVID-positive students, or extra rooms there in case the next class has a larger population than the last.
Even if students walk up to the eighth floor’s staircase, the door leading up to the ninth floor is locked
Behind the door is the building’s Ninth Floor Suite, renovated in the ’90s by former AU president, Dr. G. William Benz. He held his term from 1993 to 2006 and designed the suite with his wife.
“When you go up there, it looks like you step back in time,” said Stephanie Argo, assistant manager of hospitality and business operations.
The reason for this suite’s existence and its placement in Amstutz is because of its secret passageway connecting its guests to the John C. Myer’s Convocation Center.
“The reason why that suite was put in there is so important people would be able to access Convo without having to walk outside,” said Argo. “If you take the elevator, and you have to have a special key for that, it goes down into the basement and connects over to convo. It’s underneath here.”
Argo explained that Convo’s storage goes underground beneath Amstutz, creating a secluded path connecting the two buildings.
Some notable people who have stayed in the suite are Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Charleton Heston, an American actor, and Ronald Reagan, the fortieth U.S president.
Each of these important figures is photographed and commemorated on the wall of the suite’s kitchen.
Upon walking out of the elevator and into the suite, the first room is a living room decorated with vintage couches and cupboards filled with colored glass vases. The view from outside the windows shows most of the campus, as it’s nearly as tall as The Archer Library, Ashland’s tallest building.
The Ninth Floor Suite receives about 40 to 50 reservations per year, most of which are for wedding nights, graduation stays, prom nights, and business trips. “It’s here for anybody who wants it,” said Argo. “We’ve had people book it for graduation, homecoming, and for speakers coming to the university.”
Anyone can request the suite on the accommodations page at Ashland.edu. Each night costs $100 for university affiliates and $100 plus taxes for external visitors.
