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The Lawrence Apartments consist of a 12 floor high-rise building that has 1-bedroom apartments (Building #1, completely renovated in 2005), six 2-floor buildings that have 2-bedroom apartments (Buildings #2-7, built in the 1970’s), and seven new buildings that have studios, one-, and two-bedroom apartments (Buildings #8-14, built in 2002). Buildings 1, 10, 11, and 12 have elevators, the others do not. Pets are not allowed in any of the apartments at Lawrence.

These apartments are owned and maintained by Princeton University and house Princeton graduate students and their families. Floor plans and many useful forms (Intent to Vacate, Apartment Extension Requestion, etc) can be round on the Graduate Housing website.

Social activities at Lawrence are organized by the Lawrence Committee. These include barbecues, wine and cheese events, and outdoor activities. For more information or to become involved with the committee, attend a meeting or email them.

The Lawrence Apartment Emergency Action Plan, including phone numbers and email address of safety officials, can be found here.

For information on requesting maintenance or service, including extermination services, see the maintenance page.

The floors in buildings 2-7 are of vinyl linoleum. The bedrooms and living rooms in buildings 1 and 8-14 are carpeted, and the kitchen floors are linoleum. The bathroom is ceramic tile in all apartments.

The walls of the apartments are painted the standard white in buildings 1-7, while they are slightly off-white in buildings 8-14. Pictures can be hung with small nails or picture hooks. Adhesives and larger nails are prohibited.

Telephone jacks and Ethernet ports are available in all apartments, in the living room as well as the bedrooms. If you want phone service, you must contact Verizon.

If you desire cable television ($20-$60 per month, depending on your package), you must contact a third-party provider such as Comcast. After several years of requests, the university has decided that Lawrence does not need Tigernet, the university-subsidized package of cable channels. You may attempt to use an indoor antenna to receive free broadcasts, but most apartments outside of the high-rise do not receive good reception. Residents are not permitted to install satellite dishes.

In buildings 1-7, where the cost of electricity is not included in the rent, you should contact PSE&G to ensure that the electricity will be on when you move in. If you experience problems with PSE&G, read this FAQ item.

The Kitchen is equipped with a gas range (buildings 1-7) or electric range (buildings 8-14) and a refrigerator. Ventilation hoods are also installed in buildings 1 & 8-14.

Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are located in each apartment, and there are fire alarms in the hallways. Generally, the apartment smoke detectors are on the ceiling just outside the kitchen. Carbon monoxide detectors are the small devices that are plugged into an outlet, usually near the entry door.

A layout of most of the apartments can be found here. We have also posted photos of some empty apartments.

  

There are four laundry rooms: one in the ground floor of building 1, one in the basement of Building 2, one in the first floor of building 10, and one in the first floor of building 14.

Coin-operated washing machines and dryers are available: 50 cents per wash, 25 cents for each 15 minutes of drying. There are no change machines due to liability and maintenance concerns.You can get rolls of quarters at the counter of your bank.

IMPORTANT: the new washing machines in buildings 10 and 14 have High Efficiency washers, and work best with high efficiency soap. Such soap can be found in any store, and can be identified by HE on the label.

If you encounter a problem with the laundry machines, please report it using the laundry information on the maintenance page.

One computer cluster is located in building 14 and another in building 1. The doors are locked with a number pad. Please ask a neighbor or the Lawrence Committee for the code.

The computer cluster has a printer and several computers of each platform. You need a university ID to login. Priority is given to residents who use the computers for papers, projects, and other research or course-related work. Next priority is given to checking email or web-browsing. Least priority is given to playing computer games. Please be considerate when using these computers, especially if you are using it for low-priority activities.

There is a black-and-white laser printer hooked up to the network in this room for student use.

Eating and drinking are not allowed in the computer cluster. Please do not leave computers logged in if you are going away from the room for over half-an-hour. The system will automatically log you out, but it would be polite--and more secure--if you did so yourself.

Residents of building 1 have storage bins on the ground floor. Residents of buildings 2-7 have a storage area in the basement of building 2. One-bedroom apartments in buildings 8-14 have an associated storage area in building 12. The University does not assume responsibility for any items stored in these locations. Depending on your policy, renter's insurance might cover items in the storage areas.

Old newspapers, magazines, and other potential fire hazards may not be stored in these locations. Unclaimed items in storage will be removed from the bins 90 days after the resident has vacated the apartment.

Items may not be stored in the hallways, lobbies, walkways, or the grounds of the buildings.

The apartments have several items that are available for everyone to use. Please be take good care of these items and return them to the common spaces when you are finished with them.

The community rooms (and occasionally the lawns) have a collection of toys for children of all ages. The committee occasionally purchases new toys if there are leftover funds at the end of the year.

There are a variety of shopping cards, flat-bed carts, and dollies located near each dumpster. These can be very useful for transporting groceries, boxes, furniture, etc. When you are done using a cart, please return it to the designated places near the dumpsters. Do not leave the cart in your apartment, in the hallway outside of your apartment, or behind your building! (That means you, building 14 and the fourth floor of building 10!)

Some of the laundry rooms have vacuum cleaners. These are community property--please use them and return them promptly! If a resident keeps (a.k.a., steals) a vacuum cleaner, the university will not purchase a new one.

There are televisions with DVD players in both of the community rooms. The building 14 community room also has basic cable service.

For information on parking, please visit the TigerParking Office.

During winter months the parking lots are plowed by the university, and shovels are provided for individuals to access their vehicles.

  

A playground area is available near the garden. A second, fenced playground for younger children is located behind building 12. These playgrounds are shared with Karin Court, the housing complex located behind the old Lawrence buildings. (Karin Court is not affiliated with the University.) The university does not supervise the playgrounds.

Several picnic groves with barbecue grills and benches are located on the grounds. These are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and residents are responsible for providing their own charcoal and grilling supplies. Some residents in buildings 2-7 have their own grills, which they store in the grilling area behind each building. Gas grills may not be used within 10 feet of the buildings.

Your mailing address is:

<Name>
<Building number> Lawrence Drive, Apt <apt number>
Princeton, NJ 08540

Mail is delivered Monday-Saturday, usually in the afternoon. Incoming mailboxes can be found near the main entrance to each building. In buildings 2-7, a separate key is needed for the mailbox; in buildings 8-14, the regular apartment key is used for the mailbox.

FedEx, UPS, and other mail couriers come regularly to Lawrence, but it is the responsibility of residents to ensure their packages are delivered safely. Usually UPS will leave packages outside of the addressee's door or with a neighbor, while FedEx will frequently leave packages outside of the building's main door.

Building 10, 11, and 12 have outgoing mail slots in the wall where the mailboxes are found. Residents of other buildings have routinely left mail near their mailbox so that the postal worker would be sure to see it. This method works but is not recommended because it offers no security. The recommended method for sending mail is to drop it off in one of the buildings with a mail slot.

Unfortunately there are no mailboxes within the Lawrence complex large enough to accept packages. You may be able to add your package to your apartment's outgoing mail; if not, you will have to use a regular mailbox or go to the post office.

There are recycling bins located next to the dumpsters. One bin is for paper or cardboard, the other is for glass, plastic, and metal. Some of the mailboxes also have paper recycling bins for unwanted mail.

The official guidelines for what should be recycled in each bin can be found on this flyer from the Office os Sustainability. In summary:

• Most kinds of paper may be recycled as long as it is not contaminated with food and is not coated with plastic or wax. (For example, pizza boxes, paper towels, and juice boxes are not recyclable, but regular paper, cardboard, newspaper, and phone books are.)
• Glass bottles and jars may be recycled. Glass does not need to be sorted by color. Other forms of glass (e.g., broken mirrors) are not recyclable.
• Metal cans and tins, including aerosol cans such as whipped cream cans, may be recycled. Aluminum foil may not be recycled.
• Plastic bottles and jars numbered #1 through #7 may be recycled. Other forms of plastic, including deli containers, fruit containers, yogurt cups, and plastic utensils may not be recycled.
• All containers should be rinsed before being put in the recycling bins.

There are recycling buckets for household batteries located in the laundry rooms.

Most grocery stores have bins near the front of the store for recycling plastic bags. They also sell reusable bags, which are much, much easier to carry up several flights of stairs!

For information on recycling other materials, consult the Office of Sustainability website.