NT clears longtime frat house Sigma Phi Epsilon members plan new home, grieve loss of building By Mandy Fry Daily Reporter July 25, 2002 A piece of NT’s greek history was torn down this week. The Sigma Phi Epsilon house on the corner of Avenue C and Highland streets was demolished to make way for a commons that will run from the Gateway Center to Avenue C. “It was a compromise between the fraternity and North Texas. The fraternity was looking to build a new house and North Texas wanted the land,” said Carrollton junior John Kolinofsky, Sigma Phi Epsilon president. NT paid the appraised value of $400,000 for the house and land. It cost another $17,500 for the demolition. The fraternity will build a new house on the corner of Maple and Welch streets. Groundbreaking is scheduled for January. The Sigma Phi Epsilon house has been a part of the NT campus for 50 years, since Phi Alpha Tau turned into Sigma Phi Epsilon in 1952. The original house, referred to then as the “White House,” faced Maple Street and stood where the gravel parking lot was. Fraternity members had a new house built in 1956. The first section of the new building had the red room, big room and living space for 10. In 1962, the fraternity built the second section of the house – a two-story, 28-room dormitory. Trent Kutch, Grand Prairie senior, lived in the house for two years. Whenever anyone had a problem, there was someone who had already gone through a similar situation, he said. “It was a family away from family,” he said. “The house was more of a meeting place. To NT, it may have been seen as a hole in the wall or an old, rusted Motel 6, but to us, it was our home.” Robert Creamer, Austin sophomore, lived in the house for more than a year. “It was where our family met, where we had initiations, where we cried,” he said. “There are a million and eight memories there. It’s very saddening to see it being knocked down.” end of article dingbat