LENS Narrate
Sights Unseen
Going Behind Closed Doors on Campus
Sometimes, it’s what you can’t plainly see—and where you can’t go—that hides an artistic view or a great story. But in the right hands, and with the proper eye, the unseen comes alive—behind locked doors or where few can venture. During the winter, Matt Shiffler, then a Case Western Reserve University police officer, followed his curiosity and secured permission to take us inside some of those off-limits places. He started with the bell tower of the Amasa Stone Chapel, revealed with the aid of a decades-old skeleton key. “The assignment [for the magazine] was to get behind every nook and cranny of the campus,” said Shiffler, an avid photographer. “I probably walked 20 to 25 buildings and picked the brains of a dozen longtime employees.” His favorite shoot? “Probably the enormous telescope at the top of the A.W. Smith Building,” he said, “because I had no idea it was up there.” Shiffler, who picked up photography as a hobby seven years ago, left the CWRU police force in February to teach English in Shenzhen, China.
LADDERS LEADING TO THE AMASA STONE CHAPEL BELL TOWER
Using the skeleton key to enter, photographer Matt Shiffler climbed a spiral stairwell, squeezing his 6-foot-3-inch frame slowly up the stairs. “It was so narrow and claustrophobic,” he said.
THE DITTRICK MUSEUM OF MEDICAL HISTORY
The museum is open to the public, but some historic relics—like this surgical instrument set of Thomas G. Cleveland, who was appointed city physician in 1856—are found behind locked doors.
BEHIND THE ORGAN PIPES AT AMASA STONE CHAPEL
In darkness, Shiffler climbed a wooden spiral staircase and small ladder to reach pipes ranging from 4 to 10 feet tall.
ART ON THE ROOF OF CRAWFORD HALL
Light Path Crossing by artist Dale Eldred has a large diffraction grating that separates and exhibits vibrant colors.
LARRY SEARS AND SALLY ZLOTNICK SEARS THINK[BOX]
The university’s innovation hub in the Richey Mixon Building contains a massive vault, where, decades ago, valuables of the wealthy were kept in what was then the Lincoln Storage facility.
NEW BREWING VATS AT THE JOLLY SCHOLAR
In preparation for the addition of a brewpub, huge vats await in the basement of the campus bar and grill in Thwing Center.
TINKHAM VEALE UNIVERSITY CENTER ROOF
Electricity-generating solar panels meet vegetation specifically chosen for their water-retention properties.
HEAD STANDS BEHIND LOCKED DOORS AT ELDRED THEATER
“Being in the basement with the dim lighting set an interesting mood,” Shiffler said.
AN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL BENEATH MILLIS HALL
Steam tunnels traverse campus. "It was a dark, wet, mysterious place—almost like an alien environment," Shiffler said.
BELOW THE MICHELSON-MORLEY FOUNTAIN ON THE CASE QUAD
The fountain commemorates the 1887 experiment conducted by Albert Michelson of the Case School of Applied Science and Edward Morley of Western Reserve University, which provided empirical evidence for Einstein’s theory of relativity.
THE DOME OF THE A.W. SMITH BUILDING
A 9½-inch refracting telescope built in 1894 by Warner & Swasey Co. (founded by former university trustees Worcester Warner and Ambrose Swasey) is in a locked room, although students can request permission from the Department of Astronomy to use the instrument after proper training.
