When Gene Block moved into the Chancellor’s Residence on campus earlier this month, he brought his broken radios with him.
He filled the house ““ one in the study, another in his bedroom, boxes full in the garage.
He buys them on eBay and, one by one, he fixes them.
“That’s his dream when he retires: to get the ones that aren’t working, working again,” said the chancellor’s wife, Carol Block.
Since moving into the Chancellor’s Residence ““ located on campus behind the Broad Art Center ““ the Blocks have used their broken radios and other quirky decorative items to personalize a residence that can often feel more like a banquet hall than a home. Each year, roughly 3,000 visitors flock to events on the mansion’s grounds.
Despite the couple’s efforts, the move to Los Angeles from Charlottesville, Va. ““ a small Southern college town they called home for nearly 30 years ““ has been trying.
And it’s clear the Blocks still have Virginia on their minds.
While speaking at a recent donor event on campus, Block marked his first major gaffe as chancellor, introducing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of Virginia.
And Carol Block, in a recent interview at the residence, spoke longingly ““ and often ““ of Virginia, such as while discussing their new home’s dark oak floors:
“The University of Virginia house was all pine,” she said with a sigh. “It’s a much softer wood.”
Or while admiring the bricks that compose the home’s facade:
“Southern brick is wider and shorter.”
Living with the chancellor
Chancellor Block is not your typical campus roommate.
“He’s actually really good at picking up after himself,” Carol Block said.
That means beds made, dishes washed and magazines (mostly Consumer Reports) always in a neat stack by the toilet.
The same discipline applies to the biologist’s daily schedule.
Gene Block’s typical day starts at 5:30 a.m., when he wakes up for a jog on the basement treadmill and a set of sit-ups.
“By the time I come down, coffee’s ready,” Carol Block said.
In the evening, when the chancellor returns from his office in Murphy Hall, she will often have dinner ready.
But on nights when they’re both too tired to cook, the Blocks will venture into the Village, where they’ve already tried a number of Westwood eateries, “places that look different, places that don’t take reservations,” Carol Block said.
After a cup of coffee on their upstairs balcony or underneath the palm trees that line the pool, the chancellor often goes upstairs to his home office, where he reads and “plays catch-up” on the day’s tasks, she said.
A historic residence
While the UCLA Chancellor’s Residence may not have been designed and lived in by Thomas Jefferson ““ as the Blocks’ home at the University of Virginia was ““ the home is historic by West Coast standards.
Nearly eight decades old, the two-story house is modeled in the same Italian Romanesque style and with the same skinny red bricks as Royce Hall and some of the other signature buildings on campus.
Before it became mandatory for chancellors to live in the residence, just one campus executive ““ Earle Hedrick ““ opted against moving in. The three-bedroom home was simply too small to house his wife and 10 children.
Past chancellors have played host to an impressive group of high profile figures, such as Albert Einstein, poet Robert Frost and three U.S. presidents.
“It’s a venue; it’s a public venue,” Carol Block said. “It’s really a setting to meet all aspects of the university community.”
The walls downstairs are covered in art on loan from the UCLA Hammer Museum’s collection.
The Blocks are currently in the process of picking out pieces that suit their personal style ““ mainly Asian and Australian aboriginal art.
One piece they won’t be replacing is a stunning Andy Warhol original that hangs in the main library.
Part of the eccentric artist’s series featuring some of the late 20th century’s most iconic athletes, the work is a powder blue and orange portrait of a wide-eyed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holding a basketball against his face.
The portrait of the former UCLA basketball great “really just makes people stop and say, “˜Wow,'” Carol Block said.
“I met Kareem at a UCLA event recently and I said, “˜Oh, I see you every day.'”