University building basks in glamour

CLEVELAND — The mystery began on Sept. 22 with an episode of Netflix’s “Fuller House.” There was the glimpse of a building identified as a doctor’s office, but eagle-eyed Kent State University students and alumni immediately recognized the distinctive brick structure as the Student Center on their school’s main campus.

One month later, on Oct. 22, HBO aired an episode of Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and there it was: not only the same exterior shot, but the Student Center again being identified as a doctor’s office.

The Student Center jokingly went Hollywood and offered to give out autographs. The Kent Student Center Twitter feed, @KentStudentCntr, featured this message: “We’re open 7 days a week for autographs! Limit one per person. Will only sign officially licensed Kent State merchandise.”

Still, the university was determined to solve the mystery, so a public-relations student was given the assignment.

The trail led to a website, videoblocks. com, and the subscription-based company Storyblocks, which provides discounted stock images, footage, illustrations, music tracks and sound effects for use in film and TV productions. Among the footage in its library is a nine-second clip of the Student Center listed as “A generic daytime establishing shot of an office building.”

“You know, anyone can come on to our campus and take pictures or video. But we’re looking at it it as a compliment,” said Kent State’s executive director of media relations, Eric Mansfield.