PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 25, No. 13, Jan. 19, 2006

Historical perspective
Campus works to preserve history of its architecture

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
217-244-1072; slforres@uiuc.edu

Click photo to enlarge Photo by L. Brian Stauffer Preserving history Campus historic preservation officer Melvyn Skvarla, pictured, and Clif Carey, director of planning, Facilities and Services, are using a grant from the Getty Foundation to develop preservation maintenance guidelines for historic buildings on the Urbana campus. Currently 12 buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The university is seeking placement of Memorial Stadium on the register to help fund the structure’s multimillion-dollar renovation project.

Since the UI opened its doors in 1867 with just one building, the Urbana campus has grown to encompass more than 15 million square feet of facilities and more than 200 major buildings spread across approximately 1,400 contiguous acres of land.

But finding the money to maintain and refurbish those buildings – as well as deciding which buildings are significant enough to be preserved and which should be replaced – is a challenge. However, a grant from the Getty Foundation is helping the campus develop a preservation program for its historic buildings.

The UI was one of 10 U.S. colleges and universities to receive a Campus Heritage grant, which the Getty Foundation awards to colleges and universities to assist in managing and preserving the integrity of significant historic buildings, sites and landscapes.

Facilities and Services is using the $175,000, two-year award that was conferred in September to develop preservation maintenance guidelines as well as a Web site and database with photographs and information about each building. They also plan to host a series of lectures or presentations on campus buildings and the preservation program for tradesmen, faculty and staff members and the general public.

Currently, 12 structures on the Urbana campus – including the Library, Altgeld Hall and Kenney Gym – are listed on the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the National Park Service in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Another 95 buildings are potentially eligible for the designation, which generally is bestowed on structures that are at least 50 years old and deemed worthy of preservation because of their association with historical events or significant people or because they have distinctive characteristics or construction.

Structures less than 50 years old that are architecturally significant, are of “exceptional importance” to a community, state, region or the nation or are integral parts of districts eligible for listing in the national register may also be eligible, as is Assembly Hall, which was constructed in the early 1960s.

The three round dairy barns along St. Mary’s Road are listed as a National Historic District. The Morrow Plots, which date back to 1876, and the Astronomical Observatory, built in 1896, are designated as National Historic Landmarks, the nation’s highest honor.

Melvyn Skvarla, campus historic preservation officer in the Planning Division of Facilities and Services, said the university may pursue designation of Memorial Stadium as a National Historic Landmark in order to make it eligible for grants that would help fund needed renovations. The stadium, dedicated in 1924 as a memorial to 189 students and alumni who died in World War I,is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and designation as a National Historic Landmark due to its significance in the development of recreation in America.

“With the historic landmark designation, there’s a potential of getting up to $2.5 million in grant funding. And in some cases, Congressmen can make more funds available,” Skvarla said.

“We’re probably also going to re-evaluate some of the buildings that have been designated as eligible (for the National Register) because they have been designated by such a small margin, and perhaps they’re too inefficient and a plaque would work better than having the inefficient building there,” said Skvarla, who declined to specify which buildings those might be.

Historic preservation architects also will evaluate whether refurbishments to some historic buildings should incorporate the materials used in the
original construction or if more cost-effective, modern materials might be used that would preserve the aesthetic integrity.

“A few years ago, the original wood windows in Engineering Hall were replaced with aluminum-covered wood windows,” Skvarla said. “To the purists, that’s a big no-no. But the average person wouldn’t know the difference. Our maintenance people don’t have to repaint the aluminum-covered windows every five or 10 years. Painting windows is a time-consuming and costly process, and aluminum windows can go 25 years without being repainted.”

The Chancellor’s Design Advisory Committee, which is charged with identifying historic resources and advising on their care, will likely provide input on the preservation program, Skvarla said. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the committee developed a method of evaluating historic facilities, rating them on a 1 to 5 scale, to indicate whether they were significant and worthy of national register listing or were unsuited for continued use. However, new guidelines for evaluating properties probably will be developed as part of the new preservation program, as some critics voiced concerns that the rating method was subjective and that some members may have lacked the expertise needed to judge buildings’ significance.

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