$10M Makeover Planned For University Hall

University Hall, arguably Harvard Yard's most distinguished building, will undergo significant renovations, possibly beginning as early as this fall.

Saying that he looks forward to "washing its scruffy face," Dean of the

Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles recently approved plans to spend between $8 and $10 million on long-stalled plans to renovate the 184-year-old structure.

"University Hall basically has been for a number of years the deferred project when things got to busy [in terms of campus construction work]," said David A. Zewinski '76, associate dean for physical resources and planning in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "We just haven't had the time, but the building desperately needs upgrading."

The renovations, which Zewinski described as "modest," will bring the building more into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

University Hall, which houses many of the administrative offices of the College, is currently inaccessible to people who use wheelchairs, according to Zewinski.

But even after the renovation, the building will not be completely accessible to people with disabilities.

Although the University hopes to add one elevator on the north side of the building--closest to the Science Center--the top two floors on the south side will remain accessible only by stairs.

The two-story-tall Faculty Room rises in the middle of the building, limiting access to the third and fourth floors on the south side of the building.

Additionally, there will be a small increase in office space and an overhaul of the heating and electrical systems, which Knowles described as "antediluvian" in an e-mail message.

"[We are] not looking at a wholesale gut rehabilitation of the building," Zewinski said.

Knowles said he hopes that the project will be completed quickly.

"I should like to hope that U[niversity] H[all] could be done within two or three years, before everything crumbles too much further," he wrote.

University Hall was last renovated in 1896 when the Faculty Room--the two-story bust-and-portrait filled meeting space at the heart of the structure--was re-created by uniting four lecture halls that the original room had been divided into in 1850.

Zewinski said the University would study whichset of offices--finances or Collegeadministration--receive the most traffic and mayask offices to switch places to allow for maximumaccess.

A wheelchair ramp will also be added, mostlikely to the basement door on the side of thebuilding closest to Weld Hall, Zewinski said.

The renovation project will also focus onpreserving University Hall's crown glass windows,which are produced by an antique process thatleaves easily recognizable concentric ripples ineach pane.

"It's considered a building that has one of themost significant extant collections of crown glassanywhere," Zewinski said.

New storm windows will also be added.

Knowles and Nancy L. Maull, administrative deanof FAS, will be responsible for the details of theproject. No Faculty committees have to approve therenovations because, unlike other renovations,they will not affect space for academicdepartments.

One of the biggest issues facing the project isa logistical one--where to put displacedUniversity Hall employees.

"A sixth-month vacation for all University Halloccupants is not, for example, part of my plan!"Knowles wrote in an e-mail message

Zewinski said the University would study whichset of offices--finances or Collegeadministration--receive the most traffic and mayask offices to switch places to allow for maximumaccess.

A wheelchair ramp will also be added, mostlikely to the basement door on the side of thebuilding closest to Weld Hall, Zewinski said.

The renovation project will also focus onpreserving University Hall's crown glass windows,which are produced by an antique process thatleaves easily recognizable concentric ripples ineach pane.

"It's considered a building that has one of themost significant extant collections of crown glassanywhere," Zewinski said.

New storm windows will also be added.

Knowles and Nancy L. Maull, administrative deanof FAS, will be responsible for the details of theproject. No Faculty committees have to approve therenovations because, unlike other renovations,they will not affect space for academicdepartments.

One of the biggest issues facing the project isa logistical one--where to put displacedUniversity Hall employees.

"A sixth-month vacation for all University Halloccupants is not, for example, part of my plan!"Knowles wrote in an e-mail message