Deans Move Back Into Renovated University Hall

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) administrators moved back into their University Hall offices yesterday, marking the end of a six-month, $10 million project to modernize the historic structure.

The project, which comes after several high-profile renovations of FAS buildings, is University Hall's first major update since 1896. In addition to improving the building's heating, air conditioning and electrical systems, the renovation added an elevator and two chair lifts to make the structure more accessible to the disabled.

The structure joins a number of FAS buildings that have been renovated recently, in part to bring them in line with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

According to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, the building--which had no ramps or elevator--suffered from "zero handicapped accessibility." That had proved problematic for the University because most prominent FAS administrators have their offices in the buildings and meetings of the Faculty are also held there.

Lewis said every location in the building is now accessible to people who use wheelchairs.

But bringing the building--which is protected as a historic structure--up to code proved challenging for University architects. For example, FAS could not install an elevator that would reach all floors of the building because it would have meant substantially changing the exterior of the building, which violates historic preservation regulations, said David A. Zewinski '76, FAS associate dean for physical resources and planning.

Administrators said they judged the move back into University Hall a success.

The renovation was done on time and on budget, according to Zewinski. The project met the original two-to-three-year time frame announced by Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles in April 1999, as well as the more specific goal of being done before the spring semester, set when renovation began last June.

"It has gone remarkably smoothly," Zewinski said.

And deans were happy--at least, so far--with the finished product.

"I actually turned the heat up this morning, and it went up," said Lewis, who was once again holding meetings in his ground floor office, albeit without the accoutrements that adorned his temporary Oxford Street office for the past six months.

"My buffalo skull will go back up there," Lewis said, pointing to the spot on the now-blue wall that formerly held his favorite ornament.

Lewis said he was also excited to discover that there was a hardwood floor under the wall-to-wall carpeting that used to cover his office floor. He said he plans to keep it as it now stands.

But there is a good deal about University Hall that's clearly not quite finished--evidenced by scores of cardboard boxes around the building that bear the name of the Lynn, Mass. moving company FAS used to transport administrators' belongings from their temporary offices.

"I'm very happy with my office," said Associate Dean of the College Georgene B. Herschbach, "but I'll feel a lot better about everything as soon as all of my boxes are unpacked."

Assistant Dean of the College Karen Avery '87 said she found that the door to her office had been shifted slightly, a small change made necessary by wheelchair accessibility concerns. As a result, though, Avery said her filing cabinet is now "placeless" and she will need to buy new shelves to fit everything.

Lewis said he's not quite set either, noting that the desk now in his office--custom-made for John B. Fox Jr. '59, the tall former dean of the College--is too high for him.

"I'm going to be ordering some new furniture," he said.

According to Zewinski, the move back to University Hall had a few downsides.

Though the College deans' space has not changed much, most of the other offices are smaller than before, Zewinski said.

"They had these very large offices which were not a very effective use of the space," he said. As a result of the renovation, University Hall now houses five more offices.

Moreover, Zewinski said, many administrators had very large temporary offices as well. His own renovated University Hall office is less than 200 square feet in area, far smaller than the 350 square feet he enjoyed at the temporary FAS headquarters at 1033 Mass. Ave, halfway between Harvard and Central Square.

--Staff writer David C. Newman can be reached at dnewman@fas.harvard.edu.