Saving the Chancellor's House

In last week's blog, we discussed the concept of adaptive reuse and gave some examples of its employ here on UNCG's campus. This week we'll look at an adaptive reuse success story that could have only happened through the joint efforts of the wider UNCG community and Historic Preservation groups.

Designed by Harry Barton of Greensboro and built in 1922, the President's Residence (as it was then called) served as home to almost all the heads of the college and university from Foust through Sullivan. When the University began leasing a home to serve as the new Chancellor's residence in 1996, Chancellor Sullivan moved to the Sunset Drive house and left the old Chancellor's house without a resident or purpose for the first time in its existence.

Chancellor's Residence, ca. 1960

The Chancellor's residence at Spring Garden St. had been in need of repairs and updates before Chancellor Sullivan's arrival at UNCG, and by 1999, the situation had worsened to the point that the board of trustees voted to demolish the house. It was thought that the cost to renovate the house had become too great and that, ironically, there was more value in the land it was on for "green space and future expansion for a signature building."

Very shortly after the decision to demolish the house was announced, a movement started by Carolyn Maness (Alumna-1946) and Jean Gordon (Professor of History-Emerita) sought to try to save the house from being destroyed. Gathering the forces of UNCG alumni, a letter-writing campaign ensued which helped to slow the demolition process. During this time also, help to save the house was recruited from Preservation North Carolina, a private non-profit statewide historic preservation organization. With their help, a compromise was reached to save the house.  If the money could be raised to move and renovate the house, there was a possibility of saving it. The estimate to move and renovate was set just at 2 million dollars and those interested in saving the house had just under a year to raise that sum.  Meanwhile, other interested groups, such as Preservation Greensboro, Inc. and current students of the University joined in the effort to raise the money. An "Afternoon on the Lawn" event was staged by UNCG student groups to encourage awareness and donations.

House on the move, June 2003

A large part of the success of the project was the clear vision for the new use of the house. Many alumni had suggested the house could be used as an admissions and vistors center, and with the blessing and support of their families, it was decided that the house would become the Jane Harris Armfield and Emily Harris Preyer Admissions and Vistors Center, named after two alumnae who had supported the preservation effort. This clear vision for the purpose of the building was an important factor in raising funds for the move and renovation. Preservation North Carolina leased the house from the University in late 2002 for a period of two years, which allowed them to move and renovate the house.

Over several weeks in May-June 2003, the house was lifted, moved, and re-set at its current location at 1400 Spring Garden St, just 900 feet from its original location. Renovations began immediately and continued through the end of 2004. The house was turned over to the University in January 2005 and The Jane Harris Armfield and Emily Harris Preyer Admissions and Visitors Center was officially dedicated in May 2005.

Armfield-Preyer Center, June 2005 (photo-UNCG Image Collection)

The Chancellor's house is an example of what can go right when communities work together for a greater purpose. Alumni, students, faculty, the wider UNCG community, and preservationists succeeded in what, at times, seemed an impossible task. The house, once deemed an insignificant building not worth saving, has been transformed into a focal point on campus. That transformation began with the effort to educate the community on the history of the building and its architectural merits. It continued with the effort to reach out and find donors and willing partners to help with creative alternatives to save the building. Adaptive reuse became the mechanism by which the house found new life as our Admissions and Visitors Center.

Building Recycling at UNCG

Like most universities, UNCG's campus has grown and expanded over time. This growth usually involves the periodic building of new structures necessary for all the various activities on campus. Spaces for teaching, learning, living, eating, researching, health services, recreation, and even all the support services, such as facilities and grounds, have to be accommodated in a campus setting. We tend to think of our buildings on campus as having fixed uses, but that frequently isn't the case. As some buildings grow older, they are no longer suitable for their original purpose. The very difficult decision then comes when a new building is built to replace an older one. Fortunately, many times the answer can be found in re-purposing the older building. This kind of refurbishing an old building to fit a new purpose is adaptive reuse. In effect, it's the recycling of an old building, instead of demolishing it, when it no longer fulfills its original purpose, but is still worth saving.




Foust Building, 2010 (Photo-UNCG Image Collection)

There are many reasons why saving an old building is preferable to demolition. One of the most obvious is the building may be deemed important for its own aesthetic, cultural, or institutional importance. The oldest extant building on campus, Foust, would fall into this category. Built in 1892, and expanded in 1895, Foust (then known as Main) was a jack of all trades building. It housed the library, classrooms, offices, and auditorium, and a gymnasium. The building is an iconic symbol of the university and underwent a window restoration in 2008 to restore its exterior appearance, among other upgrades. Foust is now home to various campus offices. Other examples of adaptive reuse at UNCG include (but are not limited to): Forney, which was a Carnegie library and is now used for campus IT, Curry, which served as a training school, Petty, which housed the science departments for many years, the Chancellor's house, now serving as the Admission's office, and the Brown Music building, which is used for various offices.

 

Aside from saving buildings deemed worthy due to their significance, there is research that shows that adaptive reuse, when done correctly, has considerable benefits and advantages from an environmental standpoint. Architect Carl Elefante said in his 2007 article titled, "The Greenest Building...Is One That Is Already Built," that, "Taking into account the massive investment of materials and energy in existing buildings, it is both obvious and profound that extending the useful service life of the building stock is common sense, good business, and sound resource management. To fully capture the value of the existing building stock requires merging two disciplines: historic preservation and green building."1



Forney, 2011 (Photo-UNCG Image Collections)

Recent research is proving this true. A 2012 report from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Green Lab finds that- 1) building reuse typically yields fewer environmental impacts than new construction, 2)  adaptive reuse provides substantial absolute carbon-related impact reductions when done on a large scale, 3) new construction green buildings can take 10-80 years to compensate, through efficient operation, for the climate change impacts created by their construction, and finally, 4) buildings that tend to use the fewest materials have the most significant environmental savings.2

1http://www.ipedinc.net/referencematerials/Article_The_Greenest_Building_Is_One_That_Is_Already_Built_by_Carl_Elefante_AIA_LEED_AP_Forum_Journal_Summer_2007.pdf

2http://blog.preservationnation.org/2012/01/24/preservation-green-lab-releases-new-report-on-the-environmental-value-of-building-reuse/