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Barnard
College To Develop Preservation Master Plan for Historic Campus
in New York City
Plan Will Augment Recently Completed Campus Master Plan
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New York,
N.Y.- Barnard College has received $220,000 from the Getty
Grant Program to develop an historic preservation master plan
for four late 19th and early 20th century campus buildings,
including those designed by the renowned turn-of-the-century
architect Charles A. Rich.
"The architectural importance of these late 19th and
20th century buildings, together with the history of women's
education and higher education in New York City, make a powerful
case for a preservation plan for their restoration and ongoing
care," said Barnard President Judith Shapiro, a cultural
anthropologist. "Barnard's campus complements that of
Columbia across Broadway and contributes to the impressive
institutional structures on Morningside Heights. By preserving
these historic buildings, we can provide a venue for the study
of historic issues, including the College's growth and identity
from its modest beginnings to a distinguished academic institution,"
Shapiro added.
The grant proposal was based on recommendations by Andrew
Dolkart, an architectural historian and author of the award-winning
book, Morningside Heights: A History of its Architecture and
Development, which includes a chapter dedicated to the early
architectural development of Barnard.
"This grant is a confirmation of Barnard's commitment
to preserve its historic buildings. I look forward to working
on this great project," said Dolkart, who will research
and record their historic importance as the principle consultant
on the project.
The plan would help to preserve Barnard's earliest, turn-of-the
century buildings: Milbank Hall, built in 1897, followed by
Brooks Hall in 1906, Barnard Hall in 1917 and Hewitt Hall
in 1924.
Defined as Barnard's Historic Campus, the buildings represent
the work of renowned architects of the period, Charles Rich,
Arnold Brunner, and McKim Mead & White. The plan will
also augment the recently completed Campus Master Plan, the
first since Charles Rich developed a campus plan over 100
years ago, when Barnard was established on Broadway between
West 116th and 120th Streets.
The Preservation Master Plan will be prepared by Paul Byard
of Platt Byard Dovell White, who has been involved in major
conservation and preservation projects, such as Carnegie Hall
and the Foundation Building at the Cooper Union.
Dolkart will be the principal consultant on the project to
Byard and will assist with the description and documentation
of the history of the buildings and landscape. This team will
also work with the engineering firms of Robert Silman Associates
and Atkinson Koven & Feinberg and the conservation firm
Jablonki Berkowitz. Byard and Dolkart, who were closely involved
in the development of the proposal for the Getty Grant, will
also be teaching an undergraduate seminar in Barnard's Architecture
Department this fall.
A Comprehensive Campus Master Plan
The historic preservation plan will augment the recently completed
campus master plan, developed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates,
which calls for construction of a new multi-purpose building
combining library and student dining, social and cultural
activities, and renovation of existing ones, resulting in
100,000 square feet of new or renovated space. At the heart
of the master plan is the construction of the six-story building,
which will replace the Millicent McIntosh Student Center,
built in the 1960s. Three architectural design firms have
submitted proposals, which are being reviewed by a campus
selection committee. The selected design will be unveiled
in October.
"The master plan coupled with the historic preservation
plan will provide the tools for Barnard's campus to come into
its own and reach its full potential. It will be a place of
historic beauty, innovation, and integrated learning,"
Shapiro said.
The Preservation Master Plan
The four historic buildings represent the college's history
from its modest beginnings to its current status as the most
sought-after private college for women in the country.
The plan will help to assure that the original historic campus
of Barnard will be maintained and will have a central role
in the new cohesive campus, defined by the new master plan.
It will help to alleviate the care that was lacking beginning
in the 1970's, due to financial constraints.
The plan will establish individual preservation and restoration
plans for each of the four buildings. Over the years, the
buildings original designs have been compromised by the College's
need for space, and by heavy use, the impact from weather
and pollution, poor maintenance, functional alterations and
other campus developments.
Barnard's Historic Buildings
Established in 1889 and named after Frederick A.P. Barnard,
the sixth president of Columbia University and a rigorous
promoter of women's rights, Barnard started with a few classes
given in a former row house on Madison Avenue, close to Columbia's
Midtown campus. When Columbia announced its move to Morningside
Heights, Barnard purchased a small block of land, on which
the College's first building, Milbank Hall, was built in 1897.
Designed by Charles A. Rich, one of the best-known New York
architects in the late 19th and early 20th century, Milbank
was a sophisticated, four-story, U-shaped complex with strong
symmetry. Hosting a central landscaped courtyard, the complex
originally contained three buildings with different names,
but was named Milbank Hall in the late 1890s after the college's
most loyal early supporter Elizabeth Milbank Anderson's parents.
To keep with the architectural theme of Columbia's, Rich adapted
its plan, design, and materials from Charles McKim's Columbia
design. As the oldest building with the most ornamentation,
Milbank shows the most of the weather damage to its brick,
terracotta, and stone. Several of the Milbank original features
are still intact, including the main entrance with its cast-iron
Corinthian columns and original courtyard landscape. Many
of its most notable interiors still remain, such as the main
staircase ornamented with complex balustrades and railings;
a Tiffany stained- and leaded-glass window lighting the stairway
landing between the second and third floors; two subsidiary
stairways; and the original library, with its Tiffany-glass
fireplace mantel. Milbank, which once housed the entire college,
has some remaining historic interiors that are in need of
restoration and preservation.
Brooks and Hewitt Halls
Built in 1906, Brooks Hall, also designed by Rich, was the
first part of Rich's master plan to expand the College's campus
to 116th Street for the new land, acquired with the help of
Milbank Anderson. It was the first of three buildings of what
Rich referred to as a tripartite dormitory structure, echoing
that of Milbank Hall's. It features elegant public rooms on
the first floor, including the beautiful turn-of-the century
Brooks Living with tall marble columns. Hewitt Hall was the
next addition to this structure, built in 1924. It was designed
by McKim, Mead & White, and also included beautiful interior
public spaces, many of which still exist. The public spaces
in Brooks and Hewitt, including the Brooks Living Room, are
all in serious need of restoration. Brooks exemplies the difficulty
of incorporating a once free-standing building into a quadrangle
of buildings arranged around a courtyard.
Barnard Hall
Barnard Hall, designed by a leading early 20th century architect
Arnold Brunner, was built in 1917. Brunner designed a series
of major public buildings including Mount Sinai and Montefiore
Hospitals, Lewisohn Hall at Columbia University, and the Federal
Building in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the best preserved of the
historic buildings, where significant efforts have been made
to restore the entrance area and the major north-south hallway,
as well as the historic gymnasium, now known as the LeFrak
Gymnasium. The third floor of Barnard Hall includes a renovated
Julius S. Held Lecture Hall, named after the distinguished
art historian and former Barnard faculty member. Other significant
features, however, such as the translucent south wall of its
swimming pool, are in need of repair or replacement.
Contact: Petra Tuomi, Public Affairs, 212-854-7907, ptuomi@barnard.edu
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