Photo: The "College Library Building," original home to the library and then to the Georgia Museum of Art, will serve as the central administration building for the university when renovations are completed.
By Tom Jackson
Photo: The "College Library Building," original home to the library and then to the Georgia Museum of Art, will serve as the central administration building for the university when renovations are completed.
The historic North Campus building which was constructed in 1907 as the university library, and which has served the past 43 years as the Georgia Museum of Art, will now become a central administration building.
At their regular meeting this month, the board of regents of the University System of Georgia approved the university's request to spend $2.5 million of interest income generated by the school's internal plant fund to renovate the building vacated when the art museum moved to a new facility on East Campus in 1996.
The university had previously planned to renovate the former art museum for the offices of legal affairs and campus planning. When President Charles B. Knapp resigned, however, the project was put on hold for review and approval by the new president.
"We are particularly pleased at the expeditious approval of this project," says Donald Eastman, vice president for development and university relations, "because it allows us to move forward with one of President Adams's top priorities--to streamline the administrative organization of the university. Having a central administrative building clearly will improve our ability to communicate effectively and work together as a cohesive administrative organization."
Eastman says one of the top priorities for any new president is to establish an administrative structure, with consideration for the physical locations of administrative staff relative to one another and the president, to best complement the president's leadership strengths and the institution's principal needs and opportunities.
"By approving this project quickly and supportively, the board of regents provides its strong endorsement of President Adams's organizational initiatives," Eastman adds.
The project will include renovation of 21,549 gross square feet, including replacing the heating and air-conditioning system, providing a new roof and waterproofing the foundation. In addition to the office of the president, the building is projected to house a number of vice presidential offices with their staffs.
"After the museum vacated the building, a complete rehabilitation was required to utilize the building for virtually any other program," says Allan W. Barber, vice president for business and finance. "Removal of the art galleries uncovered ornate woodwork of historical significance. Conversion from galleries to office space required a complete replacement of the heating and air-conditioning systems. Windows which had been covered had to be opened and replaced. It is an extensive renovation which would have been required no matter the use of the building."
The university has not had a central administration building since the office of the president and most vice presidential offices left Old College and were dispersed across the campus in 1972. Built in 1806 and the campus's oldest structure, Old College was deemed too small to house the administration at one site any longer. The president's office since has been in Lustrat House, a converted seven-room house which formerly served as a faculty residence.
Construction of the "College Library Building," as it was originally known, was funded in 1905 by a donation of $60,000 provided by the philanthropist George Foster Peabody. It served as the university's main library until a new library was built in 1953.
In 1948, the Georgia Museum of Art opened in the old library's basement. When the library vacated the upstairs, the building was renovated as a new home for the museum. The work included placement of six concrete slabs over large windows across the front of the building and placement of new walls and ceilings throughout the interior, covering the original woodwork.
