A new home is on the way for Art History Department

The Art History Department is moving on up. The department, which is currently split between Meyerson Hall and 3440 Market Street, will have a building of its own by sometime next semester. The department will move into the small, currently vacant, building at the corner of 34th and Walnut streets. "I'm very excited about having good facilities for our excellent department of the History of Art," said School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rosemary Stevens. She said the project is "coming along within budget and on schedule" and should be completed sometime in the spring. The renovation – which is being largely paid by and named for 1949 Wharton graduate Elliot Jaffe and his wife, Roslyn – was originally built as a fraternity house, said Art History Chairperson Renata Holod. Holod said it was built in a similar fashion to the its counterpart across the street, the current Zeta Psi house. Construction is currently in progress on an addition to the building, as well as on the inside of the current structure. The new facility will contain three classrooms, offices for the Art History Department, a new computer imaging room, a lounge for faculty and graduate students, and spaces for teaching assistants, Holod said. The computer imaging room, which Holod says she is "especially excited" about, will allow students to study art using the latest technology. The idea for the new building was hatched seven years ago, when Holod became department chair, she said. A search was conducted for a building on campus that was "unnamed" and the acting School of Arts and Sciences dean allowed the department to draw up preliminary plans. Holod said that although plans for the building were ready years ago, budgetary problems delayed the start of construction. "Between the time [Elliot Jaffe] agreed to fund [the building] and now, there were a number of hiccups," said Holod. She cited the construction freeze – a result of the University's temporary loss of state funding – as the main obstacle. Both Stevens and Holod agree that the placement of the building at the "gateway of campus" is a large part of the facility's appeal. "It sends a very clear message about art and humanities in general," Stevens said. And Holod, who said that one of the reasons the department needed a building was to "gain visibility on campus," is especially anticipating the project's completion. "Because its so visible we feel that we really get the most for our money," Holod said. "We will really have an identity on campus."

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