Addams Hall fire sends relocation plans into flames

The University must now delay the IAST and Music Building work. The four-alarm fire that destroyed the half-completed Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall at 33rd and Chestnut streets last March also sent the University's master building plan up in smoke. The fire has delayed several projects -- including the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the relocation of the Music Department -- at least a year, according to Vice President for Facilities Management Art Gravina. "As you put your critical path together, all of a sudden you get a glitch and everything backs up," Gravina said. The Fine Arts Hall -- which was set to open in August in the restored Asbury Methodist Church -- would have housed studio, classroom and gallery space for both undergraduates and graduate students, freeing up the Morgan Building on Smith Walk. At the same time, the Music Department was set to move into a new facility, a project which was to be considered after the completion of Addams Hall. The Morgan Building, the Music Building and the Music Annex were then to be renovated and converted into cognitive science and computer science space as part of Phase II of the IAST project, an initiative which can not continue until those spaces are vacant or alternative locations have been found. In an effort to move IAST II along, Gravina said the University is looking for another location for the project. "The fact that Phase II involves labs for computer and cognitive science allows you to think about existing spaces," Gravina said. "You can use office space for a computer lab which you couldn't with a wet lab like the one in the [Vagelos Laboratories] IAST I building." University officials may also be looking for an alternative site for a Fine Arts building. In the next four or five weeks, a decision should be made about whether to rebuild the ruined church or tear it down and start from scratch, Gravina said, adding that the decision depends on what programs can be housed in what's left of the church and how soon a new building can be constructed. The final proposal must be approved by Lady Barbara Colyton, who is funding the project. Addams Hall was to contain a collection of works by Colyton's husband, Charles Addams, creator of the Addams family and a 1934 University graduate. While Colyton gave her donation with the understanding that the Asbury Church would house the new facility, rebuilding the church now appears to be prohibitively expensive, Gravina said. "Once you sell a project to a donor, it's hard to sell something else," Gravina said. "I mean she's a reasonable woman -- she doesn't expect us to spend $10 million to preserve something that was originally worth $2 million." Graduate School of Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack said the church would only have housed half of the school's programs, so another site would have been necessary anyhow. In the meantime, Hack said the school will begin using the upper floors of Meyerson Hall for Fine Arts classes and drawing studios. The area currently houses other College of Arts and Sciences classes. Fortunately, some building projects will not be affected by the delay. The Psychology Department is still slated to receive a site across the street from the Asbury Church at 34th and Chestnut streets, although actual construction is a long way off, since the School of Arts and Sciences must first find a way to fund the new building. The more long-term project of providing new space for the Graduate School of Education and the School of Social Work will also not be affected by the fire, but Gravina said both of those projects are even further off than the Psychology Building.

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