After 26 years on Penn's campus, the McNeil Center for Early American Studies will finally have a permanent home.
Thanks to a $6 million gift from Robert L. McNeil and the Barra Foundation, of which McNeil is president, the center will soon occupy a $5.2 million building on the corner of 34th and Walnut streets.
The building will cover between 5,000 and 5,500 square feet of the southwest corner of Hill Square -- formerly known as Hill Field -- and is scheduled for completion sometime in October 2005.
It will feature 17 offices for research fellows, a lecture room for speakers and seminars and at least one classroom available to the general public.
The center, which shares its current Locust address with the Penn Humanities Forum, has sought a permanent residence since its inception in 1978.
"We have always struggled to find both adequate space and space that we could really call our own," History professor and former Director of the MCEAS Richard Beeman said.
The center's relocation will allow for future expansion of the program, according to MCEAS Director Daniel Richter.
"There are hordes of faculty and advanced graduate students who really look forward to having some period of residency at the center," Beeman said, noting the new building's potential to accommodate the consistent growth of the program.
The design of the center -- created by architect and Yale Dean of Architecture Robert A.M. Stern -- is "architecturally significant," said Ramin Sedehi, the School of Arts and Sciences vice dean for finance and administration.
It is a "style that tries to mimic the old architecture of the 19th century, but at the same time it has a number of modern features," Sedehi said, speaking of the building's brick structure and ornamental features.
SAS Dean Rebecca Bushnell believes the new center's central location and proximity to Bennett and College halls will provide it with an advantageous connection to the other humanities buildings on campus. She said the new facilities will also heighten the center's visibility as "one of the [country's] most eminent centers for Early American studies."
While some Hill College House residents seem to be unaffected by the construction, others find the development to be obtrusive.
College freshman Julia Brinjac feels that the construction is destroying a rare patch of the city's green space.
"We want the field, not the building," said Brinjac, who often plays football and ultimate frisbee there.
