But now those sly dogs in the college administration have put one over on us: Just when we were beginning to accept those unsightly fences and dirt piles and scaffolding as permanent fixtures of the Old Quad, they’re coming down. The huge OMB renovation project is nearly complete, and students and teachers actually began to use the building once more as the 2010/11 school year got underway in late August. Who woulda thunk it?
Most of the 65,000-square-foot structure was built to house the entire State Normal School (what they called a Teachers’ College back in those days) after the previous headquarters -- located where the Gilded Otter now stands -- burned down in April 1906, when an oil lamp exploded in the attic while workmen were doing repairs during spring break. It almost didn’t get replaced: The New York State legislature was reluctant to allocate funding, and the City of Kingston, citing New Paltz’s inaccessibility and declining enrollments, was actively bidding to move the campus to a more urban location -- namely itself. But the Normal School’s determined trustees, who included Mohonk Mountain House founder Albert K. Smiley and a whole lot of guys with Huguenot surnames from the town’s founding families, fundraised and lobbied hard until reconstruction was authorized with a state appropriation of $125,000.
The new building site on Plattekill Avenue, originally comprising ten acres, had formerly been a farm known as Harcourt Heights. The groundbreaking ceremony in May 1907 was attended by a host of international dignitaries who happened to be in the area for one of the peace conferences that used to be held at Mohonk in the process of trying to organize the League of Nations. Albert Smiley bragged that the site enjoyed a view unrivaled by any point in the area save Sky Top itself, and at the age of 80, put his own hand to the plough that broke the ground. Construction proceeded over the next two years, carried out primarily by Italian immigrants described by Ralph LeFevre, editor of the New Paltz Independent, as “a peaceable class of men. In the evening they amuse themselves by singing and music on the accordion.”
The stone, brick and concrete building known today as Old Main was dedicated in January 1909; the cost of construction totaled $195,587. It was lighted with both gas and electricity, and in addition to classrooms featured a library, laboratories and a gymnasium with a suspended running track. Sports fields and flower and vegetable gardens surrounded the structure. The north wing, including the auditorium named today after realtor Julien J. Studley, was a later addition completed in 1920. It wasn’t until 1930 that the Normal School began to expand its footprint with the construction of the van den Berg School of Practice, later called the Campus School, where student teachers got their practical training; and it wasn’t until the 1940s that the Normal School was accredited as a State Teachers’ College and the campus as we now know it began to unfold.
However sturdily constructed, a building that enjoys (or endures) heavy use for over a century eventually gets to a point where it needs to be renovated. OMB has had upgrades over the decades, of course, including more modern electrical wiring, fire abatement modifications and thermopane windows to provide better insulation. But by three years ago, a lot of work needed to be done, including accessibility adaptations to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Much of the south wing facilities had not been used since 1964, when the Elting Gymnasium was built. (During this correspondent’s own student years at SUNY-New Paltz in the 1970s, rumors abounded of a “secret passage” on the unused third floor above the old gym, accessible by catwalks from the elevated track.)
In the most radical change to the building during the recent renovation process, all of that former gymnasium area has been gutted. If you go in through the main entrance facing the Old Quad, you’ll quickly find yourself in a softly lit pale-blue-and-grey elevator lobby with a brand-new dropped ceiling of acoustical tiles. The floor looks like the same old mid-20th-century institutional tile that was there before, until you turn left into the refurbished hallway, which has beautiful new oak flooring -- a restoration of an original building feature, according to John F. McEnrue, director of Facilities Design & Construction for the project. New faculty office suites and conference rooms have appeared where the gym used to be; and when you reach the southeast corner and turn west, you’ll barely recognize the place. Thick new carpeting conveys a hush and the look of a modern hotel corridor.
Other areas of OMB are a mix of old and new building elements. While upgrading the facilities with a variety of green features to attain Leadership in Energy and Environments Design (LEED) Silver Certification, the designers also strove to preserve some of the quaint historic details that distinguish the structure. The various stained-glass windows are being cleaned up and structurally reinforced but left in place. In the stairwells, the wrought-iron railings have been preserved and some of the oak handrails replaced; the black marble steps of the staircases are still a bit concave, attesting to wear by the feet of generations of students. Ugly institutional fluorescent fixtures have been replaced throughout the building with pendant lamps that look more like the building’s original lighting while conserving energy.
As you wander about and peer through the doors of the classrooms -- which will continue to be devoted to the School of Education -- you’ll notice that their furnishings have been modernized, but the story-high banks of windows still let in plenty of natural light. There are several new computer labs. Typewritten checklists taped to the classroom and office doors show what details still need to be completed in each room. The overall effect is a bit of a hodgepodge: neither a slick total modernization nor an entirely authentic historic renovation project.
One noticeable change is that the massive metal interior fire doors that were installed at intervals along the corridors, probably in the 1950s, to provide fire-code compliance have been replaced with more attractive modern doors surrounded by double layers of glass. Sandwiched between these doorways, and also on stairwell landings, are spaces sporting mysterious signs that say “Area of Refuge.” Closer inspection of these areas reveals wall panels with buttons and two-way speakers that students or teachers can use for instant communication with campus security in the event of any sort of emergency.
OMB is much more handicapped-friendly now. The main entrance has a new granite ramp, new iron railings and a keypad-operated automatic door for the wheelchair-bound, and a special wheelchair lift is accessible right inside the door, before you get to the first flight of steps. I didn’t check out the restrooms during my visit, but word has it that they have been renovated to provide an originally restored feel while incorporating full accessibility for the disabled.
“The renovated building provides energy-efficient air conditioning, heating, lighting and improved plumbing facilities. The students and faculty alike will appreciate the more uniform temperature-controlled facility,” notes McEnrue. “It is often believed that building upgrades that are necessary to keep pace with modern technology, conformance with safety codes and expected occupant comforts cannot coincide with restorations of beautiful and historically significant buildings. SUNY-New Paltz and the State University Construction Fund have proven this theory wrong with the renovation of Old Main.”
The folks behind this ambitious project have a lot to be proud of, but it’s not over yet. Improvements to the Studley Theatre, on the ground floor of the north wing, which include asbestos abatement, electrical and air conditioning upgrades and restoration of the control booth, are awaiting their finishing touches. And the exterior stairs, apron and landscaping around the Auditorium entrance are still under construction. The north wing is scheduled for completion sometime this fall, at which point the whole building will have a rededication ceremony. Undoubtedly, state senator John Bonacic and state Assembly member Kevin Cahill (a 1977 alumnus) will be in attendance, since they helped secure a special appropriation from state coffers toward the $32 million cost of the project.
Meanwhile, if the mess that still exists around the evolving northeast corner of OMB offends your eye, take a stroll down Plattekill. I’m pleased to report that the massive oak, maple and beech trees on the north lawn -- which were already impressive enough to inspire this correspondent to write a poem about them back in her own student days -- are still there, and still magnificent. With any luck, their foliage will be in full autumnal glory in time for OMB’s full reopening.
For more information about the Old Main Building renovation and other construction projects on the SUNY-New Paltz campus, call 257-3245 or visit www.newpaltz.edu/construction. ++
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