University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 6, No. 1/1996 Historic buildings on campus surveyed For the last several years, the UD's Center for Historic Architecture and Design has been conducting a survey of more than 400 University buildings on the Newark, Wilmington, Lewes and Georgetown campuses. The results will be published in print form by next fall and also will be available, along with numerous photographs and sketches, on the UD home page on the World Wide Web. The idea for a building survey originated in 1992 with David E. Hollowell, executive vice president, and David L. Ames, professor of urban affairs and public policy and the center's director. "It was felt that a survey would serve as a basis for evaluating the architectural and historical significance of University buildings, landscapes and agricultural holdings. One of the goals of the survey was to determine which sites were eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places," Ames says. "We were first approached about a survey of historic buildings on the Newark campus," Hollowell says, "but it made sense to expand that idea and include all buildings, to develop an architectural record of the entire University. "The University owns some of the most historically significant buildings in Newark, and we have an obligation to preserve some record of them. We need an information base for dealing with these buildings should the time come to make decisions on whether to keep them or get involved in renovation projects. There's a big difference between a building that has historic significance and one that's simply old," Hollowell says. The UD Visitors Center presented precisely this situation. Built at the turn of the century, the building is one of the last examples of the residential architecture of that era, and the University had to decide whether to take it down to expand a parking lot or to restore a building that had been allowed to fall into disrepair. "If we had had a survey like this as a reference, we may have been more sensitive to the reasons for holding on to it, as we eventually decided to do. Today, it's a showcase for visitors," Hollowell explains. The survey also will make it easier for architects designing new buildings to understand the architectural evolution of the campus. "Say you're putting a building next to one built in 1898. It's helpful to know what architectural details were used at that point in time-what window types, what paint colors. Each building on the Mall shares certain architectural details but has some unique features of its own," Hollowell says. For example, he says, "In developing the design for Gore Hall, the new classroom building under construction on the Mall, architect Allan Greenberg carefully considered the facade details on Wolf and Evans Halls, the entrance details on Hullihen Hall and Brown Laboratory and the original architects' [Charles Z. Klauder and Frank Miles Day] plan for the Mall." Ames gives credit to the past and present trustees and administrators for the architectural integrity of the University. H. Rodney Sharp, who graduated from Delaware College in 1900, became a trustee in 1915 and worked with architects Klauder and Day in the development of the Mall. The customary architectural style at that time was "academic gothic," Ames says, but Sharp suggested the architects tour Delaware to get a feel for the area. The result was their recommendation for a central campus core of academic Georgian style architecture, based on the Colonial Georgian- and Federal- style buildings throughout the state. The trademarks are symmetry, red brick, white banding, trim and cornices. The recently completed Lammot du Pont Laboratory and the Trabant University Center continue to be based on Day and Klauder's master plan, Ames says. These projects reflect a "modern flair" to classical design, he says, giving the campus a feeling of cohesiveness and flow. Campus appeal is important, Hollowell notes, because a campus that is a visual hodgepodge, or run down, may lead visitors to the conclusion that some lack of attention carries through the system and that there is no cohesive vision for the institution. Although academic reputation is usually the most important factor students and parents cite when choosing a college, a beautiful campus also plays a part in the decision, he says. The web page will allow potential students to tour the campus, and become familiar with its layout and buildings before they ever set foot in Newark. "Alumni, too, will enjoy the web page," Hollowell says, "as it provides a chance for people to learn things they never knew about the buildings and to see what has been added or changed since they graduated." "Most people, even if they've seen these buildings hundreds of times, are not aware of the stories associated with them, let alone how the campus as a whole developed or how representative it is of various periods of campus design in the U.S. This is the sort of information the web pages will provide," Mark Parker Miller, Delaware '97M, one of the graduate students designing the page, said. Several other graduate students-Julie Darsie, John Malm and Sherri Marsh, all Delaware '97M-also have worked with Ames on the project, developing a file on each building and noting significant landscape features. The files include construction dates, architects, construction firms, renovations, the original and current functions of the building, additions, detailed descriptions, background material and other relevant data. -Beth Thomas