UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 6, Page 7                                
October 8, 1992                                                
Study, discussions continue on future of Rees Hall             
                                                               
     For the time being, there are no immediate plans to move or raze
Rees Hall-also known as the Evans House-located at the corner of South        
College Avenue and Main Street.                                      
     Recently, several interested community members have expressed   
concern over the University's plans for the Victorian-style structure,        
which is listed on the National Historic Register.                   
     For some time, University representatives have been in contact  
with city officials and department heads regarding possible          
construction of a new student center and an elevated parking garage in        
the area around Daugherty Hall (which previously was the Newark      
Presbyterian Church).                                                
     John T. Brook, University vice president for government and     
public relations, explained that one suggestion was for the University        
to work with state and city planners to improve that entire section of        
Main Street, providing an opportunity to direct particular attention 
to the intersection, where College Avenue crosses Main Street.       
     One suggestion was to redirect the north end of South College      
Avenue to make it connect more directly with the beginning of North  
College Avenue at Main Street. This, Brook said, would improve both  
pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow and safety.                    
     To accomplish this rerouting, however, Rees Hall would have to be        
moved or torn down. Initial estimates indicate that it would cost    
between $200,000-$300,000 to move the structure. It would cost another        
$400,000-$500,000 for interior improvements necessary to bring the   
house up to current building codes.                                  
     Since that is too expensive and since there is an understanding 
of the community's desire to preserve the structure, Brook said there
are no plans to do anything with the house at this time.             
     Studies are continuing with architects and city representatives,
he said, for construction of a student center near the site. The     
parking garage is needed to make up for spaces that will be lost to  
the new structure.                                                   
     The George Evans House was built in 1863 by a well-known Newark    
family of cabinetmakers and merchants. George G. Evans was treasurer 
of the trustees of Delaware College, now the University, from its    
reopening in 1869 until 1898.                                        
     He lived in the brick house and was the unpaid business manager 
of Delaware College. In periods of financial difficulty, he made loans        
to the college to keep it from closing.                              
     His son, Charles B. Evans, was a member of the Class of 1886 and
served as secretary and treasurer of the Delaware College trustees   
from 1898 until his death in 1933.                                   
     The building, now Rees Hall, houses the Applied Mathematics     
Institute.                                                           
     The Evans family is memorialized on the campus with Evans Hall, a        
three-story structure that currently houses offices and laboratories 
in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Built in 1929 and       
occupied in 1930, it is located on the Mall between Brown Laboratory 
and DuPont Hall.                                                     
     The Evans family provided an endowment to support work of faculty  
in Evans Hall.                                                       
                                        -Ed Okonowicz