Wittenberg’s Blair Hall to undergo renovations

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By Kelly Mori, Staff Writer 6:22 PM Thursday, June 18, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg University’s education department is unloading boxes in a new temporary home as the university prepares for a $5 million renovation of Blair Hall.

The 100-year-old home of the university’s education department will be almost completely gutted over the next 12 to 15 months to accommodate new technology and a floor plan that better suits today’s learning environment, said Darrell Kitchen, Wittenberg’s vice president for building and finance.

When it reopens in the fall of next year, Blair will have new windows, a new elevator, new rest rooms, heating, air conditioning and electrical systems. Walls will be removed and outside approaches and accesses will be redesigned.

“It just makes sense for the way we teach, how students learn now, opposed to how they learned 100 years ago when these buildings went on line,” Kitchen said.

Blair is the first of five historic campus buildings the university has targeted for future renovations, Kitchen said. The others are Carnegie, Koch and Zimmerman Hall, and the old field house.

Each project will be funded completely by outside donations.

“The idea is to totally renew the space in a way that’s respectful to the historic nature of these buildings,” Kitchen said. “On a university campus you are very sensitive to your history as you’re passing buildings on to subsequent generations.”

The education department will spend the next year in the former Springfield City School administration office at 49 E. College Ave. Wittenberg purchased the building from the school district two years ago to be used as temporary housing during the many building renovations. Future plans for the College Avenue building includes a day care center, Kitchen said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0347 or kmori@coxohio.com.

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