Renovations to make Art Library a work of art, history

Brian Farkas News Editor

The Vassar College Art Library will undergo extensive renovations in the next year, restoring the modernist building to its original appearance. Construction will begin in June 2008 and completed by May 2009.

Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger, who oversees the Libraries, is excited for the project. “We have two goals for the renovation,” she explained. “First, to recapture the aesthetic intent of the original design, as far as is practicable, and, thereby, both to preserve Vassar’s architectural heritage and to enhance its use by students and faculty, both for teaching and for research.”

The building, designed in 1937 by early modernist architect and former Professor of Art John McAndrew, will see both interior and exterior restorations.

“The intent of the renovation is to restore the original design of the Van Ingen Art Library in terms of materials, finishes and colors while updating and providing new technology,” said Senior Project Manager Naomi Davies.

Technology will include wireless and hardwired data points and projection capabilities in the room that will be used for seminars. A large seminar room will be added on the second floor, as well a new study room. The seminar room will be used for conference sections of introductory art history classes, and will hold approximately 20 people.

The present oak circulation desk is one of the biggest intrusions into the original design of the library. “For both aesthetic and functional reasons, we’d like to replace it with one more in keeping with the original design,” said Art Librarian Thomas Hill. The new desk will be smaller, based on one shown in McAndrew’s original sketch.

Attention to detail will be an important part of the renovation. Signage will be updated with an “appropriate modernist typeface” according to Hill, and the floors and tiles will be refinished in the spirit of the 1930s style.

A second project for the Art Library will be the restoration of the façade and replacement of the roof, which will be undertaken at the same time.

“We have learned that exterior restoration work is so disruptive, it is better to relocate than to try to work around building occupants,” said Davies. The exterior brickwork will be cleaned and re-grouted, and sections of the roof will be patched and replaced.

“One of the features that was so remarkable about the original design was the lighting,” said Hill.
“The architect lit all of the cabinets and shelving from the top, creating this glow throughout the room. It was quite extraordinary. We’ll be gutting the current fluorescent lighting and replacing it with this original lighting design,” she said.

Additionally, all of the Art Library’s furniture will be replaced with replicas of the original 1930s chairs and desks. “We really want this to have the look and feel that it did back then,” said Hill. “This building was an extraordinarily early example of the modernist style, preceding the War and the Bauhaus style. When I first walked into it, I was sure it was made in the 1950s. So I think that this is going to be very exciting. Students will be working and studying in history,” he said.

According to Professor of Art Nicholas Adams, the Art Library was built at a “critical early moment” in the history of modernism. “Its light colors and curving walls give it the slightly stream-lined look of Art Deco. But the abstract alignment of the glass walls and the clear open floor plan reminds us of early modernism,” he said in an e-mailed statement. “It is a rare remaining example of the early modernist interior in this country and it speaks clearly of a time when Vassar built inventive, imaginative, challenging architecture.” McAndrew went on to be the curator at the Museum of Modern Architecture, connecting Vassar’s Art Library closely to that institution in its earliest days.

In 2005, the College received a $175,000 grant from the Getty Foundation to create an architectural preservation design manual. This grant was part of a special funding program at the Foundation to help colleges and universities plan for the preservation of their art historically significant architectural structures. Vassar surveyed over 50 buildings, including Ferry House, Noyes House, Baldwin Hall, Chicago Hall and the Art Library.

“The manual, which includes information about the condition of each building on campus and an interpretation of its historical significance, is a tool for the Buildings and Grounds staff and architects in future restoration projects,” said Director of Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations James Olson.

The grant also included some funds for educational activities, including a seminar on Architecture after Modernism taught last semester by Paul Byard and Professor of Art Nicholas Adams.

Byard, who is Director of Columbia University’s Historic Preservation Program, will also be the architect for the Art Library’s renovations.

Byard aided the College in the Getty Foundation survey, and has been a frequent participant in activities of the art department.

This past February, he gave a lecture to the Vassar community, entitled “Vassar’s Modernism,” in which he discussed the history of architecture at Vassar, focusing on the significance of Chicago Hall, designed by Paul Schweiker & Winston Elting. Byard is a principal of Platt Byard Dovell White Architects, and the author of three books on architecture.

Though the cost of the renovations is not yet certain, the College will be funding the project from the Virginia Herrick Deknatel fund, “an extremely generous endowment fund that supports the study of art at Vassar,” according to Kitzinger.

The Art Library sits in the addition that links Taylor Hall to the Main Library, and houses a rapidly growing collection of approximately 65,000 volumes of books and over 140 periodicals. Originally occupying only a single floor, the Library has expanded to include two stack areas below the main level.

This project is the fifth major construction project the College is undertaking in 2008. Renovations of the Maria Mitchell Observatory began earlier this year, and renovations of Davision House will begin in May 2008. Construction on Prentiss Fields is still ongoing, and ground has not yet been broken on the new Town Houses, which were originally scheduled to be completed by Fall 2008.

Additional construction will be surrounding the Vassar campus this summer as the New York State Department of Transportation installs a third roundabout at the intersection of Collegeview and Raymond Avenues.