Tuesday, Mar. 02, 2010

The Movement to Save the IAB Goes National

The Chronicle of Higher Education has taken note of the movement to save the Industrial Arts Building.

A Call to Save an Unusual Fairgrounds Building at U. of Nebraska at Lincoln
By Scott Carlson

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln is giving people an opportunity to propose uses for its Industrial Arts Building, a 97-year-old structure on the old state fairgrounds that preservationist fear will be demolished. The university says that if suitable plans for the building are not submitted before July 1, the building will indeed be razed. The university acquired the old fairgrounds last month to build a research park.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, the building has slowly deteriorated over time. Costs of repairing the roof and stabilizing the structure are estimated at $2.4-million to $6.1-million. The cost of demolition is a point of debate: Harvey Perlman, the university's chancellor, puts it at about $375,000. Preservationists cite a figure of $1.5-million.

The building, which has been closed since 2004, does not fit into the plan for the research park and probably cannot be repurposed, Mr. Perlman says. But at 96,000 square feet, with an unusual trapezoidal shape, it holds plenty of interest for local preservationists -- in part because it was designed by a notable local architect, Burd F. Miller.

The preservationists have set up a Facebook page and a Web site, where they go into detail: "The building is an exposition-type structure with an impressive span of steel arches and beams. It was built with a zero-carbon footprint and utilized natural light through skylights and Palladian windows and natural heating and cooling through a series of open windows and dormers. The interior structure of the building is unique in Nebraska."

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