University to create arts 'neighborhood'

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Photo by Ben Amster

The area around McCarter and Berlind may soon host an "arts neighborhood" with teaching and performance facilities.

In a move to raise its prominence in the creative and performing arts, the University is planning the construction of several new arts facilities around either McCarter Theatre or 185 Nassau, forming an "arts neighborhood."

The complex, funded in part by a $101 million donation from billionaire Peter Lewis '55, will advance the University's plan to gather associated disciplines into distinct campus areas.

"We don't know in detail at this point exactly how this initiative will be developed," Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee '69 said, but preliminary plans will be presented to the Borough Council by the end of the year.

The new arts buildings, perhaps including a concert hall and new galleries for the Art Museum, will complement existing venues for study and performance, such as the Woolworth Center of Musical Studies and the Hamilton-Murray Theater.

"We hope to have edge-to-edge deployment so that the arts are not segregated off in a separate area, consistent with the idea that the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts is meant to serve all the students, not just those with an intense interest in painting or music or theater," Architecture School Dean Stan Allen GS '88 said.

Last year, Allen chaired a committee tasked with evaluating the University's academic programs in the arts. President Tilghman adapted the Allen Committee findings in a report issued when the Lewis donation was announced last month.

"Princeton undergraduates yearn for education in the creative and performing arts, and at present the University cannot fully meet their demand," Tilghman concluded.

Tilghman agreed with the Allen Committee that the University should not emulate conservatory-type training programs. Allen said the University may, however, increase its appeal to dedicated performance artists who desire a broad educational background.

"If they could be going to Julliard or Princeton, they might rather go to Princeton, if they can keep playing, since they can get a full liberal arts education here," Allen said.

To satisfy the artistic passions of students, Allen envisions a collection of arts buildings balanced by open space — perhaps centered around a verdant courtyard.

One area under consideration is west of 185 Nassau, where the complex could include Green Hall and Frick Hall.

The chemistry department will vacate Frick Hall in the next few years for a new facility at the current site of the Armory; the psychology department may leave Green Hall for a new neuroscience building in a few years.

The other possible location is south of McCarter and Berlind, but "that's a complicated site because you need to think about what happens to University Place — whether we straighten it out along the railroad tracks and have it connect to Alexander Street further south," Durkee said.

Durkee added that development of the area around McCarter requires resolution of zoning, parking and traffic issues, and could entail the destruction of the University-owned building occupied by Wawa.

While both sites are under serious consideration, the administration cited unique advantages to the downcampus option.

The McCarter site would "[bring] Forbes College and the Graduate College closer into the fold of the campus by providing a lively environment at their front doors," Tilghman wrote.

Durkee and Allen said an arts center near McCarter could also provide an aesthetically pleasing gateway to campus, like the planned pedestrian bridge over Washington Road designed by Swiss engineer Christian Menn.

Currently, "it's not at all clear when you're arriving in Princeton, when you're on the campus," Durkee said. "It's not horrendously attractive coming up Alexander Street."

Besides marking the beginning of campus, Allen said the McCarter location would promote interaction among students, faculty and outsiders.

"An arts center around McCarter would serve as a gateway not in the literal sense ... but in the symbolic sense as a place where the University community meets the public," Allen said.

Since the Dinky train — operated by NJ Transit — arrives across the street from McCarter, Durkee sees the potential to attract more patrons "not just from New York City and Philadelphia, but also from the region and the town itself."

The style of the new buildings, though not decided, may be modern, Allen said.

"If you think of the major new museums and concert halls built nationwide, they tend to have been innovative," he said. "The University will make a very forward-looking commitment with this building project."

The designs of other campus buildings funded by Lewis, including the Carl Icahn Laboratory and a Frank Gehry-designed library sheathed in undulating steel, contrast those of historic Princeton landmarks.

Durkee, however, declined to speculate on the architectural style of the new buildings and cautioned that past gifts from Lewis may not be good indicators of the arts project.

"The physical space issues will probably take us maybe six months — to fully understand the challenges, the capacities, the attractions of the two sites that are identified in the report," Durkee said. "We also have a lot of additional fundraising to do."