Butler donors react to plans to demolish, redesign buildings

Elbert Husted '42 was always proud to have a building on campus named for his class — even though he admitted he was "not terribly impressed" with the architecture.

So when he learned yesterday of the University's plans to raze 1942 Hall, as well as the 1922, 1940, 1941 and Lourie-Love dormitories of Butler College, he vowed to circulate the news promptly among his classmates.

"We'll be violently objecting to it," said Husted, who currently serves as class president. "Why shouldn't we be? We raised a lot of money for it."

But others who contributed don't think the buildings will be missed.

"It's probably good riddance," said class reunion chair Lynn Tipson '41. "I think anyone in my class who really took a look at that building would be happy that it's down."

A changing University

With Butler's brown-brick buildings due for renovation, University officials determined that the cost of replacing them would be comparable and opted to construct new buildings on the same site instead.

They hope the new look will encourage juniors and seniors to draw into Butler when it becomes a four-year residential college in 2009.

"[The decision is] both a function of the renovation program and of the need to turn [Butler] into quite a different place with 100 spaces for upper-class students," said Vice President and Secretary Thomas Wright '62.

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Many alumni said the changing needs of the University take precedence over sentimentality.

"My personal view is that a particular building, while it's a memorial to the class, needs to give way if the long-range plans of the University have a better use for that site," said class treasurer Frank Gray '42.

Emphasizing the importance of placing students' interests first, class treasurer George Schmucki '41 asked, "Have you been in Scully? Have you been in '41? The way I feel about it is, if you'd rather live in Scully than 1941, then let's tear down '41 and put up something better."

Robert Carton '42, one of the class vice presidents, agreed that the University "should not be burdened by history."

Dated, or just ugly?

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While alumni expressed pride in having made a physical contribution to campus, few disagreed that the buildings lack aesthetic appeal.

Class reunions chair Richard Pate '42 said he would have preferred either a modern or a gothic style. With the attempted integration of the two, Pate said, "The architects just missed, as far as I'm concerned."

Robert Venturi '47, who designed Wu Dining Hall, said the brown-brick buildings were stylistically modern when they were constructed in the 1960s, but expressed little surprise that they are now so unpopular.

Venturi referred to a cycle of taste, which he called "the grandmother wedding dress theory." People often dislike their mother's wedding dress but love their grandmother's, he explained.

"I think it does suffer from being a recent building, rather than an old building or a current building," he said.

Yet Pate said he disliked the dormitories upon first sight.

"Everyone just said, 'Well, it's done. Forget it. What can you do about it?' " he recalled.

Concrete legacies

Carton too was not enthusiastic about the architecture but nevertheless expressed regret. Like many of his classmates, he was concerned that the contributions of his class would be forgotten.

"You're going to tear down the dorm that I and many of my classmates contributed toward," he said. "When you contribute toward something, you expect that it'll be there forever."

Wright assured the University would remember those who contributed to the original buildings, citing as an example the plaque in Princeton Stadium that preserves the story of Palmer Stadium, which it replaced in 1997.

Henry Mueller '41, who helps run Annual Giving for his class, said he had always expected the campus would change with time.

"I've learned over the years that when you contribute to a building, don't think it'll be there forever," Mueller said.

Class secretary Damon Carter '42 has not been discouraged from making future donations, however. He said he would like to see his class respond by apportioning money from their memorial fund to a new building or to Firestone Library.

"It'd be nice, a hundred years from now, to be able to look down from heaven and see the results," he said. "We would like to leave something remarkable in our name."