CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas in Conway has money to implement the second phase of the campus’s McCastlain Hall renovation after receiving a $400,000 grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resource Council.
Shelley Mehl, vice president for the Division of Institutional Advancement and president of the UCA Foundation, said this phase will create a “grand
hallway,” which will link the East Commons, the historic Fireplace Room and the Baum Gallery of Fine Art.
“We got almost everything we asked for,” she said of the grant. UCA requested $556,171, so all but $156,171 was granted.
Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication, co-authored the grant with K.C. Poole, an instructor of interior design at UCA.
“The second phase is more pedestrian, not quite as
glamorous” as the first phase that is planned, Seymour said.
Still, she said, the second phase is significant.
“We’re removing a couple of rooms to make a wider hallway with an entry area to the back hallway that takes you to Baum Gallery,” she said. “People in the ballroom for an event will easily be able to make their way to the Baum Gallery to complete their experience. We see it as kind of an event center that will hopefully engage a wider public — not just our students — on events going on in the Baum Gallery.”
As it is now, the area to be renovated is a “maze of funny little hallways and dark corridors,” Seymour said. The men’s restroom will be relocated, and universal restrooms will be added.
The $156,171 that is not yet funded likely won’t cause any part of the project to be deleted, Seymour said.
“The university has matched some of the money ANCRC will give us,” she said. It’s “hard to put a price tag” on the project, she said. “The wild card, of course, is working on a historic building because you don’t know for sure what you’re going to find.”
In May 2014, UCA received an $800,000 grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resource Council to restore and renovate McCastlain Hall, built in 1939 as the first standalone cafeteria on the campus. UCA originally received a planning grant in 2013 for the project.
The first phase of renovation is scheduled to begin in June, Seymour said.
“Bid documents are out. … It’s very impressive to see all the work,” she said. Randy Stocks and Melissa Rodgers of Stocks-Mann Architects were the architectural consultants. “They are just excellent,” Seymour said. “Mostly, we’re very grateful to the ANCRC and really appreciate all the support.”
Phase 1 will restore many of the original features of McCastlain Hall, as well as update technology within the structure. Renovations in the ballroom — East Commons — will include a coffered ceiling and audiovisual equipment, which will be hidden by the ceiling. Doors will be added to close East Commons for events, which have been held there since the Christian Cafeteria was built in 1969. A service elevator will be installed so that tables and chairs can be kept in the basement instead of inconveniently stored across campus as they are now. Dishwashers will be installed, too, so the china can remain in the building.
If money is still available from the first grant, the Fireplace Room will be restored, Seymour said in an earlier interview.
McCastlain is one of eight buildings on campus that make up UCA’s Historic District. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historical Places on Jan. 18, 2013. Seymour said in an earlier article that McCastlain was “the center of the universe for students.” One tidbit she found in her research was that students talked about “walking the rails” when going into McCastlain Hall. Railings extend from the front door of McCastlain to the sidewalk, and students, especially in the 1950s, recalled going in and out of the building as “walking the rail,” Seymour said. The guys sat on the rails to watch the female students walk in and made dates. The rail will be restored and will be called reunion rail, she said.
McCastlain Hall was named for Orville Wright McCastlain of Holly Grove, a 1934 graduate of the school and a record-setting athlete.
UCA President Tom Courtway said in a press release that the university has received, including the latest grant, more than $1.7 million from the council for a couple of buildings on campus.
“These grant funds from the ANCRC, coupled with funds we’ve set aside for restoration work, will ensure that these historic buildings are used for many years to come,” he said.
Mehl said UCA wants to get all the work done in a timely manner because the university has landed a
traveling exhibition that will arrive at the Baum Gallery in October 2016.
The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre and UCA were selected as hosts for the state of Arkansas for First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare. Published seven years after his death, the book includes 18 of Shakespeare’s 38 plays, according to the American Library Association’s website. The Folder Shakespeare Library, in partnership with the Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association, is touring copies of the original edition, accompanied by six interpretive panels, to all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“It’s going to one place in every state, and we got it for Arkansas, which is why we want to get all this work done, because [it will be] in the Baum Gallery,” Mehl said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.