University of Arkansas Chemistry Building Renovation Earns Preservation Award

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The $18 million dollar renovation of the historic Chemistry Building on the University of Arkansas campus has been awarded an honorable mention for Excellence in Preservation Rehabilitation by the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas.

“We’re thrilled and delighted,” said Bill Durham, chair of the department of chemistry and biochemistry. “The architects and builders did an outstanding job providing us with a modern, state-of-the-art classroom and lab facility that still keeps the feel and flavor of the original building. It is a fabulous blending the old and the new.”

The Chemistry Building was built in 1935 as part of a Public Works Administration project, one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. It is built of limestone in the “Collegiate Gothic” architectural style, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 1992.

The University administration recognized the need to renovate the Chemistry Building as early as the mid-1970s, but the money for the project was not available until 2004, when a university bond issue and a $2 million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health made the project possible. Work began in May, 2004, and the building was re-opened for classes in January, 2007.

“The team involved in putting this project together did wonderful work,” said Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities management. “We essentially have a brand new building inside a structure in which the important historic features and flavor were preserved and enhanced.”

The renovation was a collaboration of Arkansas designers and builders, with WER of Little Rock the architects and planners for the renovation and the Fayetteville firm of Amirmoez Foster Hailey Johnson as associate architects for the project. Tinsley-Mullen Engineers of Little Rock served as the project engineers, and May Construction of Little Rock was the general contractor.

The Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas award will be presented during the 2007 Arkansas Preservation Conference in North Little Rock on Nov. 9.