Hall Center design complete

It wasn’t even a concept three years ago, but a new building for the Hall Center for the Humanities soon will become a reality.

Groundbreaking tentatively is set for June for the 11,500-square-foot humanities building, which will incorporate the stone arches and exterior walls of KU’s 1887 Powerhouse near Sunnyside Avenue and Sunflower Road.

The new building is across the street from the Hall Center’s current building, the Watkins Home.

“We really have gone from three years ago looking at expanding this building (the Watkins Home) to suddenly working on a center that’s purpose-built,” said Victor Bailey, Hall Center director.

Designs now are complete on the building, which is almost double the size of the Watkins Home. It includes a 120-seat auditorium, conference room and offices for Hall Center staff and visiting scholars.

The nine outside limestone arches on the south side of the Powerhouse, which is now used for storage, will remain, as will the other exterior walls.

“The fact we were able to leave the facade as well as the walls makes it special,” said Janet Crow, the center’s executive director.

An architectural rendering shows what the Hall Center for the Humanities will look like when it is finished. The building on the Kansas University campus will incorporate the stone arches and exterior walls of KU's 1887 Powerhouse near Sunnyside Avenue and Sunflower Road.

The bulk of the $5 million building was paid for by a $3.26 million grant from the Hall Family Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., the philanthropic arm of Hallmark Cards.

Bailey said he expected the building to be in operation about a year after construction begins. Crews already have been working to prepare the interior of the Powerhouse for demolition.

“It should improve the look of campus as you come up Indiana (Street),” Bailey said. “It’s strikingly more beautiful than what is there now.”

Hall Center leaders unveiled the design during an event Thursday night to honor the Hall family. The featured speaker was Bruce Cole, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“The Hall Family Foundation has helped nurture the humanities at KU over the course of many years,” Cole said. “Now, thanks to the Halls, the humanities will soon have a permanent, nationally-prominent home here in Lawrence. The university’s oldest structure, the 1887 Powerhouse, will be preserved, but ingeniously, the facade will become part of a new building that links the past, present and future.”