Until this spring, the iron and wood sitting in a Kansas University maintenance shop hadn’t seen daylight for nearly 40 years.

The pieces had been stored in the catacombs of Strong Hall since Old Fraser Hall was demolished in 1965.

But the fixtures, portions of bannisters and iron fencing, are being refurbished and will be given new life in Rieger Scholarship Hall, which is under construction and scheduled to open next fall.

“We’re always looking for the idea of reusing anything in storage,” said Ken Stoner, director of student housing. “It’s no good to anybody in storage. And since this is in a historical environs, we wanted to see if there was an option or possibility of anything historical being incorporated.”

The iron and wood are remnants of one of the most historic buildings and controversial eras of KU history.

Old Fraser Hall was constructed in 1872 and served a variety of purposes in its days. The mammoth, ornate building included classroom space, an auditorium and offices.

The Kansas Board of Regents voted in 1962 to raze the building, citing its deteriorating condition. The vote incited a flood of support for the structure from alumni and preservationists who wanted it restored, not knocked down. Despite the protests, the building was demolished in 1965 and replaced with the current Fraser Hall.

Now, fixtures from the razed building will be used in another controversial structure. To the disgust of neighborhood preservationists, KU knocked down several century-old houses in the 1300 block of Ohio Street to make way for Rieger Hall, which will house 50 women, and another yet-to-be-named scholarship hall, which will house 50 men.

Kansas University is refurbishing portions of Old Fraser Hall, like this section of an iron gate that was demolished in the 1960s, for its new scholarship hall in the 1300 block of Ohio Street. Vince Avila, associate director of student housing, and Ken Stoner, director of student housing, have been overseeing the work at the housing maintenance facility.

The wood spindles, 30 made of pine and 30 from walnut, that once served as a bannister railing in Old Fraser will serve the same purpose in Rieger Hall. Student housing staff members have been stripping the spindles of stain and lacquer and sanding them down for refinishing.

The iron fencing, in seven pieces each measuring approximately 3 feet by 5 feet, will be used in the courtyard to the north of Rieger Hall, in an area that eventually will be between the two scholarship halls. At Old Fraser, the fencing was atop the building in a space called the “widow’s walk,” which surrounded the two flag towers.

The fencing had a few pieces missing that had to be cast and replaced, Stoner said.

The new scholarship hall is funded through a $3 million donation by Roger and Annette Rieger of Seattle. Stoner said a stained-glass window replica from Annette Rieger’s childhood home and a bronze statue in the entryway also will add to the character of the building.

“These, along with the two Fraser artifacts, will definitely be conversation pieces and add a great deal of personality and warmth to the building,” Stoner said.

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This isn’t the first time Old Fraser fixtures have been recycled in newer campus buildings. Other pieces of the fencing were used on the patio at the Adams Alumni Center; bannister spindles were used as a divider for the Centennial Room at the Kansas Union, and door portions were used as paneling in the Alumni Center’s former pub area and in the Centennial Room.

Also, the main clock from Fraser Hall now keeps time in the chancellor’s office.

More doors are set to be used as paneling in the future scholarship hall on Ohio. No time frame has been set for its construction.

A shot of old Fraser Hall shows the wrought iron fencing surrounding the observation decks on top of two of the hall's towers. Sections of the iron fence are being refurbished for use at KU's new scholarship hall in the 1300 block of Ohio.

Marilyn Gridley, a past president of the Historic Mount Oread Fund, said the recycling of Old Fraser Hall items was a way to get a positive result from a time that was a “crisis” in KU history.

Gridley said she thought both an architectural philosophy of the 1960s that favored new over old and a lack of architectural creativity doomed the edifice. She said she thought the pendulum now has swung toward finding ways to saving buildings such as Old Fraser.

“I think if we had managed to hang onto it for another 20 years, we could have saved it,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful any time they can find a way to incorporate fragments of the old buildings.”