Project Overview
Description: Historic Restoration and Renovation of Early 1900s Dormitory Building
Location: Elsah, Illinois
Metropolitan Build’s Services: Historic Restoration, General Contracting, Identification & Archival of Historic Materials, Renovation of Building Systems
Architect: Eugine Mackey and Associates, now Mackey Mitchell Architects
Summary
Metropolitan Build was engaged by Principia College to restore and renovate Anderson Hall, a dormitory completed in 1936 on the Principia College campus in Elsah, Illinois. We worked closely with Principia administration, student representatives, facilities department, and the renovation architect for the project in developing the project’s final scope design while retaining and featuring the historic Character Defining Features. The Metropolitan Build team completed this project on an expedited timeline – less than one calendar year – to ensure that the building was ready for use by the start of the 1998 school year.
About Principia College and Anderson Hall
Principia College, founded in 1912, required historical restoration and renovation for Agnes Anderson Hall in the 1990s. Since this first Principia project, Metropolitan Build has completed multiple projects on the two Principia School campuses, Town & Country, MO, and Elsah, IL. The relationship between Principia and Metropolitan Build began with Anderson Hall, a dormitory that was one of the earliest completed structures on the Elsah campus. Designed by Architect Bernard Maybeck, the dormitory was completed in 1936, and Metropolitan Build had the honor of working with Principia to rto restore and renovate the building, listed on the Historic Register of Historic Places. Metropolitan performed the work on a compressed schedule to ensure its opening and be ready for student occupancy at the beginning of the 1998 school year.
Restoring A Historic Building
By the late 1990s, Anderson Hall was ready for significant updates to ensure fire and safety code compliance as well as lifestyle and aesthetic appeal for the continued use of the building. Updates needed for this building included replacing essential systems such as plumbing, fire alarms, smoke evacuation, heating/cooling, and electrical wiring. In addition, key aspects of the building required expertise in restoration, including the windows, doors, roofing tile, brickwork, and masonry pointing.
Exterior and Interior Restoration Expertise
Prior to Metropolitan Build’s involvement with Anderson Hall, Principia College attempted to complete material archival for the building in-house. However, the college recognized the need for expertise and experience in this field to address the challenges and complexity of a faithful restoration and historic preservation, so the college reached out to Metropolitan Build to propose the completion of salvaging, selective interior demolition, and the complete historic preservation & renovation of the project. During the project, Metropolitan Build engaged their talented tradesmen and qualified subcontractors, as well as their specialty suppliers to complete the renovation within the short timeframe. Metropolitan Build worked on the restoration and renovation work for both exterior and interior components of Anderson Hall.
Re-Manufacturing Original Windows
In the decades between original construction and Metropolitan Build’s restoration, the original windows had been replaced with modern windows, creating a visual and historic misalignment. To rectify this, Metropolitan Build worked closely with Principia to identify the original manufacturing company of the building’s windows, Hope’s Windows. This company was still operating, so Metropolitan Build and Principia engaged the manufacturer to recreate the original windows – steel arrowpoint casements with insulated glazing. Using historic record drawings from Hope’s archives retained during the building’s original construction, the windows were reproduced and installed to specification, restoring the building’s original fenestration and authentic essence.
Retrofitting Internal Systems
In addition to the historic restoration work, Metropolitan Build completed the renovation of the building’s essential systems to ensure code compliance and to suit modern resident use. This included installing new infrastructure as well as salvaging, archiving, and redistributing original materials from the old systems into the new renovation and restoration. Our team implemented new mechanical, electrical, communication, and specialty wiring, as well as plumbing, fire safety, smoke evacuation, and security systems.
Reconfiguring Secondary Spaces
After 65+ years, the original dormitory rooms and all of the bathrooms in the building were no longer suitable for contemporary student life. Metropolitan Build assisted in reconfiguring these rooms to better accommodate modern student residents and their needs. This reconfiguration work required highly specialized skills due to the historic nature of materials and construction methods used in the original construction.
Completion For The School Year
As mentioned above, this tremendous undertaking needed to be completed in less than one year – in time to allow students to utilize the facility in the coming academic year. With this in mind, the Metropolitan Build team worked diligently to ensure that the project stayed on schedule, overcoming delays and ensuring that the occupancy requirements for the academic school year were met. In the end, the historical restoration and renovation of Anderson Hall was indeed completed in time for the 1998 school year.
Modern Relevance For Historic Sites
Metropolitan Build is pleased to say that this historic building and the restoration and renovation of its historic structures remain relevant today. Agnes Anderson Hall remains a fully serving and inspiring dormitory home for students attending Principia College, and the updates and renovations our team made are still in place today.
