After demolition, original UI Art Building revealed

For the first time in decades, a historic University of Iowa building that once housed Grant Wood's studio looks much as it did when he taught there in the 1930s.

Demolition work concluded in February at the University of Iowa's former Art Building complex, which flooded in 2008 along with the rest of UI's arts campus. This past fall and winter, crews razed the water-damaged wings and additions that UI had built over the years as its the School of Art and Art History expanded.

What remains today is the original 1936 brick structure on North Riverside Drive — preserved in an agreement with FEMA because of its historical significance —where Wood worked in his later years and where the "Iowa Idea" was born.

Exactly what function the building will serve for UI in the future, however, is as yet undecided, with the facility scheduled to remain something of a blank canvas for at least another year.

John Beldon Scott, director of UI's School of Art and Art History, said the removal of the four modern additions — particularly the print-making wing that stood between the original building and the river — revealed the stately architecture of the original building.

"It's like going back in time," Scott said. "For 40 years, no one had seen the river facade of the old building unimpeded by that later addition. Visually, it's a tremendously positive addition to the campus."

Rod Lehnertz, UI's director of planning, design and construction, said the old Art Building currently is locked up in "moth-balled" state, with its utilities systems functioning and its grounds maintained, but its interior vacant. Per UI's agreement with FEMA, which footed much of the $1.5 million demolition tab, the building will remain unoccupied until at least 2015.

Lehnertz said UI will likely host a public forum this fall to solicit input on how the original Art Building should be re-purposed.

In 2008, the lower level flooded, but the main floor, which is elevated about a half-dozen feet, did not, he said.

"We feel comfortable that we can program university functions within that building again, but we'll be careful to program something that can move if it needs to, and doesn't rely so much on the space that it can't be relocated," Lehnertz said.

The old Art Building will be among the many facilities that will undergo an evaluation in the coming years as the FEMA-funded fine arts facilities currently under construction open their doors, Lehnertz said.

For instance, when the School of Music moves into its new downtown building at the corner of Clinton and Burlington streets in 2016, the temporary spaces it has been using since 2008 will open up. That includes the partially restored former Museum of Art, adjacent to the old Art Building on North Riverside Drive, that has housed band and orchestra rehearsals in recent years.

"The provost's office is coordinating a team effort to look at all the different collections of buildings that could be impacted by the completion of FEMA work and how we best reprogram those spaces for the immediate and long-term needs for the university," Lehnertz said.

UI is set to begin soliciting construction bids next week for a $1.4 million project that will complete the restoration of the old Museum of Art, now known as the Music West Interim Building, to pre-flood conditions. FEMA will likely fund 80 to 90 percent of that project, which will renovate the southern half of the building, where the flooring and much of the drywall had to be stripped after the flood.

UI, which can't move its art collection back to the old museum because it would be unable to secure insurance, is currently seeking proposals from the private sector to partner on a development that would include a museum component.

Construction on the $77 million Art Building replacement project, meanwhile, is underway at 109 River St. — just a half-block or so from the former building. It's set for completion in 2016.

The old Art Building, built in the middle of the Great Depression, was the first of its kind to bring together the study of art history with studio practice — a model called the Iowa Idea. Scott said the building itself — designed by then-campus architect George Horner, who drew inspiration from a 16th-century Italian villa — is one of the most important pieces of architecture on campus beyond the Pentacrest.

Grant Wood taught and worked in a pavilion on the north end of the building from the time it opened until the early 1940s, Scott said. Wood died in 1942 in Iowa City.

Additions began being constructed in late 1960s, including new wings and stand-alone buildings adjacent to the original. On the river-facing side of the building, there's a Latin inscription that had been obscured largely for decades by the low-slung, print-making wing. With that wing removed, the phrase can now be more easily seen from below, Scott said.

"Ars longa / vita brevis est," the inscription reads. Or: "Art endures / life is short."

Scott said although the School of Art and Art History won't be returning to its original building, with Art Building West standing across the street and the new Art Building under construction just up the hill, there will still be a strong link to the department's roots.

Art Building West's cantilevered wing features windows that overlook the old art building, noted Scott, and art students heading to and from the main campus over the Iowa Memorial Union Bridge will walk past the former building.

"So it will always be an icon that not only represents the campus and the university's historic commitment to the visual arts, but also to our history as an academic unit," Scott said. "So it's not really sad; in a way, it's wonderful to have it back more toward it's original condition."

Reach Josh O'Leary at 887-5415 or joleary@press-citizen.com.