At
the current site of the new field house, the old burger and
shake shop ("Frosto's", then "The 3 Bears" and later "The
Outlaw") along with the apartment house and a storage
building had to be demolished and removed from the site
along with thousands of yards of rock that had to be blasted
away.
At
one point during the early stages of design of the field
house, a partial barrel shaped roof was envisioned over the
actual gymnasium portion of the building. It was felt that
it would aesthetically compete with the "Grande Dame" of the
original main building. So, it was changed to what you see
now.
One
of the political battles fought was over whether to save the
old "administration" portion of the old building where the
band rooms, the two gyms, and the covered swimming pool were
located. Some felt that this portion of the building was
historic and should be saved. The entry arch was saved and
that is all that remains. The rest of the building literally
fell down when a few structural members were removed.
To
install all new plumb lines, the basement floor had to be
dug up with backhoes in the basement. During this
excavation, the old foundation from South Central was
discovered as were concrete air ducts. The wood floors in
the southeast portion of the basement were placed on wood
sleepers set only in the dirt. There was no concrete under
them.
Many
trinkets like necklaces, bracelets, money, and photos were
found behind the old lockers when they were removed.
Remember the open stairwells at the southeast and southwest
corners of the original building? They are now gone to
comply with current existing fire codes.
The
entire roof over the stage and a portion of the auditorium
was removed and open to the sky. When they were welding the
new roof supports into place, some sparks from the welding
hit the floor of the stage and caused a small fire.
The
beautiful terrazzo floor tile in the corridors was mis-ordered
with too much of one color and not enough of the other. So,
additional tile was ordered from Europe. When it arrived by
boat, it was transferred to a truck that was in an accident
during the transport and the entire load of tile was spread
all over the highway. Some tile was salvaged, but more had
to be ordered.
The
stair treads in the open stair wells as the same old ones,
just turned upside down and refinished.
A
good portion of the ornamental terra cotta roof parapets had
to be removed and secured again.
The
tower clock has been fully restored to working order.
The
pipe organ has been fully restored to full working order.
information provided by Butch Slaughter, Capital Project
Manager and Class of 1963 Alum