February 25, 2005
Newhall
Renovations: Venerable Yet Hip
| |
|
| |
Newhall
Center - Admissions Office |
The admission office is up and running again in the newly renovated
Newhall Center. The renovations, which took nearly nine months
to complete, have revitalized the space, which was last remodeled
some 26 years ago.
“
Newhall is a felicitious blend of the old and the new, the venerable
and
the hip, like all of our recent projects,” President Joanne V. Creighton
said. The part of the building that fronts College Street was originally a frame
house, older than the College itself. The structure evolved from a private house
to the first Pearsons Annex, then to the Hadley Bookshop, then to the beloved
Bookshop Inn still remembered by many.
In 1979,
the building was transformed into Newhall Center by architect
Elizabeth
Spang Ericson ’61. “Now, in its
latest transformation, carrying her [Ericson’s] ideas further
and adding considerable pizzazz and functionality, it has realized
its full potential as an admission center,” Creighton said.
Adding to the building is a prominent front portico and a stunning glass corridor
flowing through the building toward the main campus. Beautiful modern details
incorporated in the new entrance are coupled with retention of classic elements
such as the white clapboard exterior that is in keeping with the white frame
structures
around it.
According to Diane Anci, dean of admission, the major aim of the project was
to accommodate the volume of visitors to the admission office, which has nearly
doubled in the past three decades. To this end, the living room was enlarged
to create a comfortable space where visitors can relax, review information, and
wait for tours. Also, the center now has a handsome octagonal meeting room at
the back of the building, echoing other octagonal-shaped rooms on campus, where
information sessions are conducted for prospective students and their families.
Both spaces are equipped with state-of-the-art technology connected by a powerful
wireless network. Students can fill out their admission information on tablet
computers, and parents can check their email and get directions to other campuses
on their tours. Eventually, visitors will be able to view online videos and peruse
the College’s Web site.
“The additional square footage will help us do our work with pro-spective
students and families,” Anci said. “We also appreciate the beauty
and sophistication of the design.”
The Newhall renovation was made possible by the generous gift of an anonymous
donor. The meeting room is named the Jenkins Room in memory of Joy Mooney Jenkins ’53,
who was an active alumna and longtime volunteer. For ten years, Mrs. Jenkins
served as the 1953 class president. She was also the president of the South Shore
club in the Boston area and, most recently, served on her fiftieth reunion gift
committee. Mrs. Jenkins’s family will attend a dedication of the room with
the trustees this week.
In addition to the new spaces, the office has restructured the staff to dedicate
one staff member to the functions of the meeting room and all prospective students
who take advantage of the campus visit program. Christy O’Brien FP ’04
will conduct daily information sessions. She and the admission fellows and tour
guides will serve as contacts for the students they meet.
After spending nine months working out of a doublewide trailer near Pratt and
the basement of Wilder Hall, the admission staff is thrilled to be back in Newhall
Center. “From the beginning, everyone who participated in the renovation
understood our goals,” Anci said. “From the generosity of the donor
to the vision of the architect and the skill of the builders, we have gotten
all we could have hoped for and more. We look forward to using the space to continue
to achieve and surpass the ambitious goals set for the College’s enrollment
effort.”
The
counter is
1,138
|
