This article features Trinity Hall at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Friday, January 02, 2004
By KEVIN DeVALK
Finger Lakes Times, Geneva, N.Y.
Trinity Hall on the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges is expected to reopen this month after undergoing six months of renovations. Spencer Tulis / Finger Lakes Times
GENEVA - Hobart and William Smith Colleges' historic Trinity Hall is expected to be back open for business this month.
The three-story academic building on the South Main Street side of the Colleges' academic quad will reopen after undergoing extensive renovations over the past six months.
Paul Bringewatt, vice president of administrative services, said the interior of the building doesn't look anything like it used to.
"It was a total gut," he said.
The $2.5 million renovation work is expected to be finished Monday, and the offices the building will house will likely be moved in by Jan. 12, Bringewatt said.
Students return to campus Jan. 18.
Many of the professors with offices in Trinity moved across campus this summer into Stern Hall.
Trinity will now house classrooms, the Salisbury Career Center, and the public service and off-campus programs offices. Those offices have been on other parts of the campus.
The exterior of the South Main Street side of the building was restored for preservation purposes while the project also was done to bring the building up to code.
A raised first floor, a new stair tower, elevators and a handicapped accessible entrance are among the renovation's features.
A basement with a ground-level entrance on the quad side has been added. The entrance replaces "some ugly metal steps that take you to the first floor," Bringewatt said.
According to "The Story of Geneva," by E. Thayles Emmons, Trinity Hall - its name a nod to the campus' ties to the Trinity Church - was completed in 1838 and was a gift to Hobart College from the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Religion and Learning.