March 3, 2010
Avery Hall Fencing Removed
Fencing finally came down from around Avery Hall today, giving passersby their first glimpse of the outside of the newly renovated Hall.
According to Dean Jim Marchant, the Pitzer Board of Trustees will be on campus this upcoming weekend for a tour of the renovated Hall and the George C.S. Benson Auditorium inside.
Marchant said that access will be available to the student body and public around March 15. Work on the building is to continue until then.
Below are some excerpts on the construction sent by the Office of the President to the Pitzer community just previous to this past fall semester:
“Two years ago Pitzer received one of the largest private donations ever given to the College for the renovation of Avery Auditorium, originally built in 1969. At the request of the donor Robert Day (chairman, president and CEO of the Keck Foundation) and with the blessing of the Avery family, it was agreed that the auditorium (but not the building) would be renamed the George C.S. Benson Auditorium in honor of Dr. Benson, a founding trustee of Pitzer
Avery Hall, as it currently appears from the front of the Writing Center
College. Together with Pitzer’s namesake Russell K. Pitzer and its founding trustees, Dr. Benson helped define the key qualifications required for the first president of Pitzer College—character and determination, personality, executive ability and scholarship—and chaired the search committee that named John W. Atherton as Pitzer’s founding president.
The auditorium renovation, now fully underway with completion expected in the spring semester, is employing green building principles that include an HVAC system to reduce energy consumption as well as recycled carpeting and fiber seats. The entire interior of the auditorium is being replaced, new technology is being installed, and a large glass lobby is being added to the front of the building that will include pocket doors to facilitate performances in the lobby to be viewed from the lawn. Architect Brenda Levin’s plan also carefully preserved as many of the building’s murals as possible, including “Pitzer: Past, Present and Future” painted in 1997 by Pitzer students and artist Paul Botello (who will return to campus to restore and enlarge parts of the mural affected by construction). The serpent mural on the roof of Avery originally painted in 1973 by students and Peruvian artist Yando Rios will also be preserved. Strict building codes dictated that ADA compliant restrooms be constructed at the northwest entrance of the auditorium, which required building over several existing student and faculty murals. Fortunately, these murals and many others at Pitzer have been captured and preserved online in the Claremont Colleges digital library at http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/map.”
President Trombley’s Full Letter, including the above, is available online at the Pitzer website here: http://www.pitzer.edu/offices/public_relations/press_releases/09-10/2009_08_27_trombley.asp
When can we start painting all over it?