Post-Civil War Building at UA Gains New Life for the Arts

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – After starting out its life as a post-Civil War military laundry facility, a former maintenance building on The University of Alabama campus is being revived in service to the arts.

Now known as the Arts Construction Building, the two-story structure will provide much needed studio space for sculpture graduate students in the department of art and for theatre scene design and set construction in the department of theatre and dance, both in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

The building was built in 1888 as the laundry for the University, which was a military school at that time. It contained the most modern equipment available to care for cadet uniforms, including a special press used to iron cadet collars. It was sited at the top of Marr’s Pond, and water came from Marr’s Spring which ran underneath it. Pump mechanisms drew water into the laundry from the spring.

The University underwent reconstruction in the late 1800s after being destroyed by Federal troops during the Civil War. The laundry was built similar to the Romanesque/Gothic Revival style used for Oliver-Barnard and Toumey Halls which were also built at that time, according to Dr. Robert Mellown, professor of art in the department of art.

When the military system was abolished in 1903, it was assimilated into the Office of Facilities Maintenance as a plumbing shop. It remained so until its recent reassignment by UA’s Office of Academic Affairs.

Vestiges of the building’s original use were discovered by Craig Wedderspoon, professor of art, and Jamie Grimes, a graduate student in sculpture, who renovated the building. Old laundry chutes and a dumbwaiter were discovered in the basement. These were filled with concrete. A drainage trench that ran through the basement was also discovered and rerouted. A family of possums had made a part of the building their home.

“The 2,091 square foot basement of the building has been redesigned as a student sculpture studio,” said Wedderspoon.

“Previously, the only studio facility for sculpture students was in a warehouse in Northport,” he said. “For the first time now, students have the opportunity to do their work at a central location on campus. I am very excited about the possibilities the Arts Construction Building offers to these students.”

The first floor is being used for theatre set design and construction. The building is located directly behind Rowand-Johnson Hall, home to the Allen Bales and Gallaway theatres, and is in the historic heart of the UA campus.

The College of Arts and Sciences is Alabama’s largest liberal arts college and the University’s largest division, with 355 faculty and 6,600 students.