Just when you thought dinosaurs were extinct, one is found alive and kicking right here on our very own campus. Lord Hall, currently the home of the Ohio State Department of Anthropology, remains in the Jurassic Period in regards to accessibility for students with disabilities.
Located on 17th Avenue, Lord Hall was constructed in 1905 and was occupied as the Mines and Ceramic Building in the fall of 1906. Lord Hall, home of a UTS computing site, now stands worn down and in need of more then just a paint job.
According to Jean Hansford, senior campus planner, one of the main problems with Lord Hall is that it lacks an elevator, making the floors above the ground level inaccessible to the wheelchair bound.
“The fact that there is no existing elevator may not be a problem as long as all upper floor programs are duplicated at the first floor, but if they are not, the building does not meet accessibility requirements for those with disabilities. If a program is not accessible, the building is considered to be inaccessible,” Hansford said.
L. Scott Lissner, university compliance coordinator for Americans with Disabilities Act, said that when a disabled student has a conflict with a class above the ground level, the entire class is moved to a different location.
Currently Lord Hall meets ADA regulations because of a grandfather clause that enables buildings that have not had a major renovation since 1948 to continue to be used.
“I’d like to see Lord Hall go because it’s not a very accessible building,” Lissner said. “It’s getting to the point where Lord Hall may be one of our least accessible buildings on campus.”
However, in addition to concerns about accessibility, Lord Hall is also dated in terms of practicality and comfort.
Lord Hall, which is set on an angular orientation in comparison to the other surrounding structures, was originally accompanied with a road that no longer exists. The road ran northwest from the Oval toward 18th Avenue, east of Hayes Hall and was later replaced by College Avenue sometime after 1929.
According to Hansford the building’s awkward placement, “makes for an inappropriate and inefficient use of valuable campus land,” and “makes it difficult to develop other much-needed facilities in the area.”
Lord Hall also lacks comforts such as central air conditioning. With its old utilities and wood-frame construction, the building is inefficient and expensive to repair.
Although Lord Hall has been on the demolition list for nearly 13 years, there are still no concrete plans to raze the building.
If and when Lord Hall is demolished, there are many ideas for use of the land it currently occupies.
Demolition of the building requires funding that often comes through the capital budget cycle that occurs every two years. The proposal for money to demolish Lord Hall missed the funding cut-off in the previous cycle, and there is no guarantee in the upcoming cycle that it will receive the money it needs, according to Lissner.
Jill Morelli, university architect, said money for the demolition and construction to replace Lord Hall can also come from other sources such as federal, college, department or donor money, but these alone cannot fund the project without help of state money.
“Departmental money usually goes to teachers salaries, books, pens and pencils, things like that,” she said.
