Old building adapts to modern life

By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Larry Ratvasky walks around Thompson-Clark Hall like it's home.
The Westminster College project manager spent the last year looking at every corner, ceiling and floor board in the building during its $3 million renovation project.
The 108-year-old building is now one of the college's most technologically advanced buildings outfitted with "smart" classrooms, Internet access for student laptops in just about every classroom and overhead projectors that can transmit anything from the Internet to cable television.
It houses the college's English and public relations department, modern languages, communication studies and theater and art programs.
But the marriage between the old and the new almost didn't happen.
What changed things: "There was a time when we thought we would tear the building down, but that changed when West Hall burned down," said Gloria Cagigas, vice president for institutional advancement at Westminster.
The 1998 fire left the English Department without a home, and administrators decided to take a second look at Thompson-Clark Hall.
A study determined that the century-old building could last another 100 years.
"It was almost like fate; we had the fire and the building that was supposed to be torn down ended up helping us out," she said.
An anonymous donor pledged $1.5 million, and donations from alumni, parents and others raised another $1.5 million in 12 months, Cagigas said.
Construction crews from Bridges & amp; Co. of Pittsburgh started work last March.
"We gutted the whole building. Took out all the internal walls, kept the stairwell and external walls and took off the top story and put on an all-steel superstructure," Ratvasky said.
The outside was restored to its original 19th-century look by power-washing the brick.
What was learned: And through it all, the building experts learned a few things about buildings from the 1800s.
It wasn't constructed like today's buildings with the exterior walls holding up the building, Ratvasky said.
Called a "late Victorian Empire" design, the building was supported by two internal columns meant to keep it standing if it were ever attacked by British cannon fire, he said.
That design was tested for about a month when workers disconnected the exterior walls because they didn't want to damage them while drilling inside for an elevator.
"We were very scared those days," Ratvasky said. But nothing was damaged, and the walls were reattached to the building.
The floors were also a challenge. Engineers determined that there was a 6-inch drop from the northwest corner to the southwest corner of the building.
"If you wanted to practice putting in here, it wouldn't be a good idea," Ratvasky joked.
They also discovered there was about a 6-inch difference from the south wall to the north wall -- approximately the size of a brick, Ratvasky said.
Original construction: However, those things aren't too surprising, he said. Thompson-Clark Hall is actually two buildings made to look like one.
The west side was built in 1894 with the $20,000 life savings of science professor S.R. Thompson. Thompson donated the money to the college in memory of his daughter, Mary, who died seven years earlier.
They used $10,000 for construction, $5,000 for equipment and the rest, for scholarships.
The east side was constructed two years later after Thompson persuaded his friend, Civil War Gen. W.A. Clark, to donate $5,000.
That history wasn't far from one construction worker's mind when he was convinced that the top floor was haunted by "Mary's ghost," Ratvasky said.
"He claimed he felt it go past his face, and he finally refused to go to the top floor because the ghost hit him," he said.
It was later found to be a white barn owl living in the rafters that made a spectacular exit by crashing through a double-paned window.
The totally modern interior does have a few clues to its past. About 30 wooden desks dating to the 1800s are still used in a third-floor classroom, and original blackboards are scattered throughout.
College officials say they are proud of the work, which received an award for excellence in renovation by the Association of Independent Builders and Contractors of Western Pennsylvania.
"It's a beautiful building in terms of taking an old building and refitting it," Cagigas said.