Lincoln Hall, a Venerable Building, Crumbles in Disrepair

Lincoln Hall, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has seen better days. (Flickr photo courtesy army.arch@flickr)

Deferred maintenance is not just a threat to a campus budget. It can threaten the very legacy of a university and its treasures, as an article in the Chicago Sun-Times points out.

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lincoln Hall is falling apart. The building was designed by an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright and built to commemorate the great statesman from Illinois. “Ornate stonework at the building includes terra cotta plaques depicting Lincoln’s life and best-known sayings and busts featuring men who were significant in Lincoln’s life,” says the Sun-Times. “A 600-seat theater features vaulted ceilings and elaborate gold and silver leaf plasterwork.”

Now those artisan-created features, along with the basic systems in the building, are in major need of repair. The decorative plaster is cracking and crumbling. The roof leaks, and there is water damage in the theater. The plumbing and electrical systems should be replaced. The classrooms are woefully outdated. Lead and asbestos hazards are everywhere.

Lincoln Hall is usually a site for freshman classes, but officials closed the building for the year, believing they would get money for renovation from the state. That money has not come through yet.

Deferred maintenance at the university has grown from $350-million to $500-million in recent years, as noted in a Chronicle article last year. In December, university officials cancelled plans to erect a wind turbine, saying that the money was more desperately needed for maintenance.