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Last year Lawrence Modern learned that KU had placed Smith Hall on a list of university buildings—among a dozen deemed obsolete and “demolition ready”—that were likely to be razed in Fiscal Year 2023. Like the superheroes in The Avengers, we sprung into action with the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and assembled a multitalented team to save Smith Hall. The University’s plans have now changed.

The State Historic Preservation Office of the Kansas Historical Society informed KU last month that Irma I. Smith Hall, a building located within the University of Kansas’ East Historic District, is now a “contributing” property within the district. This action significantly strengthens the possibility of saving Smith Hall from the wrecking ball. I recently wrote an OpEd about this in the Lawrence Times, which you can read here, but for the Lawrence Modern preservation group, a key stakeholder in the effort to save the building, I’d like to provide a bit more detail about how we got here and what lies ahead.

The road to preservation began last December, when Lawrence Modern, the Lawrence Preservation Alliance, and the Historic Mount Oread Friends group hosted an open house at Smith Hall to raise awareness of the building’s plight. More than 125 people attended. The event featured family members and friends of building namesake Irma I. Smith, and of Elden Tefft, the late KU professor and renowned bronze sculptor who created the statue of Moses that rests in Smith Hall’s front courtyard. Since then, community members have banded together and written letters to key decision makers, penned newspaper articles, engaged in online outreach, and taken political action.

The community response has been remarkable. Students, faculty, Lawrence residents, and beyond have demonstrated deep and long-lasting ties to Smith Hall. The messages sent to the Chancellor, Provost, and the 12-member Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) have made a significant impact. 

Parallel to the letter writing campaign, a coalition of individuals met with Lawrence legislators, which led to discussions about Smith Hall at the statehouse level. At a House Higher Education Budget Committee meeting in February, Lawrence Rep. Mike Amyx asked KU Chancellor Doug Girod about KU’s demolition planning process, as well as specific plans for Smith Hall. You can watch that illuminating exchange here.

At the meeting Girod indicated that a final decision about Smith Hall would be put on hold until the new Campus Master Plan is completed later this year. The Campus Master Plan is a blueprint for the development of the KU campus over the next 10 years. Girod noted that KU has had town halls to invite everyone in the community into the master planning process before final decisions are made. The larger Lawrence community was not invited to discuss Smith Hall, however.

When asked about Smith Hall, Girod said: “Smith Hall has been an area of focus obviously for us, it is largely a vacant building that needs significant repair, and would need massive upgrades.”

Technically speaking, Smith Hall was not vacant. Classes were held there in the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters and office space was still in use. The library continued to be utilized as a place of study, work, and contemplation. The building is currently in the process of being vacated. KU says the building will be heated and cooled in addition to staff checking on the building once that’s completed.

Perhaps most importantly, Girod’s comments about Smith Hall’s condition do not align with information contained in KBOR records. In January 2021, KBOR released a building condition study that assigned a facility condition index (“FCI”) score to buildings at Regents institutions across the state. That report gave Smith Hall a score of .25, which translates into a “B” on a scale ranging from A to F. This index is an industry standard metric that identifies the magnitude of needs and deficiencies for a building or college campus. According to that study, the cost to bring Smith Hall to a 90% renewal level, or “A / good” condition, is projected at $859,151. The funding KBOR allocated for Smith Hall’s demolition was $650,000. 

The study also identifies a total replacement cost for the buildings, and Smith Hall’s replacement value is approximately $5.6 million. This means that it would take at least that much money to build back the same building with similar functionality.

On March 7, the House Higher Education Budget Committee met to make recommendations about KU’s budget. Rep. Amyx offered an amendment that was aimed at ensuring KBOR would have an opportunity to receive complete information about KU’s plans for Smith Hall before voting again on demolition, and that the public would also have an opportunity to offer testimony to KBOR on the topic. The amendment requires a majority vote from KBOR before the building can be demolished in Fiscal Years 2023 or 2024.

The House Higher Education Budget Committee voted to include this amendment in its funding recommendations. You can watch the committee’s deliberations here. The full text of the amendment can be found here.

Meanwhile, the Lawrence Preservation Alliance prepared a draft nomination and a request for the State Historic Preservation Office to reevaluate Smith Hall’s status within the KU East Historic District. The Office did and granted Smith Hall “contributing” property status in July. As I noted in my column, this change offers KU new opportunities and responsibilities in its stewardship of Smith Hall going forward. 

For instance, the university is now able to apply for and use state historic tax credits for repairs or rehabilitation to Smith Hall. Any proposed changes to the building will require review under the Kansas state preservation law (K.S.A. 75-2724). 

Furthermore, KU has an agreement with the preservation office allowing the Campus Historic Preservation Board to review any proposals for modifying buildings within the district. A finding by the board that a proposed project would “damage or destroy” the historic building would halt the project unless an appeal is made to Gov. Laura Kelly. 

While these important steps taken offer hope that Smith Hall ultimately will be saved from demolition, the building is still endangered. We look forward to communications from the KU administration about their plans for Smith Hall given its new status. 

Please visit http://www.savesmithhall.org for the latest information. 

—Tom Harper