Antioch to raze historic hall

By Lauren Heaton

Recently the Antioch University Board of Trustees approved the demolition of G. Stanley Hall Hall, the oldest structure on the Antioch College campus located on Corry Street just north of the Antioch School. The building is scheduled for asbestos abatement this month followed by the demolition in late March, according to Antioch University CFO Tom Faecke.

“The building is an eyesore and a potential danger to the children,” Faecke said on Tuesday. “And it has deteriorated beyond the point of redemption.”

G. Stanley Hall Hall was built in the federal vernacular style in the 1840s as the farmhouse of Henry Herrmann, whose name was given to the Herman Street that abutts the golf course, according to University Archivist Scott Sanders. Antioch purchased the original structure in 1930 to house the Fels Longitudinal Research project and in 1935 built an addition to the rear to accommodate the Fels study. When the Sontag-Fels building was erected in 1947, G. Stanley Hall Hall became the home of the college’s psychology department and was later named after Granville Stanley Hall, the founder of American psychology and a literature professor at Antioch from 1872–1876. The building housed the college’s degree completion program known as McGregor for 15 years, and later the university financial offices.

According to Sanders, G. Stanley Hall Hall was closed in the 1980s and has remained vacant ever since. An assessment completed in 2004 through a Getty Foundation Campus Heritage Grant scored the building “poor” for its condition and adaptability. And vandals and squatters have infiltrated the structure over the years, forcing the university to address the structure before someone was injured, Faecke said.

The demolition is expected to cost $10–15,000 in addition to the cost of asbestos abatement, Faecke said. Two tall oak trees were felled last week in front of the building, and Faecke hopes the rest of the knock-down demolition will take place between March 21–30, the time of the Antioch School’s spring break, so as to cause the least disruption to the school.

Though the property was rezoned from Education to Residence A in 2004 to better enable the university to sell the land, Faecke said the university has no immediate plans for the property, which will remain vacant for the foreseeable future.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com