Harris Hall will close its doors at an undetermined date in the future, while major renovations could add improvements such as fire sprinklers and an elevator, Northwestern officials said.

The construction raises concerns about scheduling classes. The building is currently home to the History Department and also houses everything from discussion sections to large lectures.

John Brzezinski, a senior project manager at NU’s Facilities Management, said construction will take about a year, during which new locations will have to be found for all of the classes that meet in Harris Hall.

“The greatest hitch we’ve had so far is consternation over the lack of space,” Brzezinski said. “If everything went very smoothly and just kept rolling along, we’d be looking to start construction some time in early 2009.”

The project is in the programming stage. A committee made up of representatives of the History Department, the Weinberg Dean’s Office, the Office of the Registrar, Facilities Management and the project’s architects – Weese Langley Weese – has been meeting regularly since early August to discuss the project.

“This is a project where we all have to sit down together and talk about this before we make any commitments,” said Marvin Lofquist, Weinberg’s associate dean for physical environment.

Lofquist called Harris “marvelous,” but pointed out the troubles of using a 92-year-old building. The building doesn’t have central air conditioning, adequate handicapped access or a sprinkler system, he said.

“It has a mechanical system that has a number of problems,” Lofquist said. “You’d either have to change small parts of it or renovate the whole building.”

While several items are under consideration, a few definitely will be included in the design, said Brzezinski, a member of the Harris programming committee. Some improvements, such as the addition of a sprinkler system and an elevator, are necessary to comply with current building codes.

Other additions could include more heat adsorbent windows, central air conditioning and more bathrooms.

Brzezinski said the additions do not imply that the building is currently violating any codes.

“When you build a building, you build to code as it is,” Brzezinski said. “There’s nothing that requires a sprinkler system to be put in a building like (Harris) other than a major renovation.”

However, these additions – particularly the elevator and its required machinery – will result in some loss of space. Still, Brzezinski said, there are no plans to add any space to the building.

“It was discussed, but there are no current plans to do that, owing to the fact that it is a historic building,” Brzezinski said. “The current plan is to work within the pre-existing wall and ceiling.”

Finding new space for classes will be left in the hands of Jacqualyn Rivera, NU’s assistant registrar for scheduling and registration and who also serves on the committee. Rivera said the construction will have an impact on the scheduling for the whole campus, but it is too early to tell how large that impact will be.

“We’re in the very early stages of figuring out how many classrooms we need and where those classrooms will go,” Rivera said.

She said they haven’t looked at other spaces where Harris’ classes could be held yet, but there are open classrooms around campus.

Brzezinski said the programming phase of the plan will continue until November and a design phase will begin early next year. He said he couldn’t set a firm date for the beginning of construction because it’s uncertain how long planning the layout will take.

History professor John Bushnell, who teaches and has an office in Harris, said although he understood the reasons behind the renovation, he was not looking forward to it.

“Why would I welcome that?” Bushnell said. “I have to move everything out of my office and into another building, and then in a year and a half, move everything back in again. If I were 40 years old, maybe.”

But, Lofquist said, the project is worth the inconvenience.

“I think it’s better to take care of it now,” Lofquist said. “Do you want to wait until the building is on life support and the paint is peeling off the walls?”

Reach Michael Gsovski at [email protected].