Originally known as Agricultural Hall and built for the Nebraska State Fair in 1913 at a cost of $100,000, plus $8,000 to purchase the land. In 1914, fair officials described it as “one of the best agriculture-horticulture buildings to be found on any fairgrounds in the United States.”
Designed by Burd F. Miller of Omaha, a prominent architect of his time. Miller also designed historically significant structures in Omaha's Gold Coast, Field Club and Happy Hollow neighborhoods.
1919: Lincoln Standard Aircraft Co. used the building to retrofit World War I surplus Standard airplanes with larger engines.
After World War II, a new agricultural display building was constructed. The Industrial Arts Building was converted to industrial displays, which in 1948 included Burlington Railroad's “newest and most advanced'' refrigerated railroad car equipment.
2004: Building closed to the public because of its run-down condition.
LINCOLN — A historic preservation group is making a last-ditch effort to save the Industrial Arts Building, the oldest exhibit building on the former state fairgrounds.
The 1913 building now is targeted for demolition to make way for a public-private research park on the former fairgrounds, which will become the property of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Jan. 1. New facilities for the Nebraska State Fair are under construction in Grand Island.
Developers working on behalf of UNL say they've chosen to renovate two other historic fairgrounds buildings and won't have enough money to include the Industrial Arts Building. As yet, they have not identified specific plans for the building site.
So Heritage Nebraska, a nonprofit preservation organization, is hunting for private investors to put up the cash to rescue the building.
“We are actively looking for an occupant and the money to make it happen,” said J.L. Schmidt, executive director of Heritage Nebraska.
Time is of the essence if the building is to be saved.
Chancellor Harvey Perlman has said he hopes to arrange $40 million-plus in financing to begin the first phases of Innovation Campus construction within six months.
Unless a private developer comes forward with the money to renovate the Industrial Arts Building, he says, it will have to go.
Developers fear that the run-down building, at a prime spot on the fairgrounds, might turn off potential tenants and kill the project's momentum.
“I have no passion for tearing down the Industrial Arts Building, but I do have a passion for making this project successful,” Perlman told the Board of Regents recently.
Yet architects like Jerry Berggren of Lincoln and George Haecker of Omaha say the 93,000-square-foot building, with its soaring 43-foot-tall ceilings and skylights, trapezoidal shape and archway construction, has too much character to be torn down.
It could be made into a showpiece for the Innovation Campus with less money than it would cost to demolish and replace it with a similar building, the two told the regents.
“For Heritage Nebraska, it's a cultural responsibility to keep this building,” Haecker said.
A Heritage Nebraska analysis indicated that minimal repairs to prevent further deterioration would cost about $250,000. A full renovation would cost more than $5 million. Demolition would cost about $1.5 million.
Before forwarding the Innovation Campus plan to the Legislature, as required, the regents added an amendment requiring Perlman to seek formal approval from the board before demolition begins.
The amendment was advocated by Regent Chuck Hassebrook of Lyons, who urged that planners make a “sincere” effort to salvage the Industrial Arts Building.
The interior features a three- to four-story tall main arena space rimmed by a 36-foot-wide second-story mezzanine. Steel roof trusses and columns are open to view. It was originally lit with massive skylights, which have since been removed.
The building was closed to the public after the 2004 State Fair.
“It was just in too bad of a shape to allow the public to go in there,” said State Fair Executive Director Joseph McDermott, who said the building has visible holes in the roof.
McDermott said state officials instructed the Fair Board not to repair the building because of the possibility that the fair would be moved.
The Innovation Campus developers, Noddle Co. of Omaha and JJR Smithgroup of Ann Arbor, Mich., have proposed renovating the 1913 National Guard Arsenal and the 4-H Building, constructed in the 1930s.
The 4-H building and its livestock arena would be converted into a seminar and conference facility. The arsenal would continue its function as a military museum.
Developers said they could not find a good purpose for the Industrial Arts Building, particularly in its current state of disrepair.
“We don't disagree that it's a wonderful structure,” said Mary Jukuri of Ann Arbor, a senior landscape architect with JJR Smithgroup. “It's like walking into an old train station.”
The building is too big and awkwardly shaped for many purposes, she said. Nor does she advocate “mothballing” it until a use can be found.
“If we're trying to create a sense of momentum and excitement, we would not want to have an Industrial Arts Building in its current condition ... sitting at the front door of the campus,” she said.
Berggren disagrees with destroying a “perfectly sound” building considering that there's no other use yet identified for its site.
“There's absolutely no reason to take the building down, except for the impression that it's in the way,” he said. “For me, that's not enough reason.”
Contact the writer:
402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com
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