Purdue News

August 1999 War-surplus buildings will go the way of Liberty Bonds Story first printed in the 1999 Summer edition of Perspective newspaper for alumni and friends. They are relics, but not treasures. They are not the kind of buildings people sign petitions to preserve. They are World War II-surplus storage buildings given new life in the resource-depleted months after the end of the war. Purdue calls them the Creative Arts Buildings. Erected in 1947, the buildings were scavenged from a training base in Illinois in the months after the war. Hordes of veterans swarmed U.S. college campuses, but the nation had not converted from war footing back to necessities like construction. At first, chemistry and pharmacy laboratories occupied the former warehouses. Since the moment they were completed five decades ago, the buildings have been referred to as temporary, a condition many would like to see ended by demolition. In April, the Indiana General Assembly gave approval for Purdue to spend $20.75 million for a new building for the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. To be located a half-block south of State Street and northeast of the Horticulture Building, the new facility will house programs in music, dance, theatre, and art and design. Those programs now are located in Matthews Hall, Lambert Gymnasium, Stewart Center and the Creative Arts Buildings. Plans call for construction to begin in summer 2000. Upon completion of the new building, the Creative Arts Buildings would be cleared away. The land would be held in reserve but designated for future use by the Schools of Engineering. Stories by Jay Cooperider Photographs by David Umberger To the Purdue News and Photos Page