Fencing Put Up as Peabody Hall Restoration Project Begins

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Peabody Hall is closed during renovation and restoration.

Construction fencing has been erected around Peabody Hall on the University of Arkansas campus in preparation for restoration and renovation of the building that is expected to be complete in the fall of 2011.

The fencing abuts the west side of the Graduate Education Building and surrounds Peabody Hall. Some sidewalks have been closed. All entrances to the Graduate Education Building remain open.

Peabody Hall opened in 1913 and was the first building constructed on the Fayetteville campus with private funds. Two years earlier, the university's board of trustees accepted a contribution of $40,000 from the George Peabody Fund for construction of the three-story building, which since that time has been the home of the teacher-education program based in the College of Education and Health Professions.

Allison Architects of Fayetteville is leading the $8.5 million project in partnership with a firm that specializes in historic restorations, Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston. The general contractor is East-Harding of Little Rock.

Plans are to modernize the building while restoring many of its original features. The cream-colored paint on the exterior of the building will be removed and the building's original red brick exterior restored. The Peabody Perks coffee shop will reopen after the renovation project is complete.

Faculty of the college's teacher-education program were relocated to Stone House South, formerly the Phoenix House on Arkansas Avenue, for the duration of the construction.