University of Northern Iowa: Women’s Gymnasium Improvements and Pool Addition – Cedar Falls IA

Description

The Public Works Administration funded the University of Northern Iowa Women’s Gymnasium Improvements and Pool Addition in Cedar Falls IA. The building now houses the university’s Innovation Teaching and Technology Center.

“In August 1935, the Board of Education announced plans for a large remodeling project for the Women’s Gymnasium.  The basement would be devoted entirely to dressing rooms.  New floors and fireproof stairs would be installed.  And an addition would be put onto the west side of the building to house a 36 X 90 foot swimming pool, with seating for five hundred spectators.  The pool would be three feet six inches deep at one end and eleven feet six inches deep at the other end.  The architectural style of the 90 X 142 foot addition would match that of the newly completed Commons.  As a result, several nice Art Deco elements, such as the decorative limestone motifs near the south entrance, appear on the building.”

“Keffer and Jones of Des Moines would be the architects for the project, which would cost $109,000.  However, the project depended on the availability of state and federal funds:  $60,000 from the state and $49,000 from the federal Works Progress Administration.”

Public Works Administration funds arrived in 1937 and work began 1937. The work was completed in 1939.

A brass plaque in the building reads: “Federal Works Agency; Public Works Administration; John M. Carmody, Federal Works Administrator; Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States. Womens Gymnasium. Remodeled A.D. 1939”. This plaque is located in the south east entrance to the building.