University of Arkansas: Old Field House / Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences - Fayetteville AR

City:: Fayetteville, AR
Site Type:: Education and Health, Schools, Colleges and Universities
New Deal Agencies:: Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
Designer:: Haralson and Nelson - Architects

Description

“The new building is 3 stories in height. On the ground floor are locker, storage, and utility rooms. The gymnasium and auditorium occupy the entire first floor. A small second floor, across the front of the building, contains offices. There is an additional entrance to the ground floor from the outside. The building is 115 by 169 feet. The playing floor of the gymnasium is 103 by 135 feet, sufficient for 2 practice basketball courts when the bleacher seats are folded. When these seats are open the floor space provides a standard basketball court, and 2,112 spectators may be seated. When used as an assembly hall, it seats 3,250.

The building was complete din August 1937. The construction cost was $152,137 and the project cost was $165,505.”
(Short and Brown)

“The Men’s Gymnasium was built in 1937 using PWA funds by Haralson & Nelson. Using light brick and limestone, the building was built in the Collegiate Gothic style. It could hold 3,500 patrons as a stadium and 7,500 as an auditorium. It housed Arkansas Razorbacks basketball until the construction of Barnhill Arena in 1954, the physical education department until 1982, and the university museum until 2003. It now contains the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences.”
(Wikipedia)

Source notes

C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. "Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration." (1939). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Arkansas_Campus_Historic_District