It wasn’t that many years ago when the campus of Antioch College was in a much different setting than it is today.
In February of 2009, water leaks were discovered in the main building, Antioch Hall, an educational landmark dating back to the time of college founder Horace Mann. The leaks were part of a pattern of neglect for historic college buildings during the period of uncertainty when the future of then-closed Antioch College was being debated. Heat was left off, and other buildings suffered moisture damage as well.
Preservation Ohio visited Yellow Springs that year to see the status of college buildings, and took a tour of Antioch. The visit resulted in the listing of the College campus on the List of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites.
What a difference four years can make. The college is now open and its second year of new students is now midway through the academic year. South Hall, one of a pair of original dormitories, was rededicated in 2010 following renovation.
Now it’s the turn for North Hall to see restoration and renovation efforts. A $5.4 million project is adding a full-service kitchen, larger bathrooms, and a reconfiguration of student living quarters. It will be the fifth building to be repaired and reopened in the college’s new incarnation.
Antioch College is making sustainable renovation a key part of its future and the planning documents to take it there. Click here to see its AC/2020 Strategic Plan.
The campus contains a wide variety of buildings, including ones designed by noted architects and firms Eero Saarinen and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill. Almost all of the campus is either individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places or included in the Yellow Springs National Register Historic District.
