After a weeklong move of 450 feet, the Peter Green House found a new home at 79 Brown St. on Aug. 7. Home to part of the Department of History, the house traveled to the northeast corner of Brown and Angell streets from its former location next door to the rest of the history department in Sharpe House. It is expected to reopen by early 2008.
In the meantime, 13 history professors and four administrative staff members have reshuffled to the third floor of Metcalf Laboratories.
"It's a little odd to walk over here and have the smell of formaldehyde hit your nostrils. Historians aren't used to that smell," said Associate Professor of History Amy Remensnyder.
She said that while she hasn't met any new colleagues, working in another part of campus has made her realize "how separate certain parts of the faculty are from certain other parts."
Assistant Professor of History Ethan Pollock said the move was "fairly well-organized," even though the building could have been better prepared. Pollock said that for a while, construction workers and painters were coming in and out of his new office in Metcalf to repair a faulty wall.
For the most part, students were able to track down their professors despite the new location. But
Remensnyder said one freshman advisee and a graduate student advisee had looked for her in Metcalf residence hall on Pembroke campus, and Pollock said one of his students called to ask how to find him.
"Nancy (Jacobs) said she saw a student outside of Peter Green wondering how to find (Assistant Professor of History) Vazira Zamindar," Pollock said.
"It's a bit funny to be separated from the other half of the department," Pollock said. "It can be a little bit of a strain to have the department in two separate places, especially for the staff. It was a strain in the first place, to have the department in both Peter Green and Sharpe."
Remensnyder agreed, "It's not good to have the department physically separated like this."
The Peter Green relocation was one of many changes - including exterior renovations to Wilson Hall and improvements on Wriston Quad - made to the face of campus over the summer. The move made way for the Walk, a pathway linking Pembroke Campus to Lincoln Field.
Remensnyder was too busy working on her book this summer to watch the building's move, but Pollock joined many of his other colleagues to view the spectacle from the porch of Sharpe House. Remensnyder said her colleagues in Sharpe House - next door to all the action - were the ones most excited by the move, taking pictures and e-mailing each other back and forth about the latest developments.
Students on campus this summer came to witness the move, too. Kate Goodin '08 joined the crowd of spectators and saw the building being lifted. "I was curious to see what it looked like. It was really interesting to look at," she said. "It looked like it had been uprooted entirely."
Laurel Wright '09 didn't purposely set out to watch the move but was doing biology research in the Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences and saw it in various stages of progress. "It happened really slowly, but every time I went outside it was in a different place. ... The really cool part was when it moved out onto Olive Street and had to turn, and it didn't look like there was going to be enough room."
The move and the walk are part of a master plan for the University's growth over the next several years, developed by architect Frances Halsband and adopted by the Corporation in October 2003. Halsband's plan emphasizes making better use of the University's current space before continuing to extend its reach beyond College Hill.
"The plan is to ring the neighborhood with old houses, so that neighbors don't have to look up at a huge new brick building, but a nice old house like theirs," said University curator Robert Emlen. "(They didn't move Peter Green) because it was cheaper, but because it is better to have a buffer between the neighborhood and the core of campus." Emlen suggested the relocation and renovations might have cost around $500,000, but Facilities Management Project Manager David LaPlante said he could not comment on the project's cost. Once renovated, Peter Green will include a new basement with offices.
The Peter Green House may not be on the University's architectural "superstar list," Emlen said, unlike University Hall, which was built in 1770 and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. But the University probably decided it "contributes to the look of campus and adds to the ambiance of the neighborhood," Emlen said. "Certainly it's a wonderful mid-19th-century house."
The house was built in 1868, and purchased by the University in 1966 when it was known as the Lippit-Guild House. It underwent a major renovation in 1999 and was renamed in honor of alum and former trustee Peter Green MA'80 P'99 P'01. Green donated the funds for the renovation in honor of his late wife, Mary-Jean Mitchell Green. Formerly an investments and mining executive, and a University trustee from 1997 to 2003, Green currently lives in Bermuda and heads the Dublin, Ireland-based Greenaap Consultants group.
The actual move of the 300-ton house was handled by Gary Sylvester's Building Movers and Excavators, based in East Falmouth, Mass., and sub-contracted by Brown's general contractor, H.V. Collins.
Overall, the move was considered successful. "For the most part, it went well," LaPlante said, adding, "There are always things in construction that are unexpected." But the project is meeting its deadlines and caused no accidents or injuries, he said. A video of the relocation is available on Facilities Management's Web site.
The history department expects to be restored to a new and improved Peter Green House in January. "I don't mind (Metcalf), but I'll be excited to move back in," Pollock said.
Despite having lost one special item in the move - "a green glass float that used to be on a fisherman's net" - Remensnyder is content with the change. "I kind of like this one," Remensnyder said, referring to her new office in Metcalf. "It's a change. I feel like I'm in a new universe."
"We understand that the University has larger, exciting plans for the campus and we're happy to cooperate with them on that," said Ken Sacks, professor of history and chair of the department.
