Three years shy of its 100th birthday, the Bates College Chapel will be the object of a new construction project this year — starting next week, in fact.

For the next nine months, workers will be replacing the venerable building’s slate roof and tending to the turrets at each corner.

Despite the staging that will surround the building from March 28 into December, though, the Chapel will remain open for business during the repairs. Note, however, that “it could be noisy inside there,” says Pam Wichroski, the college’s director of capital planning and construction. Of course, construction will pause during signature College events.

“A lot of the Chapel activities take place evenings and weekends, so the construction shouldn’t impact those.”

On the turrets, the copper cupolas will be removed, their metalwork repaired, and reinstalled. In addition, masons will redo the mortar joints between the Quincy granite wall stones, a chore that could involve removing and resetting stones where the mortar is too far gone. The building’s walls also need such retooling, but that will come in a second, as-yet-unscheduled phase of the project.

The roofing work, meanwhile, will be comprehensive. Original to the building, the roof “has basically reached its end of life,” Wichroski says. “We’re starting to see water infiltration into the building,” particularly in the turrets and in the choir loft, where plaster has been damaged.

“They’re taking all of the old slate off, right down to the wood roofing. They’ll repair any problems that they find in the wood, put new underlayment down and new slate on top of that.” The copper flashing at the seams and edges will be replaced, too.

Slate is one of the most durable roof coverings, not to mention the classiest, and the lifespan of the Chapel roof is right in the ballpark, according to a National Park Service website that gives 60-125 years as a typical length of service. The site also notes that 1914, when the Chapel was finished, marked the end of the boom in slate roofing in the U.S., as less expensive materials entered the market.

The cost of slate remains an issue. When Bates reroofed Alumni Gym and the Gray Cage last year, the sheer expanse needing to be covered ruled out the idea of replacing the old slate with new. Asphalt shingles went onto the roofs instead. “It’s always a tough decision,” Wichroski says.

But the college remains committed to keeping it on the campus’ most historic and visible buildings whenever possible. That includes the Chapel, which was modeled after the chapel of King’s College at Cambridge University, and is the site of countless cherished Bates memories.

The general contractor for the project is Consigli Construction Co. of Milford, Mass., and Portland, Maine — familiar to Bates from the New Dining Commons and Alumni Walk project.

Read about the ongoing renovation of Roger Williams and Hedge halls.

As Bates continues to transform two 19th-century residence halls into state-of-the-art academic buildings, the college has received a $150,000 grant from the George I. Alden Trust to support the renovation project.
The grant supports the $15 million expansion and renovation of Hedge Hall, built in 1890, and nearby Roger Williams Hall (1895) into homes for academic departments and programs. The Alden Trust, established by George Alden in 1912, supports learning institutions that demonstrate educational excellence, exciting programming and effective administration.

“We are deeply grateful for this support from the Alden Trust,” says Bates President Elaine Tuttle Hansen.

“It’s a validation of our belief in the important role that the built environment can and should play in the liberal arts experience. These renovations are more than mere facelifts — they support a number of educational priorities at Bates,” Hansen says.

The new spaces are designed to bring faculty and students together both formally, in classes, and informally in lounge and common spaces,” she explains. “This supports our belief that significant learning happens as much in the social arena as in classroom and lab.”

In addition, she says, “Bates’ nationally recognized commitment to sustainability is prominently reflected in the Hedge-Williams project,” which, like all new major construction at the college, conforms to the equivalent of the “silver” rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system of standards.

Finally, by providing new focuses for activity and stunning new visuals at the east end of a major college thoroughfare, the Hedge-Williams project continues the redefinition of the central Bates campus.

“Foundation funding for infrastructure and capital projects has become increasingly rare,” notes Susan Orton, director of foundation, corporate and government relations. “The Alden Trust understands this, and that’s why this grant is particularly meaningful to all of us at Bates.”

The nationally known design firm JSA, with offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Portsmouth, N.H., did the architectural work for the renovations.

Designed by noted architect G.M. Coombs as a chemistry lab, Hedge Hall was converted into a student residence in 1965. In its return to academic service, it will house the Program in Environmental Studies and the departments of religious studies and philosophy. Currently at 14,764 square feet, the building will gain nearly 5,200 square feet in the renovation, including a major addition.

Roger Williams Hall, designed by Lewiston architect Elmer Thomas, opened in 1895 as the home of Cobb Divinity School at Bates. It was converted to combined residential and administrative use in 1908, becoming fully residential around 1964.

Expanding from about 27,300 square feet to more than 34,000, the hall will house the departments of German and Russian studies and of romance languages and literatures; the Program in Asian Studies; the Language Resource Center; and the Off-Campus Study Office.

Begun in March 2010, the Hedge-Williams project is the fourth and final undertaking of the first phase of Bates’ campus facilities master plan, which also produced a new residence on College Street; the New Dining Commons, on Central Avenue; and the pedestrian boulevard on campus called Alumni Walk.

Anticipated completion date is summer 2011. The Hedge-Williams project also represents a significant act of historic and architectural preservation, as these buildings, constructed within the college’s first 50 years of existence, help tell the early history of Bates.

Hedge and Roger Williams will feature spacious facilities that combine classrooms, lounges, offices and common areas to create intellectually stimulating and emotionally nurturing spaces for students and faculty to come together.

The departments and programs moving to Hedge were previously located away from the center of campus in small wooden buildings. The new location in Hedge will promote easier collaboration and camaraderie both among them and with other disciplines in nearby buildings. Aesthetic additions include new dormer and first-floor windows and a new staircase entrance with a glassed-in stairway that will present an inviting view for passers-by on Alumni Walk.

Among distinctive new features in Roger Williams Hall (familiarly known on campus as “Roger Bill” or “the Bill”) is a “cultural kitchen.” New dormers, an addition behind the building and a glass-metal stair tower will transform the exterior.

Hedge and Roger Williams will be 35 percent more energy-efficient than required by ASTM International, a major standards-development organization. “Green” building tactics include hydronic, or water-based, heating and cooling systems; Web-based processes for measuring and verifying energy use; the recycling of construction waste materials; low-flow water fixtures; and motorized windows for automatic ventilation and mitigation of solar warmth gains.

It isn’t the prettiest wrapping job you’ll see this time of year.

But when the plastic sheeting around the Hedge Hall addition does come off, probably in January, you can expect a fine present indeed: neat courses of brick and granite that masons are laying now.

The plastic, explains project manager Paul Farnsworth, retains the warmth that a propane space heater is pumping into the building. The mortar that sticks bricks together develops its strength from a chemical reaction, and that reaction doesn’t happen if the temperature drops below freezing.

The workers are probably OK with the heat, too. There are two big heaters on the site, one feeding Hedge and the other Roger Williams Hall — that one has a plywood cover so workers won’t do damage when they toss down old roof slates. The heat is piped into the buildings from outside so the heaters won’t take up valuable floor space inside.

Another development at Hedge is taking place in plain sight, as roofers are laying the slates atop the other layers of roofing. Campus Construction Update, ever the connoisseur in construction matters, was pleased to see slate going on rather than asphalt shingles or the doubled-over trash bags that we use at home.

It was a simple matter of the price being right, says Farnsworth. “It was an alternate during bidding, and we could afford it. We’re all happy.”

Taking place in pane sight is the window installation at Hedge. Aside from a few openings that will be left vacant to pass building materials through, that job should be done by the week of Dec. 6 with the placement of the large arched windows that are such a distinguishing feature of the building.

And inside Hedge, Farnsworth says, “things are happening fast.”

On the second story, floor sheathing is down, and “they’re going to town with wall studs. On the first floor, the sheathing should be finished by Dec. 4 and then they’ll start with those walls.” On the third floor, carpenters are putting up the wood that will hold up the ceiling, and then the floor and wall work can start.

“Wherever they’ve framed the bathrooms out, the plumbers are right behind,” he adds. “They’ve put in all the carriers — the heavy cast-iron things that hold the fixtures in the wall. And the electricians have started to rough in outlets at the walls.”

The Hedge-Roger Williams project is approaching the greatest diversity of building trades at work, from carpenters to electricians to plumbers to roofers. Farnsworth estimates that, on the busiest days, there are 60 workers on the site.

Across the lot at Roger Bill, the focus is still the roof, as workers have begun attaching wooden rafters to that dramatic steel frame. Doing the rafters and sheathing them will take about four weeks if all goes well. Also on high, the slates are being stripped from the section of the old roof that was retained, on the Alumni Walk end of the building.

In the meantime, the nice shiny metal wall studs on the Bill’s addition will soon be hidden behind a layer of yellow exterior sheathing that’s going up now. That yellow material will then be concealed by a blue vapor barrier, which in turn will be covered with pink insulation. Pastelicious!

Also pending at the Bill is the rebuilding of the brick porch on the side facing Hedge — a project that Farnsworth has been dangling in front of Campus Construction Update for months, like doughnuts before Homer Simpson. A hallmark feature of the building, the porch had deteriorated past the point where mere repointing would put it right, and will be completely redone.

Finally, watch for a new electrical transformer to replace the unit next to the Bill. The replacement, leased from Central Maine Power, will feed both buildings. “At the same time, we’ll be pulling in the feeder cables,” Farnsworth says. “So, hopefully by the end of next week, we’ll be on the new electrical service.”

Can we talk? Campus Construction Update welcomes your questions, reminiscences and comments about campus improvements. Please e-mail staff writer Doug Hubley, stating “Construction Update” in the subject line.