 "Photo: Julie Cassetina")
Given his background, University Architect Doug Bencks appreciates the beauty of UNH’s New England Center.
“At the New England Center the architect used a soft touch to create something very modern that is a perfect fit on this quintessential New England site,” Bencks said. “It respects and showcases the evergreen forest and granite outcroppings with carefully framed views, so you always feel like you're right in the woods. It is one of the best buildings I've ever seen anywhere that was built in the 1960s.”
In July, the university announced plans to close the center, which includes a hotel, conference center, and Acorn’s Restaurant, on June 30, 2010 for financial reasons. Now, three months later, the New England Center has been named to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s “Seven to Save List.”
According to Maggie Stier, Field Service representative for NHPA, the uncertain future of the building caused it to make the list of what the organization feels are the most threatened or endangered historic properties around the state.
“This is a building that is easy to love, easy to be impressed with,” Stier said.
The New England Center is the first modern building to make the list, in large part due to its fabled past. The hotel was designed by famed architect William Pereira and opened in 1969. Pereira is most well known for designing San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid.
The hotel is composed of two towers. Rooms have large windows that back up to the wooded area behind the hotel, allowing it to blend in with the landscape.
“Most modern buildings are very stark or plain and seem to have fallen from the sky with no apparent relationship to the local context,” said Bencks, adding that Stoke and McConnell are examples of this “insensitive architectural style on campus.”
While no one is questioning the building’s merits, some question the inclusion of the center on “Seven to Save.”
“I’m not really sure why this building is on the list,” said UNH Vice President of Business Affairs David May, who has overall responsibility for current operations at the New England Center. “I’m reading into [the report] that there was concern the university was going to tear it down.”
Both May and Bencks emphasized that the university does not currently and never has had plans to demolish the building.
Stier said that she hoped there would be continued public access for the building, given its effect on people over the years.
Bencks said public access would depend on the usage of the building. However, he noted “there are very few spaces on campus that aren't accessible by the public.”
May said that the decision to close the center was made for several reasons. The university contributed $2 million annually to subsidize operating expenses, and could not continue to do so in the financial downturn. Also, May estimated that the center would have needed $17-20 million in improvements to bring the center up to industry standards and make it competitive. He called the decision to close the center “prudent.”
In a statement when the closing was announced in July, UNH President Mark Huddleston said the decision to close the center was a hard-wrought one.
"Coming to the decision to close the New England Center was extremely difficult as the facility has great historical significance to the university, the town of Durham and the state," Huddleston said. "We have been grappling with this decision for several years, reaching out to a wide array of industry experts and consultants and delaying the decision to close the center until it became absolutely unavoidable."
According to May, the university is currently considering various options for future use of the center. The first option is an extended period of non-use. The university is discussing the logistics of this option with UNH Campus and Energy, Facilities Operation and Maintenance, UNH Police, and other departments.
A second option in consideration would use Tower A for offices, possibly those displaced by the new business school. Tower B would then be used for undergraduate or graduate housing.
Stier is optimistic about the future of the New England Center.
“I think the chances are very good that it will be refurbished in some way,” Stier said.
This is not UNH’s first run-in with the “Seven to Save” list. In 2007, the list included the Burley-MeMeritt Farmhouse in Lee, which is on the grounds of the UNH Organic Dairy Farm. As of now, no action has been taken by the university regarding the farmhouse.
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