It’s official: The Catt Hall steps are finally completed and ready for use.

The steps leading up to the home of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences opened up last week after going through a complete reconstruction and redesign.

The reason the front steps were reconstructed was due to “sections of the support structure for the stairs that had begun to deteriorate,” as stated earlier in the year by Dean L. McCormick, director for design and construction services at Facilities Planning and Management.

The stairs were closed off all summer after being deemed unsafe, and construction on the steps began back in September.

“There seem to have been two problems with the old steps. First, when they remodeled Catt Hall back in the 1990s, the structure under the steps that supports them was not fixed so that it could hold the weight of the steps. This support structure has now been fixed,” said David Oliver, administrative head and interim LAS dean. “Second, the steps that they put in during the 1990s were a molded composite, basically cement. That material just did not hold up to the constant freezing and thawing of Iowa winters. The steps now are granite and should last 100 years.”

It was up for debate what the steps would be made out of, but ultimately granite was chosen to ensure safety for students and faculty.

The building, also known as Agricultural Hall, Botany Hall and Old Botany, has had many departments come and go and has gone through many renovations over the years with an addition in 1903.

The building was restored and the past steps were constructed in 1994, but complications have developed with the steps for the past 10 years.

“They have been working on the steps for years trying to figure out what the problem was,” Oliver said. “They did not know about the crumbling support structure until they opened them up this spring. They immediately closed the steps off and have been working on the rebuilding project since summer.”

Demolition was considered various times, but the building ended up having a $5 million renovation instead and received a new name of Carrie Chapman Catt Hall, in honor of Iowa State’s first woman graduate and world-renowned advocate for women’s rights.

The entire process of reconstructing the Catt Hall steps has been taken care of with careful precautions. Fences with signs directing which entrance to use and wood chips around the fence leading to the entrance were put in place to ensure safety for students and faculty.

“It looks a whole lot better and it makes it easier for students to get in and out of the building,” Oliver said. “I think everyone is very glad to have the job done and get back to normal.”

Students now have access to the building as well as the area around the front of Catt Hall that has been closed off for months.

“The reconstruction of the steps made it a little difficult to get to some of the buildings surrounding Catt Hall. I’m glad they are all finished and I can get around easier,” said Alex McMurray, freshman in pre-business.

With the building being placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, many are glad that the university decided to keep the building and reconstruct the steps rather than tearing the whole thing down.

“In my opinion, Catt Hall is the most beautiful building on campus. The campus could have knocked it down in the 1980s when it was condemned and people were not allowed inside. Instead, the campus community decided to invest in remodeling this historic landmark,” Oliver said. “It was great that even in these hard times, the university could muster the resources to maintain this ISU landmark.”