Morrill Hall is prime real estate on the ISU campus. Former students found within it a place to worship, study and get a haircut. Since 1998, the building, which was constructed in 1890, has been sitting empty.

On Thursday, President Gregory Geoffroy announced a new beginning for Morrill Hall.

“We are going to make a strong effort to try to raise funds to renovate and restore Morrill Hall,” he said. “I think it will be challenging, but I’m cautiously optimistic.”

The decision was made to restore the landmark honoring Iowa State’s legacy as the first land-grant university after the ISU Foundation completed a donor-interest evaluation. The Foundation surveyed donors and potential donors to determine if the money to restore the building could be raised. It will cost between $9 million and $10 million to renovate the 112-year-old building, which has never been remodeled.

“The goal is to raise it all,” Geoffroy said. He will appoint a fund-raising committee, made up of faculty, staff, students, alumni and other external constituents.

Barbara Boose, communication manager for the Foundation, said the Foundation will work closely with the university, and is “striving to complete gift commitments in the coming year to year and a half.”

After money is raised and construction is completed three university programs, which Geoffroy said have good fund-raising potential, will move in. They are University Museums, the proposed Center for Visual Learning in Textiles and Clothing and the Center for Teaching Excellence. According to the university, a 200-seat auditorium and common space are also included in the plans.

The move would be an expansion for University Museums. Morrill Hall will become home base for Art on Campus and a place to display some of the work of Christian Petersen, the nation’s first sculptor-in-residence.

“I’m thrilled to think we would have the gallery space for the Petersen collection and the space for contemporary exhibitions to address the issues of our day,” said Lynette Pohlman, director of University Museums.

As one of the proposed occupants of the restored ISU landmark, University Museums would be able to better serve students and faculty by providing them with “physical access to the objects,” Pohlman said.

The same goes for the textiles and clothing Center for Visual Learning. Jane Farrell-Beck, university professor of textiles and clothing and curator of the museum’s costume and textiles collection, said the collection she is responsible for would be more accessible to students as well. The collection includes nearly 6,000 articles of antique clothing from around the world.

“We put together a package with the University Museums and Art On Campus, there was very good fit,” Farrell-Beck said.

She said the structure of Morrill Hall and the history of the building “harmonized . physically and conceptually” with the intent and mission of the programs that would be housed there.

Corly Brooke, associate vice provost of the Center for Teaching Excellence, said she is excited because a move to Morrill Hall would mean more space and easier access to faculty – crucial boosts for an organization that “helps faculty develop teaching skills to promote learning,” she said.

Officials at the ISU Foundation and within the university are hoping the history of Morrill Hall will pull donors’ heartstrings.

“There is a great deal of interest in Morrill Hall,” said Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance. “I think a large number of people will be very pleased.”

Madden said when alumni think of Iowa State they think of the Campanile, the Fountain of the Four Seasons in front of the Memorial Union and Morrill Hall.

“It has been a home for a lot of different kinds of activities. Lots of people have a relationship to it,” he said.

The history that would be housed in the building, and the memories alumni created there, will be part of the draw for donors, Boose said.

But the building’s potential will draw others.

“I think it symbolizes possibility – what’s going to happen in the future in this place?” she said. “It will have a wonderful impact on Iowa State’s heritage and a great impact on students and how they learn.”