With only one maintenance person visiting to check damages once a month, Morrill Hall has remained vacant and undisturbed on campus for three years.The empty building resonates loneliness with heavy locked doors, a bird skeleton in the middle of the music hall and thousands of bee corpses under a third-floor window.”It was one of the earliest buildings on campus,” said Warren Madden, vice president for Business and Finance.Built at a cost of $28,404 and dedicated on June 16, 1891, Morrill Hall has hosted the departments of zoology, entomology and geology. It has also provided space for a gymnasium, barbershop, photo lab, chapel, armory, music hall, library, museum, a vice president and various offices, according to the book, “The Iowa State University Campus and its Buildings.”The large south tower encases a spiral wooden staircase leading to the balcony of the recital hall, which served as a central meeting place for ISU students during the turn of the century.”There were very few buildings, so it had to be multi-purpose,” said Lynn Seiler, associate director of facilities planning and management. “It was the only place on campus that everyone could get together.”But peeling paint, archaic lights, dirty rags and faded posters are the only evidence of the former vitality of the building.”The condition had gotten to the point where [Morrill] can no longer be occupied,” Madden said. “It doesn’t have the necessary exits, no handicap access and the utilities are failing.”Once the people were out of Morrill, the systems were turned off, leaving only a skeleton fire-alarm system with “dry pipes.” But the building’s third winter without heat is taking its toll, Seiler said.”Brick is chipping off, windows are in disrepair, plaster is drying out and we can’t afford to even get started,” she said. “It’s turning into quite an eyesore.”Seiler said the extent of the deterioration and a need to remove asbestos and lead paint will necessitate a complete overhaul, and the building will have to be gutted.The deterioration of Morrill has been addressed by both the Board of Regents and the ISU Foundation, but neither has been able to raise the $8.3 million needed for renovation, Madden said.In its most recent attempt, the board included Morrill Hall in its five-year capital project plan, requesting the assistance of the Iowa Legislature. Madden said the current plan spreads the funding over three years, including $500,000 in 2003 to be used for planning, $3.8 million in 2004 and $4 million in 2005.”The governor’s recommendation has not included Morrill Hall’s funding,” he said. “The legislature has not yet acted, but [funding] is not very likely.”

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