To see a video on Howe-Russell’s much needed repairs, click here.
Window panes are held into their frames with duct tape and a 1930s elevator with a metal-grate door creeks to the fourth floor in a building located between the Quad and the Student Union.The older section of Howe-Russell is the home of possibly the most complete basilosaurus skull known to modern science, dozens upon dozens of one-of-a-kind specimens housed in fire-resistant safes above reinforced floors and the Coastal Studies Institute.Emmett David, director of facility development, said renovating the nearly 75-year-old building would cost more than $22 million dollars, but renovations are necessary because the building still maintains many of its original finishes.Facility Services plans to replace the current “wood-type windows” with “non-corrosive aluminum-type windows,” said Paul Favaloro, facility services director. Replacing the windows alone would cost between $800,000 and $1 million. The University submits the Capital Outlay Projects list of the areas on campus that require funding each year.The list must be approved by the LSU Board of Supervisors, the Office of Facility Planning and Control and both the state Senate and the House before it receives priority funding, David said. Buildings topping the list include Howe-Russell, the French House, Atkinson Hall and Prescott Hall.David said Howe-Russell is the top priority on the list of Capital Outlay Projects presented to the legislature for state funding, but the University would be “lucky if we get Howe-Russell this funding cycle.”David listed the roof, the windows, the exterior, the elevator, the fire alarm system, the open stairwells, the finishes, the floors and the ceilings as parts of the building that desperately need renovation.The Howe-Russell Complex is comprised of two buildings: an older building and a later addition.University faculty who research and have offices in the older portion of Howe-Russell are “in rooms and situations never designed for what they’re used for,” said building occupant Judith Schiebout, Natural Science Museum associate curator. “Anyone can take a ride in the elevator of Howe-Russell and get an idea of the age of that building,” Favaloro said. “It’s like getting in a time capsule and getting into an elevator that was installed in the ‘30s or ‘40s.” The elevator in Howe-Russell is original to the building and “[one] would feel like you expect Al Capone to walk out of it,” Favaloro said.Schiebout said the elevator stops working for days at a time, an inconvenience for people with mobility problems. She said the elevator isn’t large enough to transport the larger specimens in the building, like the basilosaurus skull.Harry Roberts, professor with the Coastal Studies Institute and the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, said he enjoys the large offices, high ceilings and architecture of the old building but said his air conditioner has mildew in it.”People know the condition of the building, so they deal with it,” said LaTosha Mullins, academic and building coordinator for the geology department.Mullins said she doesn’t receive any out-of-the-ordinary complaints about the building.”To my knowledge, no, I don’t think there’s any building out here where there’s a threat to not be able to hold those classes,” Favaloro said. “I’m not aware of any situation where a space is unusable in Howe-Russell.”—-Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]