Kirby Smith Hall is set to be demolished in Fall 2022 and will eventually become a green space, according to Roger Husser, assistant vice president of LSU Planning, Design, and Construction.
Demolition will cost about $4 million and should begin in June, finishing sometime in the fall. A demolition crew will use explosives to bring the 13-story building down since it’s too close to other buildings to be knocked over.
The last time students lived in the 57-year-old building was in 2019, when the university’s then-largest freshman class had to be temporarily housed.
Though demolition has been planned for some time now, the university has relied on Kirby Smith as backup housing while having overflow issues on campus, delaying the demolition process.
The opening of two new residence halls in 2021, Camellia Hall and Azalea Hall, allowed Kirby Smith to be officially retired. With 800 beds between the two new halls, it’s more than enough to offset the 550 that Kirby Smith offers.
The demolition will allow LSU to build a green space and improved sidewalks around surrounding dorms that lead to the core of campus.
“This was all planned years ago before we built Cypress, Spruce and Cedar Halls,” Husser said. “This has always been the intent of the master plan for this area with the new residence halls, and the demolition of Kirby will allow that plan to come to fruition.”
McVoy and Broussard halls are also planned to be eventually demolished, according to LSU’s campus master plan.
Built in 1965 and named after a Confederate general, the building has long been considered an eyesore that doesn’t blend in well with the buildings around it. The hall has collected a variety of different nicknames from students like “The Hospital” and “Dirty Kirby.”
Former LSU chancellor, Michael Martin, quipped that living in the building was a “historic international experience.”
“It’s a chance to live in the Soviet Union,” he said.
The first time the building closed was 2006, but housing demand on campus grew and it underwent a $1.7-million renovation and reopened in 2011.
The building, located on the north end of campus off West Chimes Street, is named after Edmund Kirby Smith, a Confederate general, who after the war served as chancellor of the University of Nashville and later a mathematics and botany professor at the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee.
LSU building renaming efforts have avoided Kirby Smith because of its impending demolition.
Students living in surrounding dorms have complained of the construction machines and fencing cluttering the area surrounding Kirby Smith.
“Honestly [the dorm] being there bothers me less than the construction surrounding it,” said Trinity Hunte-Angus, a freshman living in Cedar Hall. “Walking around the fencing is annoying because it covers some of the pathways. There’s a sign that covers the fencing, and it constantly falls.”
Walking to class when it rains can be especially difficult since many of the paved pathways are obstructed by fencing.
“The gravel that’s next to the door by Cedar and next to the construction by Kirby becomes very muddy,” Whitfield said. “Your shoes can get trapped in it and it’s very hard to get into Cedar Hall. I’ve heard roommates complain about it. I think overall everyone is frustrated about it and can’t wait for it to be done.”
Edmund Kirby Smith Hall sign sits outside the main entrance surrounded by dumpsters on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, on Aster Street at LSU.
