The recent completion of Downey House marks the creation of Wesleyan’s Humanities District. This building contains one-half of the English department, the entire Classical Studies department, several Romance Language offices, and the Writing Workshop.

Aside from Downey House, the Humanities District includes the Department of Romance Languages at 300 High St., the Women’s Studies Program (287 High), and the English Department building at 285 Court St.

“The renovation team did a good job,” said Lily Milroy, Dean of Arts and Humanities. “It is really hard to renovate an existing building, with four walls already there, but they managed to preserve the historical structure while constructing a twentieth century interior.”

According to Alex Moore ’05, who has a class there, the upgraded classrooms are nice, but have a sterile feel.

“It hasn’t really been moved into yet. People were still painting it on Wednesday,” Moore said.

Downey House, located at the corner of High and Court streets was built in 1841 and purchased by Wesleyan in 1935. One year later, after structural additions, it opened as the Campus Center. Over time the building was used less frequently, and most recently it housed several Aramark offices and a faculty dining facility, according to Rob Schmidt, Project Manager.

In 1999, Wesleyan commissioned Halpern Architects to assess the unification of the humanities departments, according to Schmidt.

“One solution was to build a huge, all-inclusive humanities center, but that did not seem appropriate. Their recommendation was to keep the existing buildings, but to renovate them. They had to think about how to create a center with everyone in different buildings. Finally the decision was made that the space not adequately used was Downey House,” Milroy said.

The 14,000 square foot building was renovated mechanically, structurally, and acoustically. There are now many empty offices awaiting faculty and three classrooms inside: fifty seat, 19 seat, and 16 seat spaces.

“The largest classroom is considered a full multimedia classroom,” Schmidt said. “It is set up with handicap accessibility, tools for the hearing impaired, dual slide projectors, a single digital projector, and a podium, just like any of the newer classrooms on campus.”

The 19 seat classroom is full multimedia with digital projection and the smallest classroom is media-friendly. The building also contains a sunlit cupola, an 820 square foot lounge and four breakout spaces.

“The lounge area is not quite done yet. It is the former Downey House ballroom, only decreased in size. There will be sofas and chairs for reading, and it will be a great place for people to come together, sit down, and have a cup of coffee,” Milroy said.

A limited accessibility elevator was also installed. There is now a full fire alarm system and all environmentally hazardous material was removed from the building. According to the Campus Master Planning website, Downey House now meets building, life safety, and handicap accessibility codes and regulations.

The renovations cost $3,600,000 and were funded by bond money from CHIFA (Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority). The architecture was done by Kenneth Boroson Architects, and the contractor was S. Carpenter Construction.

“The Downey House will now receive one thousand times more traffic. In the future, we hope to do minor work on the other humanities buildings. This helps create a hub for the humanities and bring everyone together,” Schmidt said.

“We now have a heart at the north end of campus,” Milroy said.