While in the basement of 285 Court St. preparing for an upcoming renovation, Roseann Sillasen noticed a mysterious locked door.

“When I had inquired to find the combination, nobody knew,” Sillasen, associate director and project manager for physical plant, said. “People weren’t aware that there was a vault in the basement.”

Sillasen called Connecticut Safe and Lock to open the vault’s door.

“The locksmith said it could take up to six hours, but it only took him about an hour and a half,” she said.

When they turned on the lights, they revealed two rooms filled with hundreds of architectural plans and University documents dating back to the early 1900s.

“I got really excited, because there were a bunch of drawings of all the different buildings in the University,” she said. “There were even some drawings of buildings that don’t exist anymore.”

Aside from some stale air, the vault was intact.

“Everything was dry, and it wasn’t moldy,” she said. “There was actually a dehumidifier hooked up, mounted on the wall and draining into a drainpipe. As soon as I got back [to physical plant] I said, ‘We got the vault open! Oh my God, you should see what’s in there!’ You couldn’t even talk, because it really was like opening a time capsule.”

While rolled-up and flat building plans made up the bulk of vault’s contents, there were some other unique finds.

“There are large jars containing soil samples for the CFA, for Olin Library, and I think North College,” she said. “We also found some silver, and the original finish boards for Russell House with the curtains that they picked that are still up there.”

The original construction designs for Olin Library, completed in 1927 by the New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, were found.

“[The designs are] about three quarters of an inch thick—they built that whole building from that,” she said. “It has a linen cover that’s waxed, and the inside sheets are that old, old onion paper that you used to type on with typewriters.”

A number of plans for buildings that were never constructed were found, including a set of plans for dormitories on Foss Hill that look remarkably reminiscent of a recently completed project.

“Surprisingly, there were conceptual plans for red brick dormitories in the Fauver Field area,” said Vice President and Secretary of the University Peter Patton. “There are no new ideas, I guess.”

“Those [dorm designs] are from 30-35 years ago, [and] it was so similar to what was just built,” Sillasen said. “It’s amazing how forward-thinking a lot of the plans were, and so similar to designs that all of a sudden occur 30 years later by a whole different team of people.”

The construction documents are a particularly useful find for Construction Services, who maintain a collection of plans that they consult frequently for general building upkeep and renovations.

“We’re looking forward to bringing the drawings here, to have them accessible for projects we’re working on,” Sillasen said. “The information that’s there, it’s like all this lost knowledge that’s been found.”

285 Court St. was purchased by the University in 1944 and currently houses the English Department. It was used as the Business Administration Office until 1963.

“Knowing that the building was once the treasurer’s office, it’s not as weird as I initially thought to have a vault in the English Department,” said University Archivist and Head of Special Collections Suzy Taraba, who will be cataloging the materials with her staff.

“It’s a time-consuming project, and one that hasn’t started yet,” Taraba said. “My excitement is tempered by a severe space problem—where the heck am I going to put it? It’s really just a challenge.”

According to Taraba, the paper documents appear to be in good shape, and most of the materials are well organized and preserved. The vault’s tar roof, however, makes for an unpleasant smell inside that she fears may transfer to the materials.

“When paper is exposed to a strong odor, it may retain that smell,” she said. “The trick would be to not have the smell transfer to everything else in the University Archives and construction collections.”

Sillasen, Taraba, and Patton agree that it is hard to tell when the vault was last sealed.

“Anyone who would have been in there, or had access, or had anything to do with it, I don’t believe they work here anymore, because we put out a lot of feelers,” Sillasen said.

As someone deeply involved in the University’s current building planning efforts, Patton found the discovery fascinating.

“It was just amazing to see all of this material,” he said. “It was fun, sort of like a Wesleyan history treasure trove.”