Demolition begins on 100-year-old Edwards Building on Berea College campus

BEREA, Ky. (WTVQ) — A building more than 100 years old on Berea College’s campus began demolition last week, causing controversy among the community.

The Edwards Building will be demolished to make way for a brand new building in its spot. According to a Facebook post from Berea College, the Board of Trustees said the cost to renovate the building would “involve significant risk to the building and involve much higher cost than building a new building.”

The board then decided the building should be demolished and replaced with a new building that will house Alumni and Philanthropy, and Strategic Initiatives. The board also asked that the college give a “respectful homage” to the Edwards Building at the entry of the new building.

The decision caused a large outcry among Berea residents, who say the decision to demolish the building is “erasing history.”

“Why not leave the building and build in another part, please. The building is too beautiful to be demolished,” one man wrote on the Facebook post.

“Berea college is erasing their history one building at a time. They act like it’s too expensive but they have more money than they know what to do with! This is a disgrace to them, Berea and Kentucky architectural history! Just the same disgrace as it was cutting down all those beautiful old growth trees at their frisbee golf park to make room for another new building. The same disgrace as when they tore down the science building with their telescope and pendulum. Once you tear it down it can never be replaced!” another man wrote.

“How is it that buildings in Europe are still standing and functional after 200, 300, 400 years, while we tear everything historic and beautiful down?” a woman wrote.

Berea College responded with the following comment:

“We understand your concern and did explore the possibility of renovating Edwards. A great deal of planning went into this work, but current structural building codes prevent us from reusing the existing walls to support the new floor loads. As a result, to renovate Edwards, the College would have to deconstruct the roof and all the floors, essentially having four main walls of brick remaining, requiring extensive shoring and foundation remediation throughout renovation. Structural steel framing would then be installed within the original shell to support the new floors and the roof. The College did explore this requirement further, only to learn that there were two serious factors associated with this requirement.

First, the shoring would have to extend well into North Main Street to support the east wall. Doing so would require shifting all the traffic lanes to the east. This would make that precarious intersection even more problematic, and the College is doubtful that the state would permit it. Second, no one can guarantee, given the age of the walls, that they would not collapse even if they were shored up. In short, lots of cost, and lots of risk.

The trustees did ask that the College give a respectful homage to Edwards in the entry of this new building, one that recognized how it was built by students and how it eventually became the home of the Foundation School. We all know well that the Berea experience is about people and relationships and learning, and not about bricks and mortar. Still, we know that many people hold a special place in their heart for a venerable building that was constructed in part by students.

We are therefore trying to preserve a small section of the brick to install into the new building and will provide photographs and such to ensure its legacy. We also will preserve the cornerstone, which reads, ‘Industry, Skill, Brotherhood, Religion.’”

Photos commented on the Facebook post show the building was nearly half demolished as of two days ago.