University of Iowa plans $37M Art Building renovation to house grad college, college of education

Devastated by the 2008 floods, the old University of Iowa Art Building is getting a new lease on life.

The Iowa Board of Regents recently approved the university’s plans for a $37 million renovation that will transform the 88-year-old building into the new home of the UI’s Graduate College, the College of Education—Art Education and Maker Space, and the School of Planning and Public Affairs.

The project will be funded by University Funds and will remove $10 million in maintenance costs when completed. According to the University of Iowa, several preliminary plans for the building’s use were identified, but none took off. Revitalization efforts will begin in December and are anticipated to end by July 2026.

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Historic floods decimated Iowa campus, sparking new art building

The Art Building at 120 N. Riverside Drive, was one of 22 University of Iowa buildings overwhelmed by flood waters in 2008. The school collaborated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to design the Visual Arts Building on the other side of Riverside Drive, which opened in 2016.

The Art Building, built in 1936, is a 53,000-square-foot, four-floor facility that has been vacant for the past 16 years. The University of Iowa worked with FEMA to ensure that the historic facility would not be torn down but instead restored where needed.

Rod Lehnertz, University of Iowa’s senior vice president for finance and operations, said George Horner’s structural and symetrical design mirrors that of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello residence.

Famed Iowa artist Grant Wood, known for his American Gothic painting, taught mural design classes in a detached studio on the building’s north end from 1934 to 1942, according to the University of Iowa. The two detached studios are connected to the main art building by outdoor hallways called loggias.

Construction has helped protect Riverside buildings from flood waters

The low-lying area near the Art Building and the Iowa River has been improved since 2008 to better protect it from flooding, according to the school’s Regents proposal. A special sidewalk system, like the one used at the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratory, was built so that a “Hesco” flood wall could be built in case of a high-water event.

“With the modernization of the building, first and foremost, we will be reverent to its history and how it looks,” Lehnertz said in a University of Iowa release. “It’s been 16 years since the building was occupied, and it looks frozen in time from the summer of 2008. It’s a sad thing to see today, but what is about to emerge from this is a wonderful thing.”

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The university will move critical systems like heating, electricity, internet, and elevators to the second floor of the art building, where major floods can’t reach. Furniture and equipment on the lower level are designed so they can be quickly removed from the building quickly if flooding does happen.

The $37 million revitalization project will begin in December and is anticipated to be completed by July 2026.

Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and education reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: University of Iowa is transforming old art building with $37M project