PHYSICAL EDUCATION BUILDING

“A suitable gymnasium for girls is on the list of college needs that I will present to the board in the near future, and is near the top of the list.” That statement by President Pearson was quoted in the Iowa State Student on November 16, 1925. Funds were requested in subsequent years but it was not until after the destruction of Margaret Hall by fire in 1938, and the loss of women’s facilities there, that action was finally taken to provide money for a new building.

The 48th General Assembly, in 1939, appropriated $250,000 for a gymnasium for women. Plans and specifications were approved in December and contracts were awarded in January 1940. The building was accepted on January 16, 1941.¹

A good description of the original building appeared in the January 3, 1940, issue of the Iowa State Daily Student:

The structure, to be of brick with stone trim, will be located just north of the women’s tennis courts and west of the road which runs north and south past the playfield. It will face south.

The building will measure 226 x 103 feet, with a main gymnasium 112 x 70 feet. At one end of the gymnasium will be a stage 18 x 12 feet.

Seven offices occupy the front section, with the gymnasium directly back of them.

A 30 x 75 foot swimming pool room, tiled in medium green and pastel green, will occupy one end of the building. The pool proper will be the pool on the second floor, along one side, is a balcony, which has four tiers of seats. [sic]

An archery court 34 x 84 feet is located in the basement. The building will provide a dance studio measuring 32 x 45 feet, with several smaller locker, shower and storage rooms.

Walls throughout the building will have 6 feet of glazed brick wainscoting, and plaster from there to the ceilings. In the gymnasium, however, the glazed brick will reach to the doors.

Plans for an addition on the north were first recorded in 1945.² However, it was 1966 before the next request for funds reached the priority list and 1969 before an appropriation was made. In that year a federal grant was also made in the amount of $739,287, to participate in the total project cost of $2,680,000.

Contracts for the addition were approved in October 1970 and the building was completed for occupancy in December 1972.