Recent demolition work on the south side of Walker Hall gave new life to an old rumor — that one of the campus’s oldest buildings was being torn down.
The truth is, the recent demolition project took down a small structure known as the Walker Hall annex, as well as a stucco wall along Hutchison Drive. And in the future, when funding allows, the campus has a plan to take down and-or modify the Walker wings.
But that’s all, according to administrators who expressed excitement at what the campus would get in return:
• A 450-seat classroom on the south side of the building, perhaps in place of the middle wing.
• A beautiful promenade between the front door of Shields Library and the Silo.
• The revitalization of a key area of the core campus.
As for the main, two-story portion of Walker Hall, the campus is seeking state money to renovate the building and make it seismically safe.
The state gave no money for ϲϿ capital projects in 2011-12, so now ϲϿ Davis will try again in 2012-13, asking for $27.4 million for what is officially called the Walker Hall Renewal and Seismic Corrections Project.
The California mission-style edifice was completed in 1927 — with the wings as part of the original construction — and was first known as the Agricultural Engineering building (“Engineering” is spelled out high on the wall above the front entry on Shields Avenue).
Subsequently, it became Walker Hall, named after Harry B. Walker; he joined the Davis faculty as chair of the agricultural engineering division in 1928 and became an emeritus professor in 1951.
“Built prior to current code requirements, Walker Hall has structural deficiencies that contributed to a ‘poor’ seismic rating when evaluated in the early 1990s,” the project planning guide states.
Over the years, the campus considered several strategies for Walker Hall, including demolition and renovation. Then, before any of that happened, ϲϿ Davis experienced significant enrollment growth, during which time the campus used Walker as “surge” space.
Most recently, the building housed the Design and Landscape Architecture programs, both of which have been relocated to newly renovated buildings (Cruess Hall for design, Hunt Hall for landscape architecture).
Officials said the building should be empty by the end of this year — and Walker will be ready for renovation when the money comes through.
In the meantime, the campus has begun cleaning up Walker Hall’s “back yard.” Before the demolition work in mid-July, officials described the area as “dilapidated and effectively walled off from the rest of the campus,” according to the planning guide for the Walker Hall Renewal and Seismic Corrections project.
The planning guide notes how the Walker Hall renewal would address multiple issues:
• Building deficiencies (beyond the seismic problem), including electrical, plumbing, heating and air, and fire alarm systems that are obsolete or have reached the end of their useful lives.
• A shortage of large-classroom space.
• Accessibility corrections, including one or more elevators (the building has no elevators at this time).
"As a result of addressing these needs, the project would also revitalize a key area of the core campus," the planning guide states.
A big part of that revitalization is the "Walker Promenade," something that Assistant Vice Chancellor Bob Segar, campus planner, first envisioned 10 years ago.
By removing the Walker Hall Annex and the wall, the campus cleared part of the path for the promenade. But the Walker wings are still in the way — which means, at the very least, that they must be trimmed back to accommodate the new walkway between Shields Library and the Silo.
“The opportunity to make this a continuous pedestrian experience is a big move in the right direction,” Segar said, referring to the east-west corridor plan in the campus’s Physical Design Framework, approved by the Board of Regents in 2009.
The framework describes the promenade as an “active student street.” It would front the new Walker lecture hall and the Student Community Center, now under construction at California Avenue and Hutchison Drive, kitty-corner from Outdoor Adventures and the Silo.
The promenade lines up with the sidewalk in front of the Silo transit hub, which opened in 2008 on the south side of Haring Hall, across the street from the Silo.
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Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu