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Art History Faculty Move Into Renovated Art Center, Former Molly Root House

Classrooms, Offices, Conference Room and Slide Library in New Building

Contact: Vige Barrie
Phone: (315) 859-4623
January 16, 2006

The new home to the department of art history.
The new home to the department of art history.
The art history faculty has moved into the newly renovated Art Center, formerly the Molly Root House, and will be teaching classes in the facility this semester. Located on the south side of College Hill Road across from the Griffin Road intersection, the large white house with side porches has two first floor classrooms and faculty offices on the second floor for professors Agnes Bertiz, Rand Carter, Steve Goldberg, John McEnroe, Deborah Pokinski and Jay Williams. The building also includes a seminar room, conference room, slide library and student research areas.

The house, which originally was a summer home and then a year-round home for members of the Root family, was renovated last semester via a generous gift from Jack Levy, class of 1975, and additional support from Molly Root and Kevin Kennedy, class of 1970, among others. Designed by noted New York architects McKim, Meade and White, the structure was built in 1915-16,

These renovations are part of Hamilton's Excelsior Campaign, which was publicly initiated in 2004. The unexpected availability of the house triggered an enlarged and even more exciting vision for the arts at Hamilton. The Root House conversion is the first step in campaign plans for a larger arts "campus" that will include a museum and theater and will provide a much more accessible gateway to access Hamilton's arts programs.

Associate Professor of Art History and Acting Chair Deborah Pokinski said "We are thrilled to be in our new home. It is such an elegant house and it is so fitting that it has been beautifully renovated. We have terrific state-of-the-art technology in our lecture room," said Pokinski, "yet the original feel of the house as a home has been thoughtfully maintained. Everyone who worked on it did a wonderful job and we can't thank them enough. We're also very grateful to those whose generous donations made it possible."