I wasted too much time yesterday following commentary threads and otherwise exploring one of Iowa's constantly resurrecting (and relatively minor in the grand scheme of things) causes for hand-wringing --- the state of the State Historical Building in Des Moines. An article in The (Cedar Rapids) Gazette about a proposal before the current Legislature to allocate $1 million for a year-long "study" of the issue set it all off.
The building in question, which opened during December of 1987, occupies a full block just west of the Capitol in East Village. It's a striking building that I actually kind of admire --- without loving. Designed specifically to be distinctive without competing with the magnificent Capitol building on the hill above, it accomplishes both those goals. It also contains adequate space for Iowa's premiere historical museum, the State Historical Society of Iowa staff and the offices of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.
But the difficulties are three-fold --- some of the original planning and engineering sacrificed practicality in the interests of making a strong first impression; parts of it were shoddily built because of inadequate supervision; and it is getting older and hasn't been consistently maintained (remember, the Legislature holds the purse strings). The roof of the grand atrium at the heart of the building has leaked, for example, almost from the beginning. It's now, most of the time, a vast and echoing empty space in large part because --- the roof leaks.
The building is in no danger of collapse, keep in mind, but the best guess is that it would cost about $50 million to deal with all its issues --- including a 30-year-old climate control system that should be replaced. A good chunk of that involves kick-the-can-down-the-road deferred maintenance. The Legislature, for example, allocated $1 during 2016 to fix the building.
One common misunderstanding about the structure holds that it was designed and built by foreigners from weird places like California who then dropped it on unsuspecting Iowans. The architects actually were from Cedar Rapids and the contractors were local.
The building cost $25 million when built --- partially funded by a $5 million bequest from the late Glenn Herrick, roughly $10 million in state appropriations and the balance for the most part raised by the Iowa Historical Museum Foundation.
One pie-in-the-sky train of thought now involves building a new museum rather than investing in repair of the old. The price tag guesstimate on that project is $125 million. Some have proposed the Iowa State Fairgrounds as a site. Some suggest selling the old building and using the proceeds to build the new.
However, (a) the Legislature is unlikely to be willing to invest $125 million in any sort of new building; (b) the fairgrounds, while lovely, are not an especially practical site; and (c) it's unlikely the state is going to be willing to sell prime real estate abutting the Capitol complex. Plus, the current location adjacent to the Capitol and its grounds is about as good as it gets for a museum showcasing Iowa history.
Following various commentary threads, you find a good supply of Iowans who actively hate the current Historical Building and all of its displays, but haven't been inside in it for, well, 30 years. Quite a few of the geriatric set (my generation) want to go back to the old building, now restored and repurposed as the Ola Babcock Building, overlooking the fact it was (and remains) too small, lacked storage space, was short on display space, was not handicap-accessible and that the displays we recall so fondly from childhood actually were static and musty.
It seems to me that if the Legislature by some miracle should decide to allocate $1 million it would be better spent on repairs to what we've already got --- or on a public relations effort to encourage Iowans to learn to love that quirky and somewhat battered repository of our history and appreciate all that it contains.
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