President-elect Richard Brodhead and his wife, Cindy, are arriving to Durham in a week, but their future home hardly looks like a presidential residence.
The renovations to the Hart House, which are projected to cost around $3 million dollars, is being funded entirely by the Board of Trustees. The project is very visibly entering its construction phase: its red brick facade is covered with dirt; the windows are all boarded up; and huge plumbing lines run through a long ditch in the front yard.
"Being a 70-year-old house, it was time for some major updates and repairs," said Leon Meyers, president of L.E. Meyers Builders, the contractors hired for the overhaul. "It has required a lot of taking apart."
Soon enough, however, Hart House will emerge from its present state of rubble, as current projections slate the renovations to be complete by early December--just in time for the holidays.
Brodhead, who has only had general input into the design of the house, said he and his wife are looking forward to the move-in.
"Since the Hart House came open, we're pleased to think of it as our future home," Brodhead wrote in an e-mail. "It is far closer [than Knight House] to campus and a place people can walk to. That's great for us, since we intend it to be a house the campus will be welcome at on many many occasions."
Meanwhile, walking through the house is no easy task.
Around the southeast corner of the house, builders hum along to Jessica Simpson's "With You" as they turn an enclosed den into the new family kitchen. Many of the walls have been knocked down to create more space, but the interior is a maze of rooms and corridors. The low ceilings and dim lighting still creates a slightly claustrophobic feel. One exception is the solarium, which bathes visitors with a welcome burst of sunlight from its floor-to-ceiling windows and vaulted ceiling.
The president and his wife expect to do a lot of entertaining, so designers felt the building's main entrance, with its unimposing foyer, needed a makeover.
Preserving its vintage charm with its old circular staircase and rose-colored wallpaper while updating it to suit the president's needs is no easy task. For this reason, the University has hired Anne Fahim Architectural Services, a New York-based design company. By the time the Brodheads move in, the house will be fully furnished. "The architects are making sure that the first floor is a welcoming and inviting area for guests," Gaskins said.
Upstairs, the master bedroom has undergone a facelift of its own, as walls separating the dressing room and bathroom have been knocked down to create more open space. "Structural failures in the original design have caused this area to be renovated more dramatically than any other," Meyers said.
Most of the actual construction is going on in the basement, where the workers, now humming along to Maroon 5, are busy chasing the ductwork for the air conditioning system throughout the entire house.
"It is a really challenging house to renovate. We are always running into problems on the job--there are a lot of issues that we need to bring to code," Gaskins said, pointing to other "issues" that include new network wiring, electrical cabling and a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
Built in 1933 by the same architect who designed West Campus, the house was originally home to the family of Deryl Hart, Duke's fourth president. It remained in their hands until the death of Mary Hart, his widow, in 2000.
"Many see this house as a very sentimental home," said Yolanda Gaskins, Duke's project manager on the site. "Many of the faculty and staff are happy to see that it is not being torn down or converted into office space."
While the renovations continue at Hart House, Brodhead, who will assume the presidency July 1, will live at Knight House, where outgoing President Nan Keohane spent her tenure as president.
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