The music history department, displaced when the attic in historic Collier House became filled with Penicillium and Aspergillus mold, will to return to the building this fall as scheduled.
A steam leak allowed moisture into the walls and up into the attic, creating conditions suitable for mold growth. There are many side effects associated with the types of mold found in the Collier House, according to the Web site of Mold Technologies, a company based in Eugene. The most prominent side effects listed are “constant or out-of-season allergies,recurring sinus problems, headaches and progressively worsening asthma.”
The department’s teachers and students were forced out of the building when it was quarantined because the mold was thought to possibly have health-threatening effects. Test results on the mold showed it was in fact quite harmless at the stage in which it was caught. Nevertheless, based on the mold’s potential to pose a health risk, the University decided to evacuate the building.
Janet Stewart, assistant to the dean of the School of Music said the move from Collier to other buildings around campus was very difficult for teachers and students to deal with in the middle of a term. She also said that she is very excited that the department will return to the building by the time school starts in the fall.
“It will be very beneficial, it has faculty offices that we need, the classrooms we desperately need, a place for junior recital, it was not easy being without the building,” Stewart said.
Collier House was built as a home for professor George Collier and his family in 1886. He retired 10 years later and the building was donated and moved to campus where it was used as a library and then later served as offices for University presidents. In 2004, the music department took over the building, which the Eugene Historical Record lists as the second oldest building on campus.
“We moved into it shortly after the roof was redone,” Stewart said.
The need for renovation comes just a few years after the roof of Collier House was restored in 2003. George Bleekman, the construction project manager at the University, was designated with the task of restoring the building. He said the mold growth was unfortunate, but not really preventable.
“Putting the building back together required some fairly extensive work,” he said. “We essentially just put it back together, we redid the floor, the trim, did some interior and exterior painting.”
Stewart said the restoration was necessary also because of the continual population growth at the University. The other classrooms into which the music department was placed were small and made teaching and learning difficult, she said.
Steve Pelkey, the Property & Safety Programs Manager for facilities services said that the building should be open in time for the fall, and that the music department will return to the building.
“Everything is on track, on time, and we expect to open it up to the music department, who was in there before, for fall term as promised,” Pelkey said.