Last week, The Diamondback reported that our older buildings on the campus are expensive to maintain (“A pretty penny for beautiful buildings”). Gee, I’m not sure how I am supposed to react to this. Am I supposed to be outraged at how much money is going to our buildings as opposed to more important things, such as landscaping? Or am I supposed to develop a distaste for Georgian architecture?
Despite all the panic that I am sure is consuming the university community, I don’t think anyone has to worry about McKeldin Library being bulldozed due to expensive maintenance costs. The yearly maintenance costs are nothing compared to the school’s overall budget. Furthermore, our school’s architecture has historical and symbolic significance that has value far beyond any monetary costs.
With architecture similar to Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia campus, our buildings were the trendiest buildings any university could want at the time. You can find the Grecian columns all over the South, in old mansions, schools and city halls. The obvious Southern influence on our school’s architecture serves as a reminder that our state is indeed south of the Mason-Dixon line – hence its nickname as the “Old Line State.” It’s a fact easy to forget when so many of our students are from New Jersey.
The use of red bricks is another feature that distinguishes the university’s buildings. It differentiates our Georgian architecture from other Greek Revival buildings. At the time the school was built, the majority of this country’s bricks were manufactured using the red clay of the Southeast, and to this very day, the Southeast still manufactures more red bricks than any other region of the country. Using materials from our own region not only lowered shipping costs, but it added to the regional character of our buildings.
It goes without saying that the most noticeable element of our buildings is the white columns. It always makes me giggly inside when someone is trying to give someone directions to their South Campus apartment and they tell the person to look for the building with the pillars. Also, as a columnist for The Diamondback, I am particularly compelled to note that the text of our newspaper was put into columns just to emulate our fine buildings. (Sadly, my columns are not worth $100,000 each.)
The article mentioned the sustainability issues behind maintaining older buildings, but failed to go into greater detail. For me, the issue goes well beyond sustainability. We have a beautiful campus, and we should take more pride in it. In the future, I would love to see more talk about the beauty and uniqueness of our school, not how expensive it is to maintain.
I don’t know about you, but when I graduate, I’m going to make darn sure there are red bricks and white columns wherever I may be living.
Jonah Richmond is a senior environmental science and policy major. He can be reached at jrichmon@umd.edu.
