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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10/18/05
Greenville College to Dedicate Almira College House
Culmination of Sesquicentennial Events during Homecoming Weekend
GREENVILLE,
ILL. – Throughout 2005, Greenville College has commemorated 150 years
of higher education in Greenville. A key project in the year-long
celebration has been the restoration of Almira College House, which
will be dedicated this weekend. The community is welcome to join the
dedication ceremony, which will take place in front of Almira at 10
a.m. on Saturday morning. President Mannoia, Mayor Alan Gaffner,
Professor Sharon Grimes, and Kevin Kaegy will be present at the ribbon
cutting ceremony. A reception will follow.
Almira College House, now known as the Bock Museum, was constructed in
1855 and showcases the largest single collection of works by sculptor
Richard W. Bock. The restoration process, which began last October, has
returned the house to its former grandeur.
The
first phase of the renovation required that the house be lifted to
facilitate removing the foundation. The foundation was repoured. Phase
two was renovating the exterior of the house which included new siding
and refurbishing the woodwork. The third phase focused on interior
restoration.
“As an Americanist who is committed
to architectural preservation, I am thrilled that the house is being
restored to its former glory,” said Grimes director of the Richard W.
Bock Sculpture Collection and professor of art history at the college.
“Great care was taken on the exterior and interior elements of the home
to give the look and feel of a home done in an American vernacular
style from the latter part of the nineteenth century.”
The Almira College House has served as the museum facility for the
Richard W. Bock Sculpture Collection since 1975. Steeped in 19 th
century tradition, the home was originally used as a classroom building
for college instruction until Hogue Hall was constructed. The Bock
collection consists of over 300 plaster and bronze sculptures of
varying development of Bock's ideas and early conceptions for projects
and commissions.
The collection also contains
several architectural drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright, which have only
been displayed at Greenville College. In the latter part of the 19th
century, while working on the Schiller Theater for Louis Sullivan, Bock
was introduced to Wright. Bock was then commissioned by Wright to do
several sculptures for the architect's home in Oak Park, along with
other works for several of Wright's architectural commissions. For a
ten-year period beginning in 1903, Bock worked almost exclusively with
Frank Lloyd Wright.
Greenville
College is a four-year accredited Christian liberal arts school with
more than 1200 traditional undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree
completion students. Founded in 1892 and affiliated with the Free
Methodist Church, the college is located in Greenville, Illinois, 45
miles east of St. Louis.
CONTACT:
Christy Grimes (
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)
Assistant Director of Public Relations
Greenville College
(618) 664-6515
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