DANVILLE, KY -- Centre College will hire a contractor to begin work this spring on the demolition and removal of East Hall, a brick building located immediately east of the Norton Center for the Arts.

East Hall was originally constructed in 1925 as the Danville High School gymnasium. The building was acquired by Centre in a 1964 land swap. At that time, the city acquired from the college a parcel of property on Lexington Ave., where Centre had sponsored a separate women's campus. That parcel became the site of the current Danville High School. In exchange, Centre acquired the site of the former high school and used that property for construction of the Norton Center.

Centre renamed the old gymnasium East Hall and retained the building principally for storage space, but in recent years maintenance and upkeep costs began to outstrip the structure's usefulness. Centre President John Roush says that a financial analysis showed that renovation of East Hall would be prohibitively expensive relative to the building's size and potential for other use.

The space gained by the demolition will be used for green space and parking.

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Communications Office
Centre College
600 W. Walnut Street
Danville, KY 40422