The McIver Building, built on UNCG's campus in the late 1950's almost seemed doomed from the start. Professors complained about their small offices, thin walls, and the heating and air conditioning systems never quite seemed to work. Poet Randall Jarrell referred McIver it as "The Thunderbird Motel."* While many liked the contemporary look of the architecture and the mod mural on the western facade, others felt it was just too modern to be placed among some of the most historic buildings on campus.
However, as they raze the McIver building this week, for many, the nostalgia factor runs strong. So many memories remain of their years teaching, working, and taking classes in the building. People remember the long hallways, the glass-windowed post office boxes on the second floor; the faculty-only bathrooms; the tiny phone room; the "no smoking" signs in room 321 with its black, old-school, chalk boards; the giant cement kiln out back; the enclosed courtyard lush with fig trees, castor plants, and annuals; the graffiti written in foreign languages; the seemingly never-ending, four flights of stairs on the back side of the building, the language lab in room 333, the original Weatherspoon Gallery, the impossible-to-find lecture hall in the basement, and so much more!
Soon, a Nursing and Instruction Building will stand in place of McIver. The School of Nursing has, by necessity, been scattered across campus. Finally, the great School of Nursing will have a facility to call their own. Alas, it seems it really is time to trade "quirky" for "state-of-the-art".
* reference and more history, here.
