Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with confirmation on a statistic regarding the Faculty House.
Editor’s Note: If you want to share your opinion on the Cherry Hall renderings, please do so here.
Crowds of students and staff gathered at the top of the Hill on Thursday afternoon as they awaited the reveal of renderings of a renovated Cherry Hall.
WKU students and staff were informed of the renovation plans in August 2024 when the WKU Board of Regents agreed to put $75 million toward the renovation and restoration of Cherry Hall. Initial ideas were announced, but none of the specific plans were communicated prior to Thursday’s event.
WKU President Timothy Caboni announced that one of the main changes to Cherry Hall will be the demolition of the first-floor entrance. The new entrance will lead to the current basement floor of Cherry and the ceiling above will be knocked out, making for a more open space.
Study spaces will be added throughout the hallways, with certain classrooms being gutted and turned into open spaces, featuring tables and chairs. Cushioned benches will also be embedded into the hallway walls.
Caboni noted that one of the main goals of this renovation is to preserve the abundance of marble featured in the building. As it gets refurbished, marble will still be used heavily as they keep the marble staircases and repurpose other slabs to be used along the walls.
Caboni noted Cherry Hall’s history, talking about the last renovations to the building, which added the back entrance, elevators and electronic chimes in 1973.
“One of our core responsibilities as an institution is to ensure that our places and spaces are well maintained, while also ensuring that our infrastructure evolves to meet the shifting needs and demands of our students,” Caboni said.
“The goal is we’ll take two years to really bring the building back to its studs,” Caboni said.
Caboni also announced the demolition of the Faculty House, which resides directly behind Cherry Hall. He said the building saw an 80% decline in usage from 2017 to 2022 and has been closed to students since. The WKU Office of Campus and Community Events confirmed that statistic to the Herald.
Potter College of Arts & Letters Dean Terrance Brown said faculty and staff expressed mixed feelings about the project, saying some staff have “grown accustomed to their traditions and the current structure of Cherry Hall.”
“We’ve been open to listening to all communications about their thoughts on what the space can be, and I think that’s been the greatest opportunity,” Brown said.
Janette Scott, the senior associate, studio director and regional education practice leader at Gensler Architecture, spoke on the decision process for the renovation.
“Almost every student who comes to the halls of WKU will take a class in Cherry Hall,” Scott said. “This made it the perfect candidate for investment.”
Gensler was contracted to design The Commons and the upcoming Gordon Ford College of Business, Scott said.
While speaking with Scott, The Herald asked how students might be cautious of new construction after Hilltopper Hall was shut down in January 2024.
“We rely on a broad team of experts for a renovation like this,” Scott said. “We’ll work with EOP Chaplin, a local architecture firm… They have tremendous experience with preservation and historic structures.”
Parker Stallings, a junior and PCAL student, saw positives and negatives with the renovations.
“I think the idea of making it easier to navigate is a lot better,” said Stallings. “But I’m not sure about how modern some of it is, a lot of the glass in classrooms, I feel like that might be going a little too modern for the history of Cherry Hall.”
Shortly after the Thursday event ended, the official WKU social media pages posted the renderings of Cherry Hall and were met with immediate backlash.
“Yes, Cherry Hall is in need of updates, but don’t gut out its very character,” @seantjacobson commented on Instagram.
“Let’s just make Big Red sad and beige at this point,” @anniecwhaley commented on Instagram.
“The new designs are not CHERRY HALL at all! To me it’s the central focus of what Western was, is and will be!” Sue Shannon Whelan commented on Facebook.
Construction is set to begin this summer and should be finished by fall 2027.
