By Stephen Kelley ’24
Staff Writer
If you’ve heard the ethereal sound of orchestral instruments through the walls recently, you’re either haunted, or there’s a band student practicing in one of the few places they can find: your building. Luckily for Lake Forest College (LFC) residents, a series of delayed renovations for Reid Holt Chapel indicates you’re probably not listening to ghosts.
The Reid Holt Chapel basement renovation project, originally scheduled for early July 2022, has been delayed for more than eight months, leaving dozens of displaced students with nowhere quiet to rehearse. The chapel’s sprawling lower level used to contain numerous cozy spaces for isolated musical practice, but the discovery of substantial water damage necessitated complete below-ground reconstruction.
“Twenty years without a lot of work done there resulted in extensive water damage. When we dug a little deeper, we found that the particle board was disintegrating,” said Scott Edgar, associate professor, and chair of music at LFC. “We did discover mold, and we had to fix that. That’s not a secret, anyone who was in the basement smelled it.”
To rectify the situation, the College followed its normal procedure to secure a donor to fund the repairs. Barbara Bopp, whose late sister, Ruthane Lone Bopp, was the former registrar for LFC, deeply values musical education, and agreed to cover the initial projected cost.
It was all supposed to be completed in July 2022, so that incoming fall students would have immediate access to a totally remodeled facility and a new recording studio, but optimistic projections are now placing completion around August of this year.
The plan was simple:
Step 1: Tear it all down and start from scratch. The presence of mold meant it all had to go.
Step 2: Waterproof from the outside in.
Step 3: Install a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) unit to regulate temperature and ventilation.
Step 4: Finish waterproofing and insulation from the inside out.
Step 5: Finish everything else. Paint the walls, finish the bathrooms, furnish with equipment, etc.
Unfortunately for Lake Forest College, the plan never made it past Step 3. “The thing about HVAC systems, post-pandemic, there is an incredible lead time, and the supply chain is hurting,” Edgar explained.
This caused the project to come in “way over budget,” with the cost of HVAC acquisition and installations growing more and more expensive, Edgar said. As a result, the time required to install the necessary HVAC system increased dramatically, effectively delaying all progress until further notice.
Fast-forward nearly eight months, and students at the College have few options for honing their musical skills without creating disturbances.
“I usually have nowhere to practice, to be honest,” commented Meghan Pallanti, a student who plays the flute in the College’s Concert and Jazz ensembles. “I can’t do it in my building, so unless I’m able to get to band early and practice a bit in the chapel, which I usually can’t, or go home to practice, I don’t really have a space.”
Students in similar positions have had to get creative, as the reservable study rooms on South Campus are not readily available for consistent or spontaneous practice sessions.
Ciara White, a commuter student, heard the result of this dilemma while resting in Deerpath Hall’s commuter lounge.
“When my boyfriend got up to go use the restroom, he found the basement men’s restroom locked, so he went somewhere else,” White said. “An hour later he tried again, and it was still locked, but the violin paused for a minute. So at least we figured out where the music was coming from.”
Eventually, LFC musicians will have access to nearly a dozen soundproof practice rooms, as well as a brand new professional-grade recording studio. For now, however, students will have to find other ways to make do.
It is unknown when the project will resume, but one thing is certain: if you continue to hear ethereal instruments when off campus, you may want to consider calling the Ghostbusters.
