Preservation granted: Getty Foundation invests in KU

If KU Chancellor James Marvin had not planned for the future in the 1870s, KU might not have its beloved Marvin Grove, nor the fragrant lilacs of Lilac Lane.

Marvin pioneered the first organized effort to landscape the campus for later generations by recruiting volunteers to plant hundreds of trees on campus. Today's Marvin Grove is believed to be one legacy of his efforts.

The need to preserve that kind of legacy – while balancing it with the needs of future growth – has earned KU a $130,000 grant from the Getty Foundation, a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles. The grant to KU Endowment is part of the Getty Foundation's campus heritage initiative to help colleges and universities plan for the preservation of their significant historic buildings, sites and landscapes.

"The landscape and the buildings that make up the KU campus in Lawrence are a part of our regional heritage and a part of the lives of many generations of graduates, Kansas citizens, visitors and the Lawrence community," said Chancellor Robert Hemenway. "This grant will help us inventory and study the campus to determine how best to preserve key elements while moving forward with development."

KU is home to five buildings on the National Register of Historic Places: Dyche Hall, Lippincott Hall, Spooner Hall, Strong Hall and Bailey Hall. The study will reach beyond those buildings to study the historic value of campus facilities and landscape elements. It will provide campus leaders with a detailed analysis of how certain landscapes, views and structures contribute to the atmosphere of the campus and a ranking of their relative importance to guide future development.

"The university recognizes the value historic designations have for the surrounding community, and this study will add to that value by identifying other historically significant elements across the campus," Hemenway said.

To conduct the study, KU will use a portion of the grant support to hire landscape and historic preservation consultants who will work with staff members of KU Design & Construction Management. The project will be completed in six stages and will conclude by Dec. 31, 2007.

The grant will be managed by KU Endowment, an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that features the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Getty Research Institute. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations: the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu.