Not everything old can be new again

It’s a grand old building at the end of its life.

It’s a grand old building – Lourdes Hall on the former campus of the College of Saint Teresa. Built in 1927, it was the largest building in Winona when it opened its doors. For over 90 years it would be a temporary home to generations of college students, home to memories they’d carry through their lives

.It’s a grand old building and I like old stuff.

Old clothes. Old friends. Old whiskey.

Old buildings too.

Having reached a certain age I have a real respect for places and things that came before me and a real desire they still be here long after I’m gone. Tme is transient, life is fleeting and the world we knew is no longer the world around us.

We all have those special places. The house we grew up in. Our elementary school, our high school. The local drive in where we hoped to get lucky after that cute little carhop finished her shift. Pretty much any place, anywhere can hold a special memory for somebody.

But places, especially buildings, serve more than memories. They are more than aesthetic additions to the streetscape. Buildings were built to be used. Built to serve a particular purpose appropriate to the needs of a particular time. When the needs and demands of the time change, that building must adapt and change as well; and if that’s not possible…

Which brings us back to Lourdes Hall.

The College of Saint Teresa closed in 1989. Shortly thereafter Cotter High School relocated to the campus and now serves children from infant care through senior high, including residential and international students. Lourdes Hall was acquired by Winona State University to provide needed residence hall space for an expanding campus population. When college-age demographics shifted in recent years, the university chose to consolidate operations to the main campus and Lourdes was declared surplus and put on the market.

It proved to be a hard sell. There was little public or commercial interest in acquiring a century old, fortress-like rabbit-warren of small rooms along narrow hallways located in the middle of an active pre-K – 12 campus -- despite the building’s attractive façade and basic structural soundness.

Ultimately, Cotter was the high bidder in a system of sealed bids where the State of Minnesota is required to accept the highest offer. After careful and extensive study, it was determined there was no feasible way to remodel or repurpose the building. Cotter subsequently announced plans to raze the building and build an indoor sports and recreation center on the site.

For a lot of people, that was anything but a popular decision.

Let’s take note here that Cotter has remodeled, restored, repurposed, and reused all of the former CST buildings they occupy on the campus.

Lourdes Hall was built to serve as a sheltered residence for young women according to the standards deemed appropriate by the Franciscan sisters who established and operated the college. Built of solid masonry and concrete, it was state-of-the-art for its time.

That time has passed.

It stands vacant. Unused and deemed, for all contemporary practical purposes, unusable.

It’s a grand old building at the end of its life. Still beautiful. Worthy of being spared the ravages of neglect, misuse, vandalism, and decay.

Not everything old can be made new again. Not everything of the past will have a place in the future. We know by the evidence of our own fleeting lifetimes that there is an end to all things.