Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Building Blueprints Series: Taylor Education Building, Dickey Hall and Reynolds Building

Nicole Brown, Marketing Intern Coordinator

Welcome to the Building Blueprint series!

This time, we’re focusing on three buildings on the edge of campus, across South Upper Street: Taylor Education Building, Dickey Hall and the Reynolds Building. After reading, be sure to watch the video tour, with Samantha as your guide.


If you’re standing in front of Whitehall or Patterson Office Tower, facing the front of either building, Taylor Ed is a straight-shot to your left. Walk away from this central area of campus and down the path through the main lawn, then straight across South Limestone and South Upper (which requires two separate cross walks). Taylor Ed is the large brick building directly in front of you. The building is situated on Scott Street, with Arby’s right down the road to your left, and Fire Department Station #6 across the street.

Built to house the College of Education around 1930 and named after the Dean of the college at the time, the Taylor Education Building is still home to the College of Education offices, classrooms and advising. It’s also one of the buildings where a lot of miscellaneous classes seem to take place. One semester, I had a 300-level Spanish class in an upstairs classroom, and the class directly before mine was 100-level math. There are also a few computer lab classrooms in the right-most hallway of the building. Larger, lecture classes, and sometimes guest speakers, are hosted in the auditorium on the first floor.

In addition to being a main College of Education Building, Taylor Ed is home to Wildcat Student TV: the studio is in the back of the building. This student-run station provides hands-on experience for students going into television and film, but all are welcome to participate! You can start by filling out this involvement form.

Hidden necessities: There are many entrances to Taylor Ed and many different options for stairs once you’re inside. It’s also a rather winding and confusing building that is difficult to describe. My recommendation is to always allow extra time to find what you’re looking for, and to start from the central entrance on the front of the building—it’s the one that will be straight ahead after crossing South Upper.

Instead of going straight across South Limestone and then South Upper, cross South Limestone and then take the sidewalk towards the left before crossing South Upper. Walk straight past Taylor Ed and you’ll find Dickey Hall on the right. An overhang and a small outdoor seating area also connect the two buildings.

Built in 1964 and named after the fifth president of the University of Kentucky, Frank G. Dickey, the building holds additional classrooms used for both College of Education courses and other courses as needed. Dickey Hall is also home to the Education Library and EDUKATE CafĂ©. If you prefer peace and quiet when you study, give the Education Library a try! It’s less crowded than many of the larger libraries.

EDUKATE is new and the only dining facility in the Scott Street area. EDUKATE does not accept meal swipes, but does take Flex and Plus. Their primary offerings include breakfast or lunch sandwiches, paninis and Mexican options, plus various grab-and-go foods.

Hidden necessities: After you enter through the door closest to Taylor Education Building, EDUKATE is down the down the hall and on the right. There are stairwells on either end of the building, and you’ll find the elevators smack dab in the middle. The faculty lounge is on the first floor, too, and sometimes there are guest speakers scheduled there, or even classes that meet there. The Scott Street parking lot, with both commuter and faculty parking, is across the street from Dickey Hall. There are often spots available, so if you have any valid permit, it’s a good place to try for parking when the lots open to permit holders at 3:30 p.m. Additional employee and metered parking spots are located behind Dickey Hall.

The Reynolds Building is actually a group of three individual buildings that are so close together they seem like one building. Reynolds Building #1, farthest from Scott Street, is the most utilized of the three buildings. When people refer to “Reynolds Building,” they almost always mean the one officially called Reynolds Building #1.

The buildings are brick with a ton of windows and used to be tobacco warehouses, so they look pretty outdated. The buildings are on Scott Street—keep walking past Dickey Hall and they will be on your right. Take the gravel pathway to the metal bridge, and you’ll be at the main door. The door enters in a stairwell. If you can locate Newtown’s bridge to campus, the gravel path is directly across the street from it.

The buildings provide studio space, and are used for many School of Art and Visual Studies classes, especially Art Studio (A-S) courses. Reynolds 206 is also home to the Raymond Barnhart Gallery, the primary student art exhibition space on the second floor.

As Reynolds Building is very outdated, a new art building is in the works. In the near future, University Lofts will become the campus’ main art space. $8 million in renovations to the University Lofts on Bolivar Street will transform the space from lofts into classrooms, art studios and a new home for the Barnhart Gallery. Renovations will upgrade the building to be suitable to house art studios, including better ventilation, better lighting and modern, easily accessible amenities (like restrooms), all of which will be a vast improvement over the current Reynolds Building space.

Hidden necessities: Be sure to plan sufficient time to get to and from Reynolds Building, and to find your way around inside the building! It’s a fifteen-minute walk from Whitehall and at least thirty minutes from South Campus. Also note that you’ll probably feel like you’re lost when you reach the buildings. They are very run-down and don’t look like any other building on UK’s campus. The side of Reynolds that is closest to Dickey Hall and campus is actually the back of the building, but it’s also the most commonly used entrance. From this entrance, bathrooms are straight through the warehouse and up the stairs to the left. Reynolds also tends to be hot, so you’ll want to dress in layers.


Explore Taylor Education Building, Dickey Hall and Reynolds Building for yourself, and be sure to let us know if we left something out!


No comments:

Post a Comment