Doane University – Boswell Observatory Restoration
Scope of Work
Berggren Architects restored Doane University’s historic Boswell University
Location
Crete, NE
History
Boswell Observatory, circa 1883
Designed by Goodwin Sweezey, David Brainerd Perry, and Thomas Doane
Completion
Project was completed in 1995
The Challenge
The Boswell Observatory restoration remains one of our most significant and unique projects to date. The building’s impressive technical capabilities-one of the best in the region, at the time-came with complex architectural features.
Atop the building is a wood-lattice dome, covered with sheet metal, capable of rotating 360 degrees atop a steel rail. The dome wall included a sliding door capable of opening a full-quarter quadrant, allowing horizon-to-horizon viewing. Though circular at the base of the dome, the brick walls of the room corbeled down onto an octagonal floor plan.
Brick piers supported the telescope, a clock, and a meridian transit, all structured seperately so that any movement in the building would not affect the sensitive instruments.
As the building was over a century old, much of the wood members had deteriorated, including those in the dome. As is often the case, no existing drawings of the building could be found.
Notes:
Built in 1883, the observatory housed the largest telescopes west of the Mississippi River. The region had barely moved past the “frontier” stages of westward expansion. The principal designer of the observatory, Professor Goodwin Swezey, had visited campus observatories across the country in preparation for his design.
Most other Swezey-designed ovbservatories (and their equipment) in the region have been allowed to deteriorate. Today, Boswell is the only known extant 19th-century observatory in this region of the Great Plains that still holds much of its original architectural integrity. It is also the oldest extant building on Doane’s campus.
The building is constructed of red brick walls atop rough-cut ashlar limestone foundation. A smooth-cut limestone watertable sits in between.
An addition was completed in 1892 to accommodate a classroom, more instruments, and the Nebraska weather bureau office. It served as the first headquarters of the Nebraska Weather Service.
The Strategy
The dome would be addressed first. Sensitive restoration of the dome was necessary to ensure the safety of the architecture, instruments, and people below. Restoring other parts of the building roof was also a priority. Beyond these crucial repairs, cost-effective alternative options were presented to the client alongside ideal treatment. Depending on the intended use of the space, either a museum or an office, restoring historic details may or may not have been appropriate.
In completing this project, our team collaborated with a team of fifth-year architecture students from Kansas State University’s Preservation Documentation class, led by Professor Eugene Wendt.
The plan drawings, to the left, were prepared by the fifth-year KSU students in Eugene Wendt’s Preservation Documentation class.
Notes:
Arrangements were made for the four students and professor to work on-site for a week. During this time, they would complete extensive field documentation and measurement. Dimensions were captured for everything from the dome to doorknobs to driveways. Once measurements were completed, the students spent the remaining semester drafting a complete set of drawings.
The drawings were completed according to the standards of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). HABS was a depression-era program created to provide work for out-of-work architects. It has since evolved to projects for students. In both cases, the original drawings are placed in the National Archives, in Washington D.C., and are available to the public.
The collaboration was though up by principal architect Jerry Berggren, an alumnus of KSU.
The Results
The observatory restoration project was completed in 1995. It was immediately opened to the public with a successful ribbon cutting ceremony. The time-keeping ball, now inside on its mount, was one of less than eight time balls dropped at midnight of New Year’s Eve, 1999. The telescope remains operational to this day and is regularly used for sky-viewing, including to view the lunar eclipse of May 2022.
Janet Jeffries, our architectural historian and faculty member of Doane University, is responsible for managing public events and tours at the observatory.
Related Projects
Our Process
We listen to you
We are preservation architects, let’s get together and talk about your project. Once we know your ideas, we can start your project in the right directions.
We involve you in the planning