By ROB ROGERS
rob@newsroom.byu.edu
The old Brigham Young Academy on 5th North and University looks more like urban decay than historical renovation.
However, progress on the century-old building is right on schedule, said Maurine Brimhall, a vice president with the Brigham Young Academy Foundation.
'They (the contractors) have a time frame and we have a firm bid,' Brimhall said.
The BYAF is comprised of academy alumni and others interested in seeing the academy building preserved. The group was successful in its goals when Provo City adopted a plan to turn the building into a city library in 1995.
The idea of getting alumni involved came to Brimhall after an earthquake damaged the Memorial Church at Stanford University.
'The alumni got together and turned to fund-raising to repair the church,' Brimhall said. Brimhall's husband is a graduate of Stanford and received the newsletter that made the fund raising public.
'I showed (the newsletter) to the mayor and said if Stanford could do it, so could we.'
The foundation has been successful in raising $5.3 million for the renovation and will continue to raise money for the new library.
'There will be an ongoing need for contributions to keep the new library running,' Brimhall said.
The Academy, which was owned by BYU up until 1976, was sold to Provo and has been the source of community debate ever since.
In February 1997, Provo voters approved a $16 million bond to restore the Academy. The vote drew out more residents to participate than any other vote up until that time, according the City Council Chair Mark Hathaway.
At the time, there was an academy restoration club on campus, said Brimhall. She attributes the bond's passage to the student support the club generated.
'We would like to have a Brigham Young Academy club again on campus,' Brimhall said.
Student involvement is important to the foundation, Brimhall said, because they can help locate old academy memorabilia. The outside of the building will be the original structure, but the inside will be completely gutted and remodeled.
'We don't want the inside to look sterile,' Brimhall said. She said that students might have connections with relatives who were alumni and can provide old trophies, photographs and other miscellany.
'We want the inside to retain the old feeling of the academy,' Brimhall said.