Old, ugly and in the way

GEE, IT HAD ALL THE MAKINGS of a story about triumph in the face of overwhelming odds: A small but vocal group protesting the demolition of a historic UNLV building launches a campaign of changing hearts and minds. The skeptical frowns of dour officials melt away as they see the light and -- at the 11th hour -- change course and save the building! Joyful tears! Relieved laughter! Cue credits and inspirational closing score!

But this isn't quite happening like that.

"Originally our plan was, and technically still is, to probably demolish Maude Frazier Hall sometime next fall," says Gerry Bomotti, UNLV's senior vice president for finance and business.

Indeed, two-and-a-half months after asking UNLV officials to preserve Maude Frazier Hall -- and even rallying Clark County commissioners to their cause -- historic preservation advocates are scratching their heads as they wonder why the building is still on the chopping block -- and why top-tier UNLV officials seem so deaf to their cause. Built in 1957, Maude Frazier Hall was the first building on the UNLV campus, an example of mid-century Modern architecture. The building's namesake, Maude Frazier, was an educator and lawmaker credited with planting the seeds of UNLV.

"At the [Nov. 20] regents meeting, they did nothing. They didn't even to put it to a vote," says Mary-Margaret Stratton, executive director of preservation group Atomic Age Alliance. "I came away with the impression that maybe there were some other agenda going on." But UNLV officials have made it clear that, historical or not, revamping the asbestos-laden building would prove too costly; UNLV President David Ashley did not return phone calls.

If Frazier is torn down, it'll mark the end of a nice winning streak. Proponents of preservation have scored several high-profile coups in recent years. They pulled the lobby of La Concha Inn from the path of the wrecking ball. They shepherded the Morelli House to a safe haven downtown. But Maude Frazier hall seems to be presenting unique challenges to preservationists: A homely old building on a campus with a current administration all starry-eyed over a major redevelopment. This battle has split along some curious philosophical lines: UNLV officials -- including a new president -- who run the campus and chart the school's course, and historic preservationists, who feel the wider community has a stake of ownership in Frazier Hall.

Never mind that activists got a resolution from the county commission that calls for saving the building. Never mind the support of several university regents, such as Mark Alden. "My stance is simple: Maude Frazier was a hero to us in Southern Nevada. Now they want to blow up the building. I don't get it," says Alden. "This school was never supposed to happen. And if not for Maude Frazier, it wouldn't have happened."

Preservationists find two foes in their path: The 2004 campus master plan, which calls for the razing of Maude Frazier Hall, and Midtown UNLV. Midtown UNLV is a partnership between UNLV and local developers that hopes to transform the University District into a lively, pedestrian-friendly cultural hub for students, teachers and residents. The biggest player in that game is developer Mike Saltman of the Vista Group. He owns the Promenade shopping center just across Maryland Parkway, and an interest in the University Park Apartments to the north of campus, where new student housing is on the drawing board. He insists, however, he doesn't have a dog in the fight.

"Whatever UNLV decides to do, I can live with that," says Saltman. "But there's no agreement of any kind between Saltman and Midtown and UNLV [to tear down Maude Frazier Hall]. I have no feeling either way. Midtown is not going to rise or fall on the Maude Frazier building."

Another reason the building evokes little sympathy among UNLV higher-ups is because, well, the building isn't exactly an architectural gem. Or is it? The campaign to save Frazier has drawn advocates from unexpected quarters, such as Mark Adams, who runs www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com, a website that tracks construction projects in Las Vegas with an exhaustive range of maps, renderings, pictures and statistics. Adams was so fired up he supplied his own rendering of what a rehabbed Maude Frazier Hall might look like.

"It's a gem sitting under a pile of crap," says Adams. "I'm not a fan of it just because of its history. It's the actual building I'm a fan of, too." His own vision shows a sleek, even graceful building uncluttered by trees and stucco. "The '70s and '80s hated what had been built in the '50s and '60s, and it all got covered up and uglified."

UNLV's Bomotti says more meetings will be slated to address the building's cloudy future. Maybe if history's made pretty enough, it might open a few new eyes.

"Still, even if it's the ugliest building on the planet, it's the first building on campus," says Brian Paco Alvarez, a curator and urban historian. "You can't get past that."