Cummings Gym Sports New Look

xterior of Cummings Gym on Stetson's campus
Exterior of Cummings Gym on Stetson's campus
Deterioration of the original brickwork has prompted restorative efforts toward preservation of Stetson’s historic Cummings Gym. Started in 1910 and completed in 1911, Cummings Gym was designed by faculty member Litchfield Colton, who taught iron work and mechanical drawing at Stetson.

If you’ve driven down North Woodland Boulevard recently, you may have been surprised to see Cummings Gymnasium on the campus of Stetson University getting its first paint job in its 106 years of existence. There’s a good reason.

While many people have voiced objections to painting the historic structure – the second gym ever built on campus – extensive reparative action was required or the building would have continued to deteriorate, putting it at risk.

In basic terms, the building was constructed out of Lake Helen sand brick, and sand bricks tend to be more brittle than bricks made of concrete or clay. The result is severe damage over time, according to Matthew Adair, Stetson director of project and construction management.

“Such wear has caused damage in the stairwells and lower portions of the building,” Adair says. “After some debate, it was determined that the best way to preserve the building would be to seal it to prevent further deterioration of the original brickwork.”

The seal work, represented in the current yellowish color, serves as a primer, bonding the brick and allowing for two coats of paint. The final paint color will be a shade of white. The project is about halfway completed.

Cummings Gymnasium, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, once was the center of athletic activity at Stetson and the site of decades of glory. Stetson’s first gym, a small wooden structure, now gone, was said to be the earliest college gym in Florida. Two other gym facilities on campus, the Edmunds Center (1974) and the Hollis Center (1998), have made Cummings obsolete as a gymnasium. Today, visitors to Cummings still can view Stetson sports trophies of the past.

That history hasn’t been taken lightly. Historic preservation is important to everyone involved in the project, adds Adair, and the approval process takes time and much professional input.

“In the case of Cummings Gymnasium, staff submitted elevation photographs showing the damaged areas of the building and our plan was to use mortar and epoxy to repair the damaged wall sections,” he explains. “We also included a color palette with our submission. The final color was then selected by (DeLand’s) Historic Preservation Coordinator Elysha Petschauer, who was extremely helpful to the university during the approval process.”

Cummings is not the first reparation project at Stetson, and previous work has needed no further action, Adair cites.

“This project is similar to other brick and mortar repair projects that we have had on campus, which include Sampson [Hall] and Conrad Hall, which were repaired and painted over six years ago,” he says. “In both of these cases, the buildings’ exteriors have held up beautifully and additional restoration has not been required.”

by Nicole Melchionda