The University of Central Arkansas hosted a grand re-opening for the Mirror Room in McAlister Hall Friday, Aug. 18.
The University received a $250,000 grant from the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council (ANCRC) to renovate the space.
As part of the renovation, the Mirror Room now has a landing area at the east entrance to the room. From the landing, stairs featuring new railings with arched balusters, echoing the arch-shaped design of the mirrors, descend into the room. Other renovations include new fan coil units for heating and cooling of the room, accessible doors at the west entrance, new roofing, new pointing of brick mortal to repair weathered joints, new paint and carpet, and interior plaster repairs necessitated by years of water damage, as well as new wood windows that meet the National Register of Historic Places standards.
The room is called the Mirror Room because it features four floor-to-ceiling arched mirrors along the lateral walls, reminiscent of those found at the famous Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France.
Located in McAlister Hall, the Mirror Room, was once used as a formal reception room for the campus. Freshmen students were required to attend a formal welcome ceremony there where they were greeted by their ball gown- and tuxedo-clad professors. Completed in January 1934 as a women’s residence hall and named for Col. H.L. McAlister, president of UCA from 1930-1941, McAlister Hall became a classroom building in the 1960s and after a renovation in 1990, it currently houses the Schedler Honors College and part of the Department of Art and the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.
McAlister Hall is one of eight campus buildings comprising UCA’s Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The other locations are Old Main/Ida Waldran Auditorium, Harrin Hall, Wingo Hall, the President’s House, McCastlain Hall, Bernard Hall and Ferguson Memorial Chapel.