Bellarmine, once the proud home of millionaires, now has a potential health hazard growing in the basement.
According to a memo sent out to all faculty and staff, the Department of Campus Operations has recently identified a number of problems on the ground floor of Bellarmine Hall.
Because the building’s stone construction allows for water seepage, a number of surfaces in the lowest level are suffering from a mold problem.
Although mold in small quantities is present everywhere, the high concentration of it in certain offices has caused concern because of potential for respiratory conditions.
There have been a couple of complaints from people working in the basement who had sinus issues, including hay fever and allergies, officials said.
“It’s not a good environment for people to be working in if they were having breathing problems,” said Mark Guglieimoni, director of Human Resources. “Unfortunately you can’t test for mold, you have to see it, which we do now that it’s visible. Now we can identify it and address it.”
External air quality consultants from EnvioMed Services and Air Technologies have been called in to advise, oversee and handle the situation.
They will be in charge of cleaning all equipment, furniture, files, and the building itself. Following the clean up, an architect will inspect the remainder of the building for water damage and a mold inspector will examine the upper levels of the building.
“Campus operations plans to investigate what can be done to keep this from reoccurring,” said Nancy Habetz, director of Media Relations. “A possible solution is to dig a trench to keep water from seeping into the basement, but as far as I know they haven’t reached a decision on how to approach the problem yet.”
While the mold is being taken care of, those offices affected by the mold have been moved to alternative locations on campus. Undergraduate Admissions has moved up to the second floor of Bellarmine. The university photojournalist has moved to Alumni House. Both the Office of Special Events and Development Services have moved to trailers by the Round Hill Road entrance and the School of Nursing respectively.
Bellarmine is one of the most beautiful and photographed buildings on campus. Its picture is on everyone’s id card, but student contact with and knowledge of the building is quite limited.
“I know absolutely nothing about Bellarmine,” said Kimberly Liaw, ’04. “The last time I’ve been there was when I was taking a tour of Fairfield my senior year of high school.”
Crystal Patenaude, ’04 said, “I attended a high tea there once. It was a really unique room, it’s too bad they don’t use it more often for special events like that.”
Bellarmine Hall, built in 1921, was once the 105-acre Lashar estate until Fairfield’s first president Fr. John J. McEleney purchased it in the spring of 1942. The 1929 stock market “crash” took such a toll on Lashar that his $80 million was reduced to two million.
Lasher’s property was taken by the town for taxes and by paying the back taxes which amounted to $62,500 the Jesuits were able to acquire the estate which at the time was worth $350,000.
In the beginning, the Lashar home served as a residence for the Jesuit community, but in 1982 it was renovated and today is used as office space for the president, admissions, advancement, development, planned giving, public relations and financial aid.
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