Iconic Williams Hall undergoes demolition

Even as the first ever-exhibit is going up next door at New Mexico State University’s new art museum, Devasthali Hall, the old art building next door is coming down.

Demolition work continues on D.W. Williams Hall, the 80-year-old building that housed the NMSU Department of Art and the University Art Gallery, 1390 E. University Ave., near the intersection of University and Solano Drive.

The new art building, just west of the old one, is a two-story “state-of-the-art, visual arts facility for students and the community,” to quote NMSU.

Construction took about 14 months, said Museum Director Marisa Sage.

Staff began moving into the new building last August, and the museum’s first exhibition, “Labor: Motherhood & Art in 2020,” is being installed and will open at the end of February.

The new 10,000-square-foot art building was approved by voters in as part of a 2016 general obligation bond and is now home to NMSU’s 4,000-piece art collection, including its world-class 1,700-piece collection of retablos that date to the 1890s.

Williams Hall was a gymnasium before it became an art building and museum. The NMSU Aggies played here from 1938 until the Pan American Center opened in 1968. Nearly one-third of Williams Hall’s square footage was taken up by concrete bleachers that have remained in place since it was built.

For more information, contact Sage at 575-646-2545 or misage@nmsu.edu. Visit uag.nmsu.edu.