Nestled atop the brass and iron double staircse at the main entrance to Altgeld lies one of the castle’s greatest mysteries and discoveries — the auditorium.

One of the largest rooms in the castle, renovators were able to strip away the wear and tear of the hall-like room and return it to its original splendor.

A polished hardwood floor and refreshed architecture glisten in the room, which was used in earlier years as a classroom and meeting area for the entire school.

“You can see from the little holes that there were old desks bolted in,” said NIU President John Peters, noticing imperfections on the floor. The polished floor now reflects lighting from new light fixtures that hang from the auditorium’s ceiling.

“This is where early NIU students spent the first hour of every day in what was known as general exercises,” Peters said.

General exercises, which were led by then-President John Williston Cook, included everything from Bible readings, singing, lectures and personal etiquette.

“I’m not doing that,” Peters said jokingly.

The auditorium was painted white sometime around 1950, apparently to save money, and many coats of paint had to be removed to determine what the original colors were.

“The roof had leaked so badly that there was always a fine coating of plaster on the floor,” said Melanie Magara, vice president of public affairs for NIU.

Friezes, medallions and other three-dimensional 1890s art grace the walls of the auditorium, which was a major attraction to people living in the area.

Altgeld was the first local building with electric lights and people came from miles just to see the auditorium lit up, Peters said.

Art museum

Downstairs, the castle is home to three different art galleries, all of which are part of NIU’s art museum.

Beginning when Altgeld was shut down in 1999 for the major renovations, the Art Museum was part of various art projects in the greater DeKalb community.

Now pieces of NIU’s art collection line the floors as curators carefully position the paintings and sculptures where offices used to be.

In the museum’s North and Rotunda galleries lie pieces of NIU’s permanent collection, which will be on display in the museum until December. Highlights from the collection include Rembrandt prints from the Pfaelzer Collection and pieces from the Ruttenberg Collection, including works by Nicholas Africano, Ida Applebroog, Robert Arneson and Robert Rauschenberg.

On display until December in the museum’s South Gallery is an exhibition of Buddha statues dating from the 11th through 20th centuries. The exhibit highlights Burmese Buddhism and coincides with an international Burma conference held at NIU Oct. 22-24.

“One of the neat things about the new setup here is that they have three galleries so they can have two or three different shows going on at the same time,” Magara said.

Wednesday, the Star will peer into the newly constructed administrative offices in Altgeld Hall.

Editor’s note: On Friday, NIU President John Peters took the Northern Star on an intimate tour of the recently renovated Altgeld Hall – the interior of which the public has not seen in five years. Every day this week we will highlight parts of the tour and guide our readers through one of NIU’s landmark sites and greatest mysteries.