Altgeld Hall opened Friday and is accessible to the public, but university officials don’t want people going in just yet.

Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of Public Affairs for NIU, said NIU doesn’t want people going through the building since minor construction work and moving remain unfinished She said a Thursday tour is planned for local media.

Rededication of the hall is set for Oct. 7.

Chairs and unassembled desks line some of the halls and lie strewn in open rooms.

A sign hung on the open, wood-floored ballroom read, “HARDWOOD FLOOR AREAS ARE CLOSED.” The building’s interior smells of sawdust and wood polish.

While the building is incomplete in some aspects, much of Altgeld is finished.

The $25 million, five-year renovation plan redid the building’s interior.

“It’s very beautiful, a real showplace,” said Cheryl Ross, administrative assistant for the vice provost.

Renovations include vaulted ceilings and hanging, circular light fixtures. Certain rooms have engraved plaster scriptures detailed into the ceilings, and great stretches of wood paneling line the walls leading up to similarly-colored wood doors.

“The wood is what makes it,” said Norden Gilbert, university counsel and contracts administrator. “It’s a classy look.”

Two circular staircases opposite each other lead out of the main entrance up to the second floor.

Two large paintings of Midwestern landscapes drape over the walls to the right and left of the opposing staircases.

On the third floor, two enclosed glass bridges connect the two sides of the castle.

“They aimed to renovate the building so it looked like it did in 1899, and they’ve done a beautiful job,” Gilbert said.

Besides university offices, Altgeld Hall will now house the official NIU Gallery, previously a temporary, rotating exhibit.

“We were a museum without walls,” said Art Museum Preparer Pete Olsen. “It’s much more official now.”