University of Idaho Campus Photographs Collection

History

The Hartung Theater, initially named the Performing Arts Center, was built between 1972 and 1973 and opened in 1974. It was renamed in 1977 in honor of Ernest Hartung, who had served as University of Idaho President for 11 years. During his first year at the university in 1965, President Hartung attended the theater department’s fall production of Oklahoma. This experience convinced him that the university needed a dedicated performing arts facility. Fundraising for the building began in 1967 when the University of Idaho Alumni Association created the Fund for the Performing Arts Center (FPAC) with a goal of over $2 million. The center was envisioned to serve as both a performance venue for traditional and contemporary theater and as an educational facility for teaching performing arts. The Associated Students of the University of Idaho (ASUI) contributed $140,000 in 1972, alongside donations from parents, foundations, and corporations, helping to fund the project. Construction took two years and proceeded in three phases, with the total cost estimated around $1.5 million.¹

Over the years, the theater has gained a reputation for ghostly encounters. In 1979, The Argonaut recounted experiences of eerie footsteps heard in the empty building. Fred Chapman, head of the university’s theater arts department, noted that every theater has its ghost and that many faculty and students have experienced strange happenings in the Hartung, particularly the sound of footsteps when no one else was present.²

Design

The Hartung Theater can be described as a derivative of the Streamline Moderne style, evident in its building silhouette. Although the construction materials—primarily brick and concrete—were selected to tie in with other campus buildings and differ from traditional Streamline Moderne materials, the overall form reflects the style’s characteristics.³

Physical Description

Situated on a hill between the campus core and the agricultural fringe at the corner of Stadium Drive and W. 6th Street, the theater faces northeast. It is a single, detached building with an irregular plan, lacking wings. The structure has two stories plus a basement. A set of stairs with a central railing connects the first-floor entrance to the street level, leading to a platform porch flanked by cement landscape planters. The building’s exterior has no windows. The off-center front door features a flat opening with a plain surround, a flush light transom, and full glass paneling. A flat roof with a cement-paneled parapet caps the building. The northeast corner is rounded, giving the theater a distinctive shape and striking silhouette that stands out among other campus buildings.⁴

Ernest Hartung

Ernest W. Hartung (1917–2003) served as the 12th president of the University of Idaho from 1965 to 1977. Under his leadership, the university expanded its commitment to the arts and student life. Notably, in 1967, he supported the creation of the Fund for the Performing Arts Center, which led to the construction of the Hartung Theater—a facility that continues to serve as a hub for theater arts education and performances. After retiring from the presidency, Hartung remained active in university affairs, serving as director of development and executive director of the University of Idaho Foundation until 1982. He passed away on September 26, 2003, in Florida at age 86.⁵

Notes

Images of Hartung Theater