I was in the stacks this afternoon looking for something and once again I found something else. (Lest you think I’m a complete idiot, I also found what I set out after. I try to maintain the delicate balance between efficiency and alertness to my environment, but I admit that this can be touch and go. Today I was in total control.) In any event, what we have here is a small bound book of photographs of the construction of the physics building, given by the architects to President Lovett. These images are notable for their special clarity, really much better than the amateur versions I usually run across in scrapbooks and other collections.
I don’t know much about construction but some of this looks scary. This one, with that dubious contraption that seems designed to get materials up to the top of the building, I find quite unnerving:
All seems to have ended well, however. Here’s an image of the east side of the newly completed building, its beauty so clear without the screen of trees we see it through these days:
Bonus:
Oddly, I have fond memories of classes in the Physics Amphitheater, must be because of F. Barry Dunning.
Is there anything under the risers for the desks? That is a lot of space to ignore.
Yes, there is something under the hyperbolic (or is it parabolic?) riser. Under the lower part, there is a continuation of the basement. Farther back, however, there is a small hallway with about 3-4 rooms that functioned as office space. Or so I recall.
I like how the red spot of color in your scan almost looks like it belongs there. (It must be a piece of that red deteriorating binding that snuck onto the photo, right?)
That is absolutely correct!
You’re right, I never realized how really beautiful and stately the building is, without the trees. (Not that I am proposing they do away with them!)