Site icon Rice History Corner

The Construction of the Physics Building, 1914

Physics book cover

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:

Exit mobile version