One of my favorite things in the book of Physics Building construction photos that I ran across last week was this nice image of some shiny new lab space.
Something about it sent me back looking for the only other picture I can recall of interior lab space in this building. This is one of the photos from the Norman Ricker, ’16, ’17, ’20, collection. It’s undated but it has to have been taken between 1914 and 1920, when Ricker left Rice.
Same room? I don’t think so. Look at how different the windows are. First thing I did was go and check the 1915 General Announcements to see how many student labs were in the building. A lot, it turns out, and very well equipped ones at that:
The main building contains four large students’ laboratories, two lecture rooms equipped for giving illustrated lectures, two classrooms, a library, and administrative offices. . . . Elevators for moving heavy apparatus are provided, and all laboratories, lecture rooms, and research rooms are equipped with individual service. for the students, of gas, water, steam, compressed air, vacuum, and both direct and alternating currents of electricity.
So these could easily be two different rooms. However, shamefully, I’m forced to admit that I don’t know where these spaces are and I’m a little confused by the windows in the second picture. Zoom in on that image and you can see part of another building out the windows. That can be nothing but either the Administration Building or the amphitheater. So which is it? I feel like it must be Lovett but I’m not sure.
Bonus: