here’s a humdinger.
Someone had the boxes of oversized photos out the other day so I started poking around in them a bit. I have limited tolerance for this because all the pictures are in envelopes and it’s just a hassle to get them out and then back in. (I have problems too, you know.)
Anyway, much to my delight some interesting shots turned up. The subject is the library but as usual the good stuff is not what was intended. Actually, in this first image the interesting part smacks you right in the face. Look at those hedges! From this angle it all seems a bit much:
It’s undated but I’d guess it to be sometime in the 1950s based on the football stadium in the background and the presence of the library’s original facade.
The real thrill, though, is provided by the next image: a close up look at the original works of a German High Hat!
I can’t remember off the top of my head when they were changed (’70s? ’80s?) but they look quite different now:
Bonus: Loyal reader Marty Merritt sends these shots from the roof of the Shepherd School where he went to retrieve a kite. Lucky for us he was alert enough to stop and snap a few — they’re nice! Many thanks, Marty.
The central strip of paving from Fondren to Lovett Hall was there by fall 1969, eliminating all the hedges between Fondren’s front door and the sallyport.
I seem to recall the gas-fired lamps being there in 1969 too. Wasn’t the use of natural gas for lighting curtailed / outlawed during the Carter administration?
That German high-hat has an electric bulb. Very nice detail in the photo, you can even see the filament.
I thought I might have seen them in January 1968 when I was interviewing, but it may have been because I had seen the photos.
The big rectangle of hedges in front of Fondren was there in 1957 and gone in 1962, according to historicaerials.com. I can’t tell if the road is still there in the picture, but it was gone by 1962 also, I think. This looks like the configuration of 1957, but if the road is gone it’s a little later.
The early Fondren is much nicer not buried behind the arcade. Any idea why it was built with the arcade only on one side? Did they not believe the “master plan” for the quad?
I’m pretty sure the arcade was added when Rayzor Hall was built. Knowing Rice, they wouldn’t build an arcade until there was a building to connect it to.