The front side of Lovett Hall is one of those places on campus that seems unchanging but really isn’t. For example, I can’t be the only person who noticed that in yesterday’s picture Lovett and the trustees are standing next to some enormous shrub  that no longer exists:

First, of course, there was nothing there at all and we had to start from scratch. This image from the formal opening in 1912 shows a parking lot with an extremely unpromising looking freshly planted hedge and some pots, which were moved to the other side of the building as soon as the ceremonies concluded:

By 1935 the hedges were thriving and wild looking:

By the time this next undated shot was taken that long hedge had become beautifully manicured. This is one of the very few pictures of Lovett Hall that have ever surprised me, by the way. Such an odd angle! And now in addition to the curved hedge we have a head-on view of six conical shrubs along the front of the building. I’m not sure what they are but the first one on the south side of the sallyport would be the one Lovett and the trustees were standing next to in 1947:

Here’s an aerial from January, 1958 that I found in the HMRC Houston Post photo collection. Click on it and you can see that those six have been joined by at least four more (and probably another four on the north end, don’t you think?):

The obvious next question is when did they disappear. My best guess is that the big changes came at the time the front parking lot was grassed over to become Founder’s Court in 1960. Both the hedge and the shrubs have disappeared, although it looks like some sickly looking littler ones have been planted:

These days it’s bare except for the jasmine ground cover but a couple of years ago they did add a sidewalk across the front, which makes a lot of sense:

Bonus: