MEDICAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Contracts have recently been let for erecting the new University Medical School buildings which are to take the place of the old buildings behind the Boston Public Library, and the work upon them has already commenced. The architects, Messrs, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, of Boston, have drawn plans for six structures of very large size, five of which will be grouped about three sides of a court 520 feet long and 215 feet wide. The sixth building, to be used for a power-house, will stand apart from the main group and will furnish the necessary power for lighting, heating, and the minor mechanical requisites of the School. A building for the Dental School was included in the original plans, but this idea has since been abandoned, for the present at least.

The enormous size of the new buildings which, it is expected, will cost considerably over $2,000,000, is due to the extension of the laboratory method of instruction, which demands much more room than formerly. They will be the finest buildings of their kind in the world, being constructed entirely of white Vermont marble, with the exception of their bases, which will be of pink Milford granite. It was originally intended to use limestone and brick, but later developments have resulted in the substitution of the marble and granite, which will greatly improve the appearance of the structures.

On entering the court, the first building on the right will contain the Hygiene and Pharmacological Departments. Opposite it, across the court, will be the Surgical, Bacteriological and Pathological building. The second building on the right will be devoted to Physiology and Physiological Chemistry, while opposite it, the Departments of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology will occupy a fourth structure. At the head of the court will stand the Administration Building, containing the general offices of the School.

The last three of these buildings are the gift of Mr. J. P. Morgan. Mrs. Collis P. Huntington, part of the Rockefeller-endowment, together with $250,000 from a Boston gentleman, who desires that his name be kept unpublished, has provided for the other buildings.

The new Medical School is to stand on a peculiarly shaped lot containing 26 acres, or half the area of Boston Common. This plot has a frontage of 945 feet on Longwood avenue, a similar amount on Francis street, and a large frontage on Huntington avenue.

Work on the five buildings about the court is now well advanced, the foundations of the two near Longwood avenue being entirely completed, the granite bases already in place and some of the marble set up. The foundations of the Administration Building are about half laid, while those of one of the other buildings are nearly three-quarters finished. Excavations are being made for the fifth building, about one-half of this work being now completed. Nearly 250 men are being continually employed and it is expected that the new School will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 1905.

The object of the new Medical School is to have affiliated hospitals nearby. Several institutions to whom the Corporation has already made offers of parts of the large plot belonging to the University, have expressed a desire to avail themselves of these offers. The largest of these institutions is the Brigham Hospital, which intends to build on the property fronting Huntington avenue and Francis street, provided a law-suit now pending is settled in its favor. The Children's Hospital, another large institution, is to build to the west of the Medical School, and plans for its buildings are now being considered. The Samaritan Hospital will occupy a nearby position on Francis street, and the Infants' Hospital, in memory of Thomas Morgan Rotch '01, will be erected on part of the Medical School property. This latter hospital will be smaller than was at first planned, since it has been decided to start the work on the already existing gift of $76,000.