Professor Says Mem Hall Unsuitable for Monument

Although the University is obligated to keep alive a memorial to the Civil War dead, "Memorial Hall has deteriorated to such an extent that it can no longer be considered a fitting memorial," Walter F. Bogner, professor of Architecture, told the CRIMSON yesterday.

According to Bogner, "A new memorial should be created such that the old Memorial Hall will be kept alive in spirit." He felt that a skillful architect could retain the memorial quality which the donors of the building originally requested and at the same time erect a new structure which would be adaptable to the pressing present-day needs of the University.

Since the building occupies the most central site in the Harvard area, any new building there should be one of the most imfortant University structures, Bogner said. He added that the location for a Harvard-Radcliffe theatre as proposed by the Visual Arts Committee last spring--the area adjacent to Fogg Museum--was "totally inadequate and there would be no better location for such a building as on the Memorial Hall triangle."

"The major difficulty with Memorial Hall is that it is so poorly equipped and illumnied and so shapeless that it is unsuitable for modern use. Its heating and lighting are outmoded so that the structure can't be used advantageously for any function," Bogner explained.

From an architectural viewpoint, he explained that Memorial Hall, constructed in 1878 at a cost of $370,000, represented an architectural period which "cannot be highly regarded for its appeal in design."

At the time of the building's construction the Corporation voted it "the most valuable gift which the University has ever received, in respect alike to cost, daily usefulness and moral significance."

Bogner feels, however, that at the present time, Memorial Hall, "because of its dilapitated condition, is of no service and occupies land which is far too precious to be wasted." He added that "It would seem appropriate that the University offer the land to a new use and a new structure which might become a more fitting memorial to Harvard's role in the Civil War."