Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

Page 15 text:

ile of a colle e. T will still be ingperfeWOh Cl COME: g together with the arch: stions for the plans. he expressmg thoughts and idea :he creating of a new sourtf happiness. They worked; rs conning all collegiateheh: BSpecially. As a reshlt oh 1.1 t Arts Building wae land 11h tted bv the Masochr ct. 'ths? 12, a second ceremony,nerv saw the laying of the cor . l1; . n. re the materialsfcgiizrd l ' 6 style . 1? er lib andth oundatlogzd km 1 mm lllcmemth esent se , rlutufeob; e thousan ksshouldf; P11 un ole With later additions. T?- re l to be found on some c012 of administration buildings d Library and science build: t W. T. Foster, Dr. T.LE1 deepened. They became: a group of bricklayers were set to constructing the East Side Library, as practice work preparatory to starting the structures here. The bricks are laid in English fashion, lengthwise and cross- wise in alternating rows. Stone and brick are peculiarly adaptible materials. As used in the Arts Building, they succeed in making it expressive of strong and permanent ideals; but as used in the Dormitory, they give a sense of domesticity, and of comfort and security. The majority of students, though not having the trained eye of an architect to recognize the fifty details of architectural deco- ration to be found here, hnd inspiration and inexplainable joy in discovering them. They are delighted, for instance, when they awake, one day, to a realization of why the main entrance has always impressed them with a feeling of its stately completeness. They discover for the first time the rectangles 0f Heurs-de-lis, symbolizing the quest of France after beauty and truth, and of conventionalized Richmond roses, symbolic of the ideals of Reed, which decorate the panelling around the archway. And they hnd that that same rose design forms the support for the pendant post on either side of the archway, that two large trefoils ta muCh-used Gothic designh fill the spandrels, 0r triangular spaces left by the arch, which is of modified Tudor, that two kingly lions, each With a paw on an open book, lie above the posts on a ledge beneath the oriel, or bay window, that the corbels sup- porting the oriel are covered with an overlapping leaf design, that the architrave between the pendant posts is completed with end seals in blank, awaiting the permanent name of the Arts and Science building. Evidences, like this latter, of careful planning for the future development of the college and the growth of tradition, are to be found scattered everywhere. Such are the blank rectangular slabs over the Dormitory doors, and the numerous uncarved seals and incomplete decorations. Noticeable elaborations on the oriels of the Arts building are the carved seals in the panels of the windows. There are ten oriel or bay windows in all, some having seven seals, others having five. The seals, in some places simplified from the original for Page Thirteen

Page 14 text:

Page Twelve wrought in local spirit, do not'mar the general impress10n 9f stately medieval grace. In the exterior archrtecturelong hori- zontal lines were emphasized, to contrast pleasmgly Wlth the tall Douglas firs, native to the campus. . The sense of harmony and fitness, so noteworthy 1n the two structures already built, is due not only to the sklll 9f the archi- tects, but also to the very spirit in which the buildings were planned and wrought. Drafts for the future college campus were completed before a single foot of the ground was dug. Ten or twenty years is but a day in the life of a college. Two hundred years from now these buildings will still be in perfect condition and will form a harmonious whole with later additions. There will be no jumble of architecture tto be found on some college groundsl when the quadrangles of administration buildings and of dormitories, of the Chapel and Library and science buildings and halls, are added. President W. T. Foster, Dr. T. L. Eliot and his fellow trustees, working together with the architect, Mr. Doyle, gave constant suggestions for the plans. As the work continued, their interest deepened. They became en- thusiastic at the possibilities of expressing thoughts and ideas in stone and wood. Theirs was the creating of a new source of learning, a source of truth and happiness. They worked per- sistently for two and a half years conning all collegiate fields in England and America, Oxford especially. As a result of their endeavor, the corner stone of the Arts Building was laid May 11, 1912, the ceremony being conducted by the Masonic Order. Not quite a month later, on June 8, 1912, a second ceremony, this time conducted by the Student Body, saw the laying of the corner stone of the Dormitory. Grey stone and red brick were the materials chosen. Their combination was patterned after the style of Oxford. The materials were the finest of their kind, and the foundations were builded to last forever. The present seniors will remember Dr. Fosterls frequent reference to the thousand-year future of Reed College. He it was who first insisted that the bricks should be laid 1n an unusually permanent and perfect way; to accomplish which, 31a

Page 16 text:

the sake of the stone cutters, but of course retaining the principal 'motive of the original, represent the leading uhiversmes and colleges. Those of the oldest colleges in the Umted States are laced over the main south entrance, and include, from' east to West, Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Pennsylvania. The east half of the building carries seals from the eastern halls of learningf-the end including a group of womens colleges,- thewestern half, seals of the western colleges. The seal of Reed College is to be found on the west side of the oriel above the Chapel door. Ht also forms a part of the cornice between House C and D on the facade of the dormitory, and of the decoration over the Sally Port archQ Parts of the seal have been convention- alized for this use as a mural decoration.- It may be of interest to note the sources considered before the final charge, or design of the seal, was completed. The coat-of- arms of Washington University, St. Louis, Dr. T. L. Eliot,s Alma Mater, now placed as a seal on a t the left hand side of the Chapel I platform, was one of the many that were Considered as a source for ideas. The John Adams, crest, also considered for possible parts to complete the Reed College Seal, is now the coat-of-arms used for the Reed College Library book plate. Amanda Wood Reed, who with her husband, Simeon G. Reed, endowed the college, was related to the Adams fam- ily. Only minor details were adopted from the shields of John Adams and of Washing- ton University, the dominant note, the griH-in, or griHon, be- ing obtained from the coat-of Page Fourteen