Seattle University - Aegis Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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Lower Building

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THE ECHO The New Site SITUATED on a height directly opposite the University of Washington, with a sheet of calm water between, commanding a sweeping view of two lakes and two mountain ranges and the northeastern portion of Seattle, is the Seattle College of today, the nucleus of the Seattle College of the future. Far removed from the hot, dusty, traffic-burdened center of the city where it once stood, it is placed in an ideal spot which affords ample room for expansion. The development of the present site, which comprises seven acres, was begun by Dr. Schmidt in 1905, when he founded Adelphia College. When his plans failed to materialize, owing to the war times, he was forced to sell. Mr. T. C. McHugh, always a friend of Jesuit education, taking advantage of the situation, purchased the site and buildings and presented them to the Province for the use of Seattle College. When the place was taken over in 1919, it was in a depreciated condition. The buildings had not been used or taken care of for some time and were hidden from view by irregular mounds of dirt, shaggy trees and rotting brush. The renovation and improvement of the buildings was first in order. A thorough cleaning, new systems of sanitation, heating and ventilation and a complete remodeling of the classrooms, was accomplished during the summer months. In 1 920 the grounds were leveled. The blasting and pulling of stumps and large rocks and the incessant noise of a steam shovel disturbed studies for a month or more, but the little trouble caused, was amply repaid by the gratifying results. After cutting down and filling in, an athletic field three hundred and twenty feet by two hundred and thirty feet, replaced the hills, trees and brush. Each succeeding year has seen new improvements to both buildings and grounds. More classrooms have been made, a new chemistry and physics laboratory has been added and all old equipment has been replaced by modern. The main building pictured on the opposite page comprises three stories and a basement. In the basement is a commodious lunch room, the students co-operative store, the ath- 7

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THE ECHO letic store room, dressing rooms and lockers, the heating plant, the book store, showers and lavatories. On the first floor are six class rooms, the library and reading room and two offices. One class room, the auditorium, gymnasium and Chapel are on the second floor. The third floor contains the new laboratories. the Annual and Palestra editorial rooms and the spacious. well stocked museum. The lower building, used almost entirely by the faculty, contains forty-five rooms. On the second, third and fourth floors are the Fathers’ private rooms, chapel, parlors, library, recreation room. etc. On the first floor are the kitchen, heating plant and dining rooms. Both buildings are well built and meant to last. They are convenient and modern in their appointments and constructed so as to give the maximum of service. Between the two buildings and dividing the campus, runs the Interlaken Boulevard, probably Seattle’s most beautiful drive. The location of the College and the manner in which it is built adds greatly to the beauty of the drive and when anticipated improvements are completed it will be one of the sights worth seeing. Only four of the seven acres are now in use. There is room on the grounds, should the demand warrant it, for two more buildings, several tennis and handball courts and a good sized stadium, all without touching the present athletic field. T he position of the College is ideal for expansion and should it some day rise to greater heights, a new place would not have to be found. The new site has many advantages not afforded in the old place at Broadway and Madison. The surroundings are far more pleasant and far better adapted to the location of a school. The student is not hampered by the distracting sounds of heavy traffic and he finds a cool, shady place to loiter during the recreation periods. The scenery too. unequaled any place in the city, adds to the advantages of the college. The acquisition of this location gave the College the needed momentum to push it forward. It has advanced surprisingly in the last three years and bids fair to go ahead, at a steady pace, for a good many years to come. 9