St Ignatius College - Ignatian Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

Page 10 text:

The New Faculty Building Georf-'e E. Devine 23. ri 7 O some educational institutions a new building is a mere matter of course. Progress in material appoint- ments,--in buildings, in scientific equipments, in libra- ries, in athletic amphitheatres, in campus extension and im- proveinent, and so on through all the appurtenances of col- lege life,-is a mere matter of regular routine. Witli St. Ignatius College it is different. Though the oldest institu- tion of higher learning in San Francisco, with a proud reo- ord of achievement in the moral and intellectual order, she is poor in the material things of this earth, and like the poor child who has received what to the children of the rich would be an insignificant toy, she rejoices in comparatively small things and perhaps, with a little more enthusiasm than her more fortunate sisters in the college world. Content to keep the even tenor of her way she is happy even in the thought of her continued existence during years of trial and sacrifice and there is something of rapture in the happiness which she experiences in the slightest indication of material growth and expansion. 'l'o her the new Faculty Building means more than mere growthg it marks a distinct epoch in her history, and it opens vistas of future success that are as encouraging as they are full of golden promises. Conscious ever that the building does not make the college, she is not unmindful of the fact that the work of education is assisted by outward respectability and that it is, of its nature, worthy of being carried on in classic halls and in an atmosphere of architectural beauty and attractiveness. That the new Faculty Building is a very gem of architect- ure no one who has seen it will deny. It resembles a long stretch of the brown-fronted dwellings on Fifth Avenue, New York, or recalls an entire block of the Corso in Rome, with its extending balconies and broad windows and evi-

Page 9 text:

To I-Ier I Love Best HERE'S a woman I Iove beyond tongue could declare, Slwe is all tI'1e wide world to meg I'Ier gentle smile vanished, tliis land were a void From wliose gloom I would eagerly Hee. Yet ber Summer day's past and tlwe Autumn of life Is beginning to silver I'ier I'iair And to dim tI1at briglwt vision wlmose lustre serene With Hesperus once miglit compare. Oli! I Icnow tI'1ere are dames far more youtbful and with beauty and riclies galore, Igrand, Bejewelled, brocaded, as stately as queens--- You may find tliem on every sI1ore. As they all pass before me in brilliant array, Each in grandeur surpassing tI1e other, Not one---no, not all ta'en togetlier could Hll The place of my own darling MOTHER. JOHN WALSHE

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NEW FACULTY BUILDING 9 dences of solidity. To describe it is difficult., to describe it alone without reference to its magnificent setting,4t.hc Church of St. lgnatius, which is an accomplished reality and the College which is a future possibility,-would be to give but an incomplete picture of the old historic institution that began amid the sand hills of what is now Market Street and that is destined to adorn lgnatian Heights. The Faculty Building is only a part of an interesting group of buildings, that are or are to be, and though an important part,-it seems to baffle description. There it is, one might say, Mhehold it in its severe monastic simplicity, admire it as a generous gift to St. Ignatius Church and College, recognize in it an admirable and faithful exemplification of the archi- tecture of the Italian Renaissance, but do not expect an elab- orate description of what is, in itself, remarkable for noth- ing inore than its unobtruding grandeur and humble use- fulness. We must, therefore, View the entire institution to niider- stand the significance of this particular part and to view it to advantage we shall take our stand on one of the city 's many hills. Buena Vista, as it is appropriately called, rises in wooded grandeur in the very heart of the city. From its summit we may command a wonderful panoramic view. lie- ginning at the southeast we can follow the almost uninter- rupted line of the bay shore. The World argosies, the grey ships of war, the hurrying ferryboats with their long white wake of seething foam, out beyond the smoking chimneys of industry and the rugged tops of the sturdy warehouses whence the treasures of fruitful California are sent forth to the world,-all these unite to give one an impression of tht- business-like spirit of the great metropolis of the Wfest. Tn front of us lies the main thoroughfare of the city, with tiny specks of mortals hurrying to and fro on pleasure or on business. Beyond this scene of bustling activity we gaze with pride upon the tower of the Ferry Building. which