Sale of Boston Elevated Power Plant to University Completed

Another definite step towards the ultimate consummation of the House Plan comes with the completion of the sale of the Boston Elevated Company's power plant at the corner of Memorial Drive and Boylston Street. Both interested parties have signed the necessary documents, according to a statement from University Hall, and the property will be transferred to the University on May 1, 1930.

The purchase of this site by Harvard was made in connection with its plans for the ultimate completion of the House Plan. President Lowell's program for subdividing the undergraduate body into small residential groups calls for the erection of a new unit on the land now occupied by the power house. The building is a substation of the Elevated, acting in a reserve capacity, and it also supplies heat by means of a tunnel for the University buildings in the yard and to the north of it as well as across the river to the Business School.

The destruction of the present power house will of course, necessitate the erection of a new plant, for which the University is now drawing up plans. the site of the new structure, which will be on land already held by the University, has not yet been definitely decided upon, but the most probable location is that to the east of the Business School, back from the Charles River.

With completion of this purchase. Harvard now is in possession of practically all the land along the river on both sides.

It has been definitely decided to build the first two Houses, which will be ready for occupancy in the fall of 1930, on the piece of land on the corner of Mill and Plympton Streets and on University property along Memorial Drive below McKinlock Hall. It seems likely that the third new House will be constructed on the site of the power plant just purchased. In view of the late transference of this property to Harvard, this House will probably not be finished until 1931.