DUNSTER HOUSE TOWER

In the welter of comment, criticism and suggestion which has attended the definite announcement of the details of the House Plan, the actual physical structures of the two new Houses have naturally not come in for much attention, due to the greater importance of the mechanics and personnel of their organization.

But nearly all of those who have given any thought to the architectural details of Dunster House have been struck by the fact that the proposed tower is hardly in harmony with the main portion of the building. It is too reminiscent of the Gothic to have such a close relationship with a building of Georgian type. Those tower in Oxford which is placed on a building of pure Gothic, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, cannot fail to realize the close relationship between the two. The general impression conveyed by the tower is that of some exotic ornament, grafted onto a simple New England colonial base. The success which the same architects achieved in the plan for the tower of Lowell House only serves to bring this discrepancy into greater relief.

Not only have those of the student body who have been questioned on the subject disapproved of the plan for the new tower, but authorities in the subject of architecture, while not emphatic in their disagreement with the architects, believe that some simpler and smaller tower would be more in keeping with the rest of the new building. When the general sentiment about the new tower is so well defined, it would be a pity to have it built along its present lines without some consideration of a possible change. Certainly with the house hardly more than four feet above the ground there is ample time left for revision.