Buildings And Grounds: Patches With Paint

The Department of Buildings and Grounds rakes leaves, glues drawers, and rings bells. The most unceasing job performed by the department, however, is that of maintenance. The variety of this task requires a large staff of skilled workers to keep up the acres of grounds and the many buildings which make up the physical being of the University. At the right--reworking a weatherworn plaque from Leverett House. The department has a whole building of repair shops for such jobs down the river on Memorial Drive.

At left--restoring furniture for re-use in the Houses. Below, a maid cleans rooms in Lowell House. This is the last year that Lowell will be cleaned by human hands; the other Houses will also be awarded "mechanized units" soon afterward.

The department also maintains for the University an extensive tunnel system which houses all of Harvard's power and steam lines. The steam is bought in bulk from the Cambridge Power and Electric Light Company, crossing the river at one point underneath the floor of Week's Bridge. In the upper left photograph, a worker is making one of his periodic inspections of the tunnel along Memorial Drive near Dunster. House. Directly above, a workman is producing the sundry signs that inform the student what he may or may not do. This task is also performed at the Memorial Drive shops.

The department is in charge, too, of new construction around the University. Recently completed was the Grey Herbarium, located near the Peabody Museum. Construction has also begun on a new addition to the observatory on Garden Street: shown at the left is the preparations being made for laying foundations.

The department handles other diverse jobs. It runs the University telephone service, and it delivers the Departmental, mail, which is handled through a University Post Office near the gate at Wigglesworth. One of the more unusual tasks that is under Buildings and Grounds is the ringing of the bell in Memorial Church for one minute every hour. And though there are complaints at times about the noise, there are always anxious calls on the rare instances when the bell has failed to ring.

The Director of Buildings and Grounds is Mr. I. B. Parkhurst; in charge of Maintenance is Mr. C. A. Roberts.