Can All the King's Horses and Men Put Allston Burr Together Again?

Allston Burr Lecture Hall, the modern, grey-brick edifice on Prescott Street, is suffering from the heat. The South face of the lecture hall has sustained two major expansion cracks caused by materials which contract during the winter and expand during the summer.

A representative of the construction company repairing the building attributed the cracks to the choice of materials. "This glazed brick is fine in Florida or California, but its crazy to use it in this climate," he said. The red bricks can "breathe," he explained, and improve with age. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if the trouble went on indefinitely," he continued. Glazed bricks, he added, cost 35 cents; about four times as much as red bricks.

No Danger

Cecil A. Roberts, director of Buildings and Grounds, said yesterday that the damage presented absolutely no danger, and that "it is being repaired for appearance and to keep the rain out." The present repairs are also an attempt to eliminate the possibility of new ruptures.

But looks are deceiving. The damage appears to be substantial and even frightening to the untrained eye, and workmen have to tear the walls down to the level where the bricks are bulging and cracked. Only one of the faults has been corected, so far, but one of the workmen said that his company was not going to work on the other crack because "Harvard doesn't have enough money."

Roberts denied the report and said that whatever repairs are necessary will be made, but declined to make an estimate as to how much money would be required to complete the job.

Burr was built in 1951 by the Fuller Construction Company and designed by Joan Paul de Leone of Shepley, Richardson, and Abbot who will also design the tenth House.

Representatives of both the designer and construction company were unavailable for comment yesterday.