Wall-Breaking Ceremony Opens Radcliffe's $2.5m Renovations

A wall-breaking ceremony Friday afternoon launched a $2.5 million renovation of the Radcliffe Gym, the Agassiz Theatre and the Schlesinger Library.

The project, planned by Boston architect Joan E. Goody and sponsored by the Radcliffe Century Fund, is scheduled for completion by 1982.

Plans include converting the gym's basement into a climate-controlled vault which will house the college archives. Currently, the basement contains Radcliffe's old swimming pool, which has been empty since Blodgett Pool opened two years ago.

The gym's first floor will accommodate offices of the Murray Center, a national organization which collects data concerning women and family issues.

The Murray Center will move out of its current quarters in Buckingham House, making the house available for research projects.

Dance, Dance, Dance

The undergraduate dance center on the second floor will be refurbished, and the top floor will house student offices, including the Radcliffe Choral Society and Education for Action.

Goody said yesterday the Agassiz Theatre's stage will be furnished with new lighting, a new curtain, an intercom system and a scenery shop. She added that plans also include air-conditioning, new dressing rooms, toilets and an after-theater common room.

In addition to the work at the gym and the theater, the basement of the Schlesinger Library will be remodeled to accommodate library archives and a workroom.