ARCHITECTURAL SCHOOL WILL SEE CHANGES IN COURSES AND PERSONNEL

The recent appointment of Professor G. H. Edgell as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Chairman of the School of Architecture, has called attention to a number of changes to be made in the School. Earlier in the year the appointment of Professor Jean Jacques Haffner as Professor of Architectural Design had been announced. Professor Haffner, a graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and holder of the much coveted Prix de Rome, commenced to teach here last January. He will take charge of the courses in design and will bring to Harvard the instruction, criticism, and inspiration that our students in the past have so often had to seek abroad. Professor Humphreys; himself a fellow student with Professor Haffner in Paris, will continue his work in the teaching of design, taking complete charge of the introductory course and co-operating with Professor Haffner in the advanced courses in the subject. Professor Edgell will take charge of the two half-courses in the History of Mediaeval and of Renaissance Architecture. At the same time, he will continue a part of his work in the department of Fine Arts, giving the introductory course in the History of Modern Art and a half-course in Italian Painting. The course in Ancient Architecture, temporarily reduced from a whole to a half-course, will be given by Professor G. H. Chase, Chairman of the Division of Fine Arts and John E. Hudson, Professor of Classical Archaeology. As a practical archaeologist, experienced excavator, and well-known teacher of the Classics, he is peculiarly fitted for the exposition and interpretation of Classical Architecture.

These changes involve the disappearance of a number of familiar names in the School. Professors Edgell and Chase take over the courses previously given by Mr. C. Howard Walker, whose lectures have long been a source of inspiration to the Harvard students of Architecture. Mr. Walker's extensive practice will consume his time, but it is hoped and expected that means will be found by which he will not entirely lose connection with the School. Another loss will be that of Mr. William C. Perry, '05, for several years part time instructor in Design. He very competently filled the vacancy left when Professor Duquesne went to France at the outbreak of the War. He has done this work at considerable sacrifice of his practice and his help has been greatly appreciated by the staff. Professor Haffner now takes his place, but he will still follow the work of the School with interest and it is hoped that he may be called in again to help as the growth of the School requires.

Continued Cooperation with M. I. T.

The School will continue the arrangement with the Institute of Technology, whereby for several years the same problems in design have been worked out in both schools, and a combined jury from the two staffs and from practicing members of the profession, judges the drawings and determines the grades. The evening class for draughtsmen in the Boston Architectural Club also joins in these combined problems. Professor Ferran, recently appointed to the Institute staff, is also a graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and a winner of the Prix de Rome. He is also a close personal friend of Professor Haffner. The arrangement of joint problems will give Boston something of the advantage which the Ecole des Beaux-Arts has so long enjoyed, that of rival ateliers in the same locality, working on the same problems, and with the great advantage to the instructors as well as to the students of an opportunity to see how other groups have solved the problem common to all. The cordial personal relations between Professors Haffner and Ferran, as well as between other members of the staffs in Harvard and Technology, insure a rivalry as friendly as it will be keen and helpful. No other city in the country has such an opportunity, and in fact, no other schools in this country have winners of the Prix de Rome to teach design.

Professor Killam will continue his teaching in Architectural Construction, Mr. H. A. Frost in Graphics, Messrs. H. B. Warren and H. D. Murphy in Free-hand Drawing, and Mr. John Wilson in Modelling. Mr. Kenneth Conant will assist in the courses in the History of Architecture taking complete charge of the drawing in these courses, and grounding the men in the vocabulary of Architecture, in connection with the historical development of the styles.

Movement for Five-Year Course

The School has been on a graduate basis since 1906, and was the first so developed. Within two or three years, Princeton has followed, and there is a very general movement throughout the country to require more than four years for the bachelor's degree in Architecture. This is being accomplished in some schools by establishing a five-year curriculum and in others by requiring two years of academic work preceding entrance to the architectural department. The feeling in the profession is that this additional time should not all be given to professional studies, but that it should allow the student more time for his liberal studies, than has been possible when those and the professional work were crowded into four years, leaving only about the equivalent of one year for the former. The Harvard School is thus seen to be well in advance, and moving in the direction which the Profession has come to recognize is the right one. Starting with small numbers at its inception, it grew steadily up to 1914, when the departure of Professor Duquesne and the entrance of our own students into war work, commenced to reduce the numbers until they reached a minimum at the beginning of the academic year of 1918. Since that time the growth has been steady and the enrollment this year is the largest in the history of the school, an increase of one-third over last year. There is every reason to think that the increase will continue, and especially the presence of Professor Haffner should attract larger numbers in the future