WORK UNDER WAY ON DARTMOUTH FIELD HOUSE
Ground has been broken and construction started of the Davis Varsity Field House, the newest addition to the college plant, and one which it is expected will prove of great importance and value to Dartmouth athletics. Primarily the new field house will provide facilities that have heretofore been lacking for the care of visiting teams, but in addition it will give space to Dartmouth Varsity teams, thus relieving Alumni Gymnasium of some of the pressure of increasing demands upon its space. It will also serve as a headquarters for varsity coaches and officials.
The new building will bear the name of its donor, Howard Clark Davis, of the class of 1906. Mr. Davis, whose home is The Acres, Lynnefield, Mass., is a real estate and mine owner with offices in Boston. He has since his enrollment at Dartmouth taken the keenest interest in the College and in its athlete plant, and it was due to his. generosity that the College was last fall enabled to burn the mortgage then outstanding on the gymnasium. His gift not only marks the interest, of an alumnus in the College, but is significant in being the first major gift to Dartmouth from one of the younger alumni.
In its architecture the field house will be of Colonial design to harmonize with the general architectural plan of the College. It will be located south of the west wing of the Alumni Gymnasium and on the axis of the football field. Though it will be directly connected with the gymnasium, space will be left between the two buildings sufficient to allow for the future construction of a wing to the gymnasium which will house much-needed handball and squash tennis courts, and balance the wing in which the Spaulding Pool is located.
The main entrance to the field house will face East Wheelock Street, and another entrance will face Memorial Field. A third entrance, located on the side of the house next to the gymnasium will be used for the receiving and dispatching of freight and express. Access to Alumni Gymnasium will be given by a split stairway which will lead both to the dirt running track on the ground level and to the board track on the Trophy Room floor.
The house will also be connected to Memorial Field by means of a tunnel leading from the basement quarters, reserved for visiting teams, to a point within the fence surrounding the field. Dartmouth varsity teams will enter the field through a new gateway which will be placed in the fence facing the doorway of the field house.
The Davis Varsity Field House has been designed at every point to. insure comfort and Convenience for athletic teams visiting Dartmouth and for the Dartmouth varsity teams as well. Quarters for the teams will be located in the basement and on the first floor, both of which are alike in design, with the central feature of each a large lounge room with beamed ceiling and fireplace. Opening off from the lounge will be locker, shower, and equipment rooms. On the first floor there will also be a fully equipped Medical Room where will be kept the x-ray machine, electric bakers, Alpine Lamp and all accessories necessary for the treatment of injuries. An added feature of each floor will be a drying room, located between the locker rooms and assuring dry clothing for athletes at all times. The equipment room on the main floor will be in active use throughout the college year, the room in the basement providing space for the storage of sports equipment out of season. A dumb waiter will connect the two equipment rooms thus facilitating the handling of sports paraphernalia, and the room on the main floor will be so situated that members of Dartmouth freshman teams will be able to secure equipment by entering from the gymnasium.
The second floor of the field house will be given over to varsity coaches for their headquarters. Directly over the lounge of the lower floor will be situated a lecture room with blackboards. A room in which coaches may sleep will open off from this and give access also to a conference room and sports office where will be maintained the numerous files and records now an indispensable part of a coaching system. As on the lower floors locker and shower rooms are provided, and on this floor too will be located a locker room for officials.
The third floor will contain a dormitory capable of accommodating 40 single beds, and will, in addition, give ample space for storage rooms. This dormitory will be used whenever, in the coaches" judgments, it is thought advisable to withdraw members of the teams from the campus, as has been done in the past on the eve of an important football contest. Likewise it will enable the Athletic Council to take care of visiting minor sport and freshman teams, and thus be particularly valuable in alleviating the crowded conditions that prevail in Hanover when as it frequently happens, a number of visiting teams are in town on the same day.
During the months that have elapsed since Mr. Davis' gift was announced, the most careful study and attention has been given to the planning of the building. The firm of Larson and Wells of Hanover, designers of the building, and the Aberthaw Construction Company of Boston, the contractors, have spent much time in endeavoring to anticipate and provide for every requirement and use which the new building can serve. The care which lias been taken to insure the comfort and convenience of those who will use the new field House is evidenced by the manner in which provision has been made for such details as the arrangement of bubbler drinking fountains at each wash basin throughout the building.
One of the many new features which the field house will embrace is a master system of clocks which, it is expected, will prove to be of great assistance to coaches and officials. A master clock will control all of the clocks within the building. A clock at the tunnel entrance on Memorial Field will also be controlled by the master clock and connected electrically to gongs in the quarters of both teams. This will enable officials to warn the teams as the rest periods draw to a close and to call them to the field without entering their quarters.
The Davis Varsity Field House will be constructed for Mr. Davis by the Aberthaw Construction Company, of Boston. It will be a three-story structure of brick faced with Lebanon Water-Struck brick and trimmed with granite and cast stone. It will be roofed with slate. The interior framing will be of reinforced concrete throughout, with partitions of brick and terra cotta tile. The floors will be of granolithic concrete ground to a smooth finish excepting in the toilet and shower rooms where the walls and floors will be of tile and the partitions of marble. The building will be heated and lighted from the central plant of the College.
It is expected that the. new field house will be completed, equipped, and ready for occupancy at the beginning of the 1926 football season.
Davis Varsity Field House
Howard Clark Davis '06
