Trustees Authorize New Ice Arena-Auditorium

The Dartmouth Trustees at their January meeting gave approval to going ahead with construction of a new $3.75-million, multi-purpose ice arena and auditorium. The arena was one of the components of the Third Century Fund, which is providing $1-million toward its cost, but construction has been held up pending a revision of plans and the raising of additional funds, which has now been accomplished.

Work on the arena will begin this spring and will require about two years for completion. Designed by Pier Luigi Nervi, the world-famous Italian architect-engineer who also designed the Leverone Field House at Dartmouth, the facility will seat approximately 3800 persons at hockey and basketball games and, with the addition of seats on the floor, will have a capacity of 5300.

Although somewhat smaller in its dimensions, it will be a companion piece to Leverone Field House, utilizing the same arching roof of precast reinforced concrete in a web design employed by Nervi to cover more than two acres of track and practice space within the field house. The new arena will be located on Chase Field across South Park Street from the field house but will be behind the residential structures fronting on the street. A parking area for 350 cars will adjoin the arena to the south.

The arena-auditorium will take over the functions of the outmoded Davis Hockey Rink, built in 1929 and renovated in 1953 when artificial ice was added. President Kemeny has announced that the Davis Rink will remain in operation for community use for one year after the completion of the new arena in order to ascertain whether there would be enough demand to cover the old rink's maintenance cost, which is about $40,000 a year.

The arena-auditorium will contain three levels, with a standard-sized hockey rink surface, 200 by 85 feet, situated 18 feet below grade like the pit of an amphitheater, surrounded by 3800 seats in oval tiers. The rink surface is designed to accommodate a portable basketball floor, providing an alternate site to Alumni Gymnasium where Dartmouth now plays its games.

Acoustics will permit the building to serve also as a site for convocations or other such events, for pop and rock concerts, and, in inclement weather, as an alternate site for commencements, usually held on the lawn in front of Baker Library.

A second, or intermediate, level will include separate varsity and freshman dressing rooms and a visiting team dressing room, plus two more dressing rooms oriented toward the outside so that for the first time teams customarily using Chase Field for practice and games will have shower and other facilities there.

The structure also will include training rooms, offices for coaches, skate sharpening facilities, a lounge, a public dressing area for youth and other community ice activities, storage and work areas, and provisions for concessions and rest rooms at both ends of the building.

The major reason for the delay in adding the arena to the College plant was the decision to build a multi-purpose structure rather than just a hockey facility, and that plus rising costs lifted the cost from an estimated $1.5-million to the present $3.75-million. The latter sum has been put together from the following sources:

From the Third Century Fund, approximately $1-million in gifts made specifically for a hockey arena, including $800,000 from the late Rupert C. Thompson Jr. '28, of Providence, R. 1., a former Trustee of the College, chairman of the Third Century Fund campaign until his illness and death on June 23, 1970, and former chairman of Textron, Inc.

Funds contributed after the Third Century Fund drive and raised in a special effort led by William H. Morton '32, a Dartmouth Trustee who is president of the American Express Company, and Carleton Blunt '26, prominent Chicago and Florida attorney, totaling approximately $1,7-million;

Funds amounting to about $325,000 realized as appreciation in the principal of an earlier gift from the late Nathaniel Leverone '06, Chicago industrialist and philanthropist, for the construction of the Leverone Field House;

And approximately $725,000 from the $3-million left to Dartmouth College through trusts written by Mr. and Mrs. Leverone during their lifetimes and made available for distribution following the death of Mrs. Leverone last fall, three and a half years after the death of her husband.

It is hoped that as certain anticipated gifts earmarked for construction of the arena-auditorium are received, funds taken from the Leverone bequest for that purpose could be restored to an endowment to finance the annual maintenance of Leverone Field House.

To coordinate the multiple uses of the arena-auditorium. President Kemeny will appoint an advisory committee of college officers to serve under the chairmanship of the director of athletics, Seaver Peters '54.

"This is clearly one of the most exciting projects in the history of athletics at Dartmouth," Mr. Peters said. "It gives us a first-rate facility commensurate with Dartmouth's great hockey tradition. In addition, the new arena means a great deal to our hockey and skating programs beyond the intercollegiate level, and adds new dimensions to our basketball program."

Model of Nervi-designed ice arena shows harmony with Leverone Field House.