New boat house under construction

Construction began in August on a new 11,000-square foot boat house, the next major construction project in the upgrading of the College's athletic facilities. The new boat house will include a ground floor storage area for rowing shells and a second-story lounge, locker room, and of- fice space for coaches. It is being built beside the College's aging boat shed, on the bank of the Connecticut River just north of Ledyard Bridge. The increased storage capacity will alleviate severe restrictions on undergraduates' participation in the rowing program, and the lounge and an outside deck will offer a view of the finish line.

The new boat house will make Dartmouth's rowing facility fully competitive with those of other major institutions in New England. Athletic Director Ted Leland noted that rowing is now the most popular intercollegiate sport at Dartmouth in terms of numbers of undergraduates trying out for the teams. The facility will also benefit rowing at the national level, according to Michael Heitner '60, a former Dartmouth coxswain, who said the College's rowing facilities are frequently used for training U.S. national and Olympic teams.

The Friends of Dartmouth Rowing have been instrumental in the success of fundraising for the project. The total cost for the project is $1.1 million, and funding for the first phase construction of the storage shed and the exterior of the second story at a cost of $800,000 was complete by the time construction began.

The architect's model of the planned new boathouse, designed by the Hanover firm of Banwell, White, Arnold, and Hemberger, showsthe lower storage area and upper viewing area.