Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/487

 LATER BUILDINGS OF THE FIRST QUARTER-CENTURY 427 The Library was there described as giving the University another illustration of English Gothic architecture of the collegiate type, inspired by the examples of King's College Chapel at Cambridge, and Magdalen College and Christ Church at Oxford. The Library was not copied from any particular building, but the features of its design had their origin in the motives of those ancient build- ings and it was wrought in that style of architecture to meet present-day needs. The building was two hundred and sixty- two feet in length and eighty-one feet wide. The towers were one hundred and thirty-five feet in height and had seven floors. Inside the entrance of the West Tower was a bronze tablet given by the class of 1908, bearing the following inscription beneath the University coat-of-arms : TO HONOR THE MEMORY OF WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BORN 1856 DIED 1906 THIS BUILDING WAS ERECTED BY GIFTS OF THE FOUNDER OF THE UNIVERSITY MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ALUMNI, STUDENTS, AND OTHER FRIENDS A.D. 1912 Over the north central entrance the following inscription was carved: IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO The book stacks rested directly on the ground of the deep base- ment and were carried independently of the building, the stacks filling the basement and running up in parts of the building through several floors. It was intended that the first floor should eventually be wholly occupied by stacks, but, with the exception of the East Tower stack, it was temporarily given up to classrooms, an assem- bly room, and a suite of offices for the President of the University. The general administrative offices and working rooms of the Library were on the second floor. The main Reading-Room, one