Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/619

Rh

has begun on the new buildings for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and it is expected that they will be occupied two years hence. It will be remembered that after long discussion it was decided that a new site for the institute was required, and after the accession of Dr. Richard C. Maclaurin to the presidency and a gift of $500,000 from Mr. Coleman du Pont, land was purchased in Cambridge fronting the Charles River basin. An anonymous gift of $2,500,000, followed by another gift of $500,000 and an equal sum subscribed by the alumni, has enabled the institute to proceed with the construction. Six months ago, Mr. William W. Bosworth, of New York, a graduate of the institute of the class of '89, was selected as architect, and with the advice of the officers of the school of architecture of the institute and of the professors in the different departments, designs have been drawn up. The ground plan here reproduced shows the extensive scale of the plans, and some indication of the architectural treatment is given in the sketches.

The educational portion is a connected group of buildings of white Indiana limestone, three and four stories in height, clustered about the library, as the central feature. The great dome looks down on the court from a height of nearly two hundred feet. The central court, open to the river front, expands into two large, though minor courts, when near the esplanade. These openings, with the other courts interior to the buildings, ensure the necessary lighting of the rooms.

The pilaster treatment, so effectively