Category Archives: Baker Library

About the Baker Memorial Library, designed by Jens Fredrick Larson and completed in 1928.

DADA exhibit, other news

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  • DADA (Dartmouth Alumni in Design and Architecture) is having its third alumni architecture exhibit June 6 through 16 in the Nearburg Arts Forum in the Black Family Visual Arts Center (via Sue).
  • The Big Green Alert Blog reports that the Town has approved the zoning amendments that will allow a new video scoreboard at Memorial Field (a topic about which alumni are fairly passionate, judging from the comments on a post at this blog). The Zoning Board was to have considered a request for a Special Exception to replace the existing scoreboard at Scully-Fahey Field in its hearing on May 30 (ZBA Agenda).
  • The Rauner Library Blog has a post about old postcards depicting the campus.
  • The Dartmouth published a series of three articles on architecture last month. First, “Despite lack of major, architecture offerings abound” suggests again how interesting a history of the somewhat hidden world of design education at Dartmouth would be; second, “Recent campus buildings depart from New England tradition” focuses on post-1984 work; and third, “College’s early buildings share traditional aesthetic” covers prewar buildings (thanks to Amanda for the quotes).
  • Dartmouth Now article (and Flickr set) on the Life Sciences Greenhouse atop the Life Sciences Center.
  • The Planner has photos of the new offices of Dartmouth Computing in Baker, the new deans’ offices (Student Academic Support Services) in Carson, in a space formerly occupied by the Computer Store (Planner’s Blog post), and the new location of the Computer Store in McNutt. This confusing shuffle was mentioned on this blog during April. Any word on the fate of the old Kiewit space outside the Tower Room?
  • The Planner also has photos of 113 Wilder, the Physics Department’s office and lounge suite.

From Kiewit to…

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Correct me in the comments if I’m wrong, but after Dartmouth demolished Kiewit, it gave Computing Services an office in Baker Library, outside the Tower Room:


In 2011, however, the college apparently gave that space to the undergraduate deans and shunted Computing Services to the first floor of Berry.

Now the deans have joined Computing Services in the first floor of Berry (The Dartmouth, see floorplan pdf), and the Computer Store has been displaced to the basement of McNutt (Dartbeat).

Orozco Murals a National Historic Landmark

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A week ago, the Orozco Frescoes in Baker’s Reserve Corridor were designated as a National Historic Landmark (National Park Service, The Dartmouth, Dartmouth Now, NHPR). The nomination was noted here last November. The Planner’s Blog has some information on the effort.

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Update 05.03.2013: An article from The Dartmouth.

Orozco Frescoes nominated for National Historic Landmark designation

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Stephanie McFeeters, “College is the only Ivy not spending to lobby,” The Dartmouth (9 November 2012):

For example, when the Orozco murals in Baker Library were nominated to be a National Historic Landmark, Austin said she contacted Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., to ask if she would advocate on the College’s behalf to the National Park Service.

Sure enough, the nomination for The Epic of American Civilization Murals in Baker Library shows up on a list of draft nominations to NHL status, with the nomination form (pdf) prepared by Park Service historians Roger Reed and Alexandra Lord. The nomination is part of the Park Service’s American Latino Heritage Initiative.

The National Historic Landmark program is older than the National Register of Historic Places. Landmark nominations are made by the Park Service itself rather than by private parties and are much less common than National Register listings. Every Landmark is automatically listed on the National Register.

Until now, Dartmouth has not been particularly interested in these designations, and no college-owned building has been listed on the National Register. The private Sphinx Tomb is the only building listed in Hanover.

The Manton Foundation funded the recent renovation of the Reserve Corridor, where the murals are located, and the room has been renamed the Orozco Room (Dartmouth Now, The Dartmouth).

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[Update 11.11.2012: Last paragraph added.]

The West End and other topics

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  • Dartmouth Now has a post on the 75th anniversary of the Appalachian Trail, and The Dartmouth has an article.
  • The old through-truss bridge over the Connecticut at Lebanon is being replaced by the state highway department. The old and new bridges appear side-by-side in the Bing aerial.
  • The Hood has a page on the installation of the Kelly sculpture.
  • With little fanfare, the college/town-owned Hanover Water Company has been renamed the Trescott Water Company. Find some info at the Hanover Conservancy.
  • A beer garden at the Hop? (Newhampshire.com).
  • The owner of Jesse’s Restaurant on Route 120 is building a medical office building nearby (Valley News). Medical office buildings are popular: DHMC’s Heater Road Building had planning approval as private development when the hospital took over the project (DHMC has video about the architect and builder, several renderings, and other info).
  • Baker Library’s Reserve Corridor, now known as the Orozco Room, is being refurbished.
  • An old neighborhood in Hanover has developed what seems to be a new name, the West End. As far as one can tell from the web, this neighborhood occupies most of Hanover’s southwestern quarter, West of Main and south of Wheelock. The town is considering whether to designate the West End as a Heritage District (Planning Board minutes Jan. 24, 2012 pdf).
  • The college built a new chilled water plant next to the VAC (Bond info pdf, A-9).
  • Ore Koren ’12 created Dartmouth 1820s-1850s, an interesting collection documenting student life during the early nineteenth century.

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[Update 11.17.2012: Broken link to Newhampshire.com removed; broken links to planning minutes and bond report fixed.]

Baker and Berry

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I. King Arthur Café.

Several weeks ago, this post was set to mention Norwich’s King Arthur Flour with a link to this Google blog post about the company. Since then, Google’s promotion of the article has become controversial. Let’s hope this ends up boosting business for King Arthur, which runs the café located off the catalogue room in Baker Library (King Arthur blog, The Dartmouth, Dartbeat).

II. Potential Baker alterations.

The Dartmouth reports that the Undergraduate Deans Office moved out of Parkhurst and into the library over the summer. The new offices appear to be temporary, with a large suite in Baker or elsewhere in the works:

These changes follow announcements made by College President Jim Yong Kim in May 2010 that the College would implement a new student advising structure beginning Fall 2011. The revamped advising structure would be modeled after a hospital triage system centralizing all relevant offices in one location where students could have their advising needs diagnosed, he said.

The deans are in Baker temporarily and will announce a new location in the spring (The Dartmouth).

III. The weathervane and the reference desk.

Ask Dartmouth has a post on Baker Tower’s weather vane. The big Berry reference desk recently was replaced with a new one of a different design (The Dartmouth).

IV. Comparing Baker and Berry.

VSBA designed major additions to two Larson buildings at Dartmouth. The first was the Thayer School addition, which was fairly popular and well-regarded when it opened. The Trustees praised it, probably thinking of the front part:



Thayer School addition, front (eastern) portion (Google Street View).

But the Thayer School addition also had a large rear component, a basic laboratory loft:



Thayer School addition, rear (western) portion (Google Street View).

The firm’s second major project was the Berry Library and Carson Hall addition to the Baker Library complex. Expected to carry over the classical pavilion from the front of the Thayer project, the firm instead replicated the loft from the rear:



Berry Library, front (north) facade (Google Street View).

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[Update 11.17.2012: Broken links to VSBA and Dartbeat fixed.]

The Catalogue Room with coffee

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The Dartmouth reports on the progress of the works in Baker Library. Changes to the Catalogue Room or Main Hall itself appear to be minimal.

The new coffee shop is going into a room located behind and to the right (east) of the main desk, site of the short-lived News Center. A map (pdf) shows this room alongside the stacks.

Baker’s display cases, separated by pilasters, line one side of the wall depicted at the bottom of the drawing that accompanies the article in The Dartmouth.

Robert A.M. Stern Architects to renovate Baker’s Catalogue Room

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Robert A.M. Stern Architects, designers of Moore Hall, are designing a renovation of the Catalogue Room or Main Hall in Baker Library, The Dartmouth reports (see prior post on the name for the project; a follow-up article in The Dartmouth).

The project will place comfortable seating in the long hall, which has been devoid of the ranks of wooden card catalog cabinets for several years. A coffee bar will be installed in the east end of the hall.

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[Update 03.31.2013: Broken link to Moore Hall replaced, broken link to fundraising page on Catalogue Room removed.]
[Update 01.22.2011: Link to follow-up article added.]

The Carnival Centennial

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The Dartmouth Winter Carnival turns 100 years old in 2011 (Yankee Magazine has an article and slideshow, and Dartmouth Now has an article with video). A new book celebrates Carnival posters (see Rauner Blog). Accompanying the book is an exhibit in Baker (news item, Alumni Magazine has article, photo in the college’s Flickr photostream).

This year’s center-of-campus statue is an attempt to recreate the first official sculpture, of 1925 (The Dartmouth).

[Update 01.22.2011: Links to articles in Dartmouth Now and The Dartmouth added.]

Rauner’s blog keeps going

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Rauner Library’s blog has sent out a raft of interesting illustrated posts lately, on Howard Lines 1912 and his memorial in Baker; SS Dartmouth Victory, a Victory Ship; Adrian Bouchard, Dartmouth’s official photographer from 1937 to 1976, except for the 1941-1945 period; Orozco and his frescoes in Baker; and gravestones of the Risley family, stonecutters in the early nineteenth century.

[Update 07.28.2010: Erroneous Bouchard years 1837 to 1876 corrected.]

Buildings – construction, some demolition

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Rauner Library has provided a remarkable photo of the Butterfield Museum embraced in a death-hug by Baker Library. This is a view of the south and east facades of the east wing of Baker, looking to the northwest. The problem of Butterfield appears to have had a significant influence on the design of Baker.

See also the photos of the bells and the steel frame of the tower under construction.

With historic Clement Hall demolished (film and photos), the Visual Arts Center construction has been put out for bid.

Phi Delt reconstruction continues, The Dartmouth reports.

Engleberth Construction provides photos of the Tuck Living-Learning Center (Achtmeyer, Raether, and Pineau-Valencienne Halls).

It is not new, but Forever New: A 10-Year Report provides a comprehensive photo of the interior-block facades of Kemeny-Haldeman not available elsewhere.

Details of ’53 Commons, Baker Catalogue Room changes

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The Development Office has published requests for a number of specific gifts, including the ’53 Commons Terrace. Three zones will occupy the space between the building and Maynard Street: the Portico, which is a collonaded space; the Terrace, which will have space for 100 people to sit and might be stepped downward away from the building; and the South Lawn, which has a White-Housey sound to it and will be the northernmost Lawn at Dartmouth, an equivalent to Baker Lawn.

The Graduate Student Suite in ’53 Commons will be the first headquarters for grad students of the College.

“The Scholars’ Green” is an idea for reinvigorating Baker’s Catalogue Room with comfortable furniture and other amenities. The idea is a good one, although “the Catalogue Room” would be a better name than “the Scholars’ Green.” Experience at other schools has shown that any fancy computers placed here will be used mostly for watching YouTube and that a single espresso machine will set the tone for the whole space.

Plenty of other interesting requests appear, including one for support of College Traditions.

(The profile of the Development Office has been rising, with its new offices (U.K. Architects, 2003) in 41 Centerra Parkway; it even has its own training department with a curriculum for training staffers.)

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[Update 11.13.2012: Five broken link to the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience removed.]

Hanover buildings with cell-phone antennas

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The Dartmouth reports on the use of the tower of the Church of Christ (the White Church) for a cell antenna. Dartmouth leases space on Fairchild Tower accross the street, as well as on the Inn, the article states. The article does not mention Baker Tower, although it must be taller than any of those buildings. Perhaps the tower’s profile and Stanley Orcutt’s weathervane are not suited to hosting antennas.

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[Update 11.12.2012: Broken link to weathervane item replaced.]

Baker Library’s revolving doors removed

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All three of Baker’s main doors, originally heavy 1928 metal revolving doors enclosed in apparently bronze-lined cabins, have been replaced with swinging doors of wood stained a light color and lacking either formal panelling or paint. (Earlier, it seemed that the western door, at least, would remain, since it is at the top of a stair and inaccessible by wheelchair.) Salvors sold off the original doors, and one at least is rumored to have been bought by someone who appreciates its history.

Baker Library’s Parisian “twin”

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Baker Library has a variety of “twins” at other colleges, libraries that also look like Independence Hall, but its most unexpected sibling is the Maison Internationale at the City University of Paris (basic information), designed by the same architect, Jens Larson.

Although it is all chateau and no Philadelphia, it still has the flanking wings and the long reading room, as seen in an article in Label France magazine and interior photos.

Even the arcade joining the wings, a feature that was contemplated but not built at Baker, is very “Larson” and calls to mind the arcade joining Baker to Sanborn House.