"During the first few decades of this University's life the dominating spirit was one of religion," said Professor G. H. Edgell '09, Associate Professor of Fine Arts and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, at the Phillips Brooks House yesterday afternoon. "The spirit now has changed to an accumulation of the spirit of the thousands who have come here to prepare for their contribution to the world.

"In each building and monument in the Yard and outside of it is the spirit of some man who has made his mark in this world, and so my talk really centers about these, and might be called a defense of bad architecture. Many of the college buildings can be badly criticized from an architectural point of view, but their associations make us overlook this. President Eliot as at last admonition to the students advised them to look forward not backward, outward not inward, but it is not also important to seek inspiration from the past in the buildings of this University?

A Past in Every Building

"Let us look at all these monuments again, thinking always what they represent, what has gone on within their walls. Massachusetts Hall, built in 1720, is quaintly beautiful for its simplicity and age. Visualize the Continental soldiers marching in and out when the hall was a barracks during the Revolution. Few know that Hollis was a strong Baptist and that his gift of Hollis Hall to a Congregational University was an act of great toleration.

"The Medical School," Dean Edgell continued, "had its foundation in Holden Chapel, and the Law School in the lower floor of Dane Hall, which was burned during the late war. Langdell Hall was built only when the Law School had assumed an important place in the University. The University Museum is a great jumble and bulk of buildings, yet their very immensity inspires one to recall Agassiz, that great scientist who gave up science for a period to get enough money to establish a museum.

"The Widener Library is perfectly terrible architecturally, but it stands for something great and important in the University. It stands for the greatest collection of books for the use of college students in the world. For its purpose it is the most inspiring building I know."