Straus Hall is another Senior dormitory, and is located on Massachusetts Avenue between Lehman Hall on the south, and Massachusetts Hall on the north. With these two buildings and Matthews, the new dormitory forms the third quadrangle along the western end of the Yard. Like Widener Library, the latest, and what is likely to prove the last dormitory built in the Yard, is given in memory of victims of the sinking of the Titanic, now more than 10 years ago. The building if the gift of three sons, Jesse Isidor Straus, Harvard '93; Percy S. Straus, Harvard '97, and Herbert N. Straus, Harvard '03, and is in memory of their parents Mr. and Mrs. Isidor Straus.

It is planned to have Straus as a social center for the two halls that are nearest to it, Massachusetts and Matthews, neither of which have common rooms, and with this in view, a large room, situated in the middle of Straus and having an outside entrance detached form the steps that lead to its suites, has been built. In this room, which is to be the memorial proper, will be hung a portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Straus.

McKinlock is Ready for Occupancy

Next to Straus in its order of completion is McKinlock Hall, the latest of the dormitories and which belongs also to the group of buildings that will first be occupied this Fall.

McKinlock Hall is situated on DeWolf and Plympton Streets, occupying the entire block. It is a short block south of the next nearest Freshman dormitory. Gore Hall, and forms the fourth building of the group that formerly consisted of only Smith, Standish and Gore. With the Freshman classes now limited to 800 students each year, most of the entering classes will be accommodated in these four large buildings, and the new McKinlock will take care of some 150 of them. A few unlucky applicants will still have to live in the auxiliary dormitories, Shepard and Little Halls, but the number of Freshmen who have hitherto had to find rooms in lodging houses, some of them removed considerably from the college, will now be almost negligible.

This latest of Freshman dormitories is a memorial to George Alexander McKinlock. Harvard '16, who was killed fighting in France. The building is a gift of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George A. McKinlock.

McKinlock Holds Large Library

In general McKinlock closely resembles the other Freshman dormitories, but there are some slight changes. It is built, like Gore and Standish, on three sides around a court, with the open side facing the Charles. But unlike these two, McKinlock's wings are not built at right angles to the main part, but slant out a greater angle. Instead of the usual dining room that is a feature of the other three sister halls, the new building has no dining room of its own, but has, instead, a large library, reserved exclusively for the entering class, and in which all books needed incourses regularly open to Freshmen will be found.

Considerable difficulty was encountered in building the basement and foundation, for these parts of the building are below the level of the Charles, and required steady pumping for weeks while the cellars were waterproofed and equipped with ejector pits to dispose of the sewerage. The building is connected with the other three Freshman dormitories by an underground tunnel, which will not be used by the students, but which serves as a service entrance for the hall "goodies" whose headquarters are three blocks away, is the basement of Smith.

Among the buildings that will be used for the first time this year is the new Fogg Art Museum, now standing practically completed at the corner of Quincy Street and Broadway, directly opposite the southeastern corner of the Yard, and forming, though Quincy Street intervents, a quadrangle with Emerson, Sever and Robinson.

The new museum is said to be the most up-to-date building of its kind, and it will take the place of the old Fogg Museum, now too small to take care of Harvard's increasing collection of masterpieces, and too small to accommodate its ever-growing files, slides and models.

On the front side of the building, that facing Quincy Street, the Fogg Museum is three stories high, and in the rear it rises four stories. Insofar as it is possible the architects have made a beautiful building, but the exigencies of trying to satisfy practically and beauty were too great, and the builders have compromised by conceding beauty to the front part of the structure and reserving the rear for utility. As a result, the rear, fronting on Prescott Street, is little more than a high wall, with plenty of windows, and quite factory-like in appearance.

Beauty Weds Utility in Interior

But if beauty and utility proved incompatible on the outside, they have been blended to perfection in the interior. On the beauty side are such features as the court an imitation of the interior of a monastery at Canonica a da Sangella in Italy and a beamed ceiling in the lecture hall, which has been brought to this country from a French church, dating from the 16th century. On the side of utility there are ventilators under each seat in this same hall, sound proof walls, made so by a special kind of porous plaster used in all the rooms, and indirect lighting at all times in all the galleries. The entire building is of fireproof construction.

There are separate entrances to the museum part on Quincy Street, and the study part of the building on Prescott Street. The study plant includes a large library, classrooms, two lecture halls, one with a seating capacity of 500, the other with room for 100 students. The executive offices of the fine arts department are also located in the rear of the building. Rooms for drawing, a print room and a room for the study of technique are also available.