Gloomy is the word to describe Walter Hastings Hall, formerly an exclusive Law School dormitory, which today stands between the Langdell Law School Hall and Massachusetts Avenue as a living symbol of the effect of war on the finest law school in the nation.

Built 55 years ago, the hall is named after the last of a long line of Boston men bearing the name of Hastings who graduated from the University. The founder of that line was Jonathan Hastings, A. B. 1730, who was Steward of the University from 1750 to 1779.

The hall has accommodations for 113 men, and is solidly built. The medieval aspect of the architecture is typical of the building, which is dark and dreary. The basement is a veritable labryinth of dark hallways, and the upstairs halls are little lighter.

Today Hastings holds 25 law students, all of whom will finish their course in October, 25 graduate students who are working towards various special degrees, 50 service men, mostly transients, and over ten instructors in natural sciences in the University.

Army men at Hastings have ranked from shavetail to lieutenant-colonel, and Navy men from ensign to lieutenant. Most have been connected in some capacity with the various service schools here, but others have been Harvard graduates who were working at the Boston Navy Yard or other service centers and needed accommodations. Three radio instructors live at Hastings, several mathematics men, and three chemistry teachers.

Hastings Hodge-Podge

Hastings today contains a hodge-podge of men from different walks of life doing different things, but the great majority of those there today will fold their tents by November 1.

By appearance alone, Hastings would make an excellent ghost hall, and it is quite possible that its 55 years of usefulness will be brought to an end by the world conflagration that has practically put an end to the law school which it has so diligently served since 1888.