In January of 1974, Imani Kazana, a UMass-Amherst Graduate who was director of Harvard's Afro-American Cultural Center, thought her fondest dreams had been realized.

The cultural center needed a building in the middle of campus, and the Sanctuary, a homeless shelter at 74 Mt. Auburn St., was happy to oblige. The center could have the building, if the University was willing to approve it.

But Harvard, Kazana said at the time and still maintains 20 years later, welched.

"Harvard's original story was that there was no space for us," she told The Crimson in 1974. "But when we found out about Sanctuary, the University held it up. I know certain people in the administration began making phone calls and offering the building to other groups. Our neighbors don't want us here. It's hard to find a place."

A controversy over whom would get the building ensued, but as the Afro-American Cultural Center began to experience financial problems, the issue died.

And when the Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel moved into the building-its current home-five years later, it seemed that the Jewish group's 99-year lease would end questions about the building's occupancy for a while.

But this May, the Hillel will move two blocks down Mt. Auburn St. into the newly-constructed Rosovsky Hall. And the administration, perhaps remembering the controversy of 1974, has kept quiet about its plans for 74 Mt. Auburn St. (Sources say the next tenant will be the Harvard-Radcliffe Office for the Arts).

Whatever group ends up occupying the building, it will join an eclectic list of tenants. During its 80 years, the building at 74 Mt. Auburn St. has housed the elite, the holy and the down-and-out.

But life at 74 Mt. Auburn hasn't always been easy. When the Hillel moves into the newly-built Rosovsky Hall, it will be the first time a tenant of 74 Mt. Auburn has left for greener pastures.

Previous tenants were forced to move out-often for financial reasons.

Iroquois Club

The building's longest-running tenant, the Iroquois final club, had to leave in 1971. The club was nearly broke, and could no longer afford the luxury of its own club-house.

Members of the club joined the D.U. Thebuilding went to Harvard for the sum of $135,000.

A club member reportedly named Bill Brasch toldthe Boston Herald Traveler at the time that theIroquois was forced to sell for financial reasons.

"It's a reflection of present lifestyles," saidBrasch, whose Harvard class year could not bedetermined by the University records office."Clubs just aren't making it these days. The trendwill soon overtake the strongest clubs."

The Sanctuary