Title: Designing MIT : Bosworth's New Tech /
Authors: Jarzombek, Mark.
Publisher: Northeastern University Press,
Year: 2004
Subjects: Bosworth, Welles,; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Buildings Design and construction.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology History.; College buildings Massachusetts Cambridge.
Abstract: "Chartered in 1861, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lay in financial crisis with an assortment of laboratories classrooms, offices, and student facilities scattered across Boston's Back Bay by the turn of the century. But in 1912, backed by some of the country's leading financiers and industrialists, MIT officials purchased an undeveloped tract of land in Cambridge, launching a long and complex review of proposals for a new quadrangle. Largely on the basis of the recommendation of John D. Rockefeller Jr., the commission was awarded to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts-trained architect William Welles Bosworth, known for his AT & T Building in Manhattan and Kykuit, the Rockefeller mansion in Tarrytown, New York."
Contents: I: From the Rogers building to the new tech -- The changing identity of MIT: why the move? -- President Maclaurin and the new site -- The first design of Stephen Child -- Desire Despradelle's alternative -- A third design: Ralph Adams Cram's? -- The Eastman millions -- Freeman to the rescue -- "Study No. 7" -- Selection of Cass Gilbert -- William Welles Bosworth becomes a candidate -- Bosworth's early architectural training -- Vanderlip, Vail, and Bosworth -- Bosworth gets the nod -- The gentleman and the architect -- Bosworth's designs for MIT -- Bosworth-Freeman synthesis -- Between the lines of modernity -- The grand opening -- II: Architectural notes -- The campus plan -- The dome -- The portico -- The court -- The statue of Minerva -- The Genesis of MIT's ionic capitals -- Walker Memorial, the dormitories, and the president's house -- The unbuilt MIT chapel -- 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance -- "Study No. 7" by John R. Freeman -- Bosworth's lecture: "Mens Sana in Corpore Sano" -- Bosworth's post-1916 career.