Evening star., 1938-09-10
G.W.LANDMARK
NEARS ITS DOOM
Razing Of Lisner Hall to
Make Way for Library
to Start Monday.
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.
Rooms that have sheltered thousands
Of George Washington University stu
dents, stairways that have been worn
to their treads during more than two
decades, will give way before the
wrecking crew on Monday when the
tearing down of old Lisner Hall be-
gins
The building, landmark on the
university campus, is being demolished
to make way for a fine new library,
the gift to the university of the late
Abram Lisner, founder of the Palais
Royal and for many years university
trustee.
1t was Mr.. Lisner's generosity which
made possible the acquisition of old
Lisner Hall by the university 26 years
ago, and one of the last acts of his
life was to approve plans for the
modern building which will replace it.
For the countless Washingtonians
who have attended classes there and
worked and studied in its dim, over
crowded library fond memories cling
around "Old Lisner."
Constructed in 1880.
Built in 1880 to house the benefi-
cences OF st. Roses Industrial School.
1t was taken over by George Washing
ton University in 1912 at the time the
university was making its first drive to
center its activities in this vicinity.
Announcement of the gift was made at
an alumni dinner, at which Mrs. Lis
ner, member Of the Columbian Wom-
en- OF the George Washington Univer-
slty helped receive the guests with
Miss Mabel Boardman of subsequent
Red Cross fame, who had recently
been awarded an honorary degree by
the university and appointed the Dis
tricts first woman Commissioner by
President Taft.
In the chapel, on the second floor,
before the university's student body
had grown to its present size, Dean
Wilbur, beloved of countless students
and alumni. used to conduct the uni
Versity's own chapel exercises.
Here The Dean" also held his
famous Browning and Shakespeare
classes. In the memories of manv a
student now grown to maturity. the
almost medieval light reflected from
the chapels stained glass windows is
inseparately interwined with discus
sions concerning Macbeth's stormy
career or the tragic fate of Borwn-
ing's soldier priest in The Ring and
the Book
Between classes. too, successive gen.
erations of students have congregated
on the stairWays of "Old LiSner,' or
IN front of it, to discuss how they
would wag this old world We're its
destinies in their hands.
The site of the new Lisner Library
on G street between Twentieth and
TVenty-f1rst streets NV. is in a neigh
borhood which in the 80s and COS was
In the heart Of Washington's fashion,
able West End" Here lived those in
command of the land and sea forces
OF our country. as well as the repre-
sentatives Of foreign governments to
the new Republic.
1t still retains the characteristics of
q still earlier day in our city's his
tory when it was designated The
FIRST Ward" and of an earlier one
yet, two centuries ago, when this part
Of Washington was not Washington
but the independent town of Ham
burg At this time the nearest neigh
boring towns were Georgetown, Car
rollsburg and Bladensburgh, with the
intervening country, woodland and
pasture.
George Washington himself, in the
immediate vicinity of the Lisner Lii
brary and the university's other re-
cently-constructed buildings, desig-
mated the site which he thought most
appropriate in all the Nations Capital
for the great national university which
he hoped might some day rise here.
Still another gift of Mr.. Lisners,
subsequently, to be erected, will be
the universitys magnificent audito-
rum for which he made provision in
his will