THE NEW GYMNASIUM.

MR. HEMENWAY has made the needed corrections in the plans, the ground has been broken, and the workmen are now laying the foundations of the Harvard Gymnasium. By the kind permission of the gentleman who has made this gift to the College, we are enabled to print with this issue the ground-plans and a sectional view of the elevation, and though they may not furnish an idea of the building as it will look when finished, they may afford some conception of its dimensions and its accommodations.

The front of the building, which will face and be parallel to Cambridge Street, will be ornamented by a large porch over the entrance, and a broad double flight of stone steps. Folding-doors admit the visitor to an entrance-hall which opens on the left to the hall, and on the right to the office, where the Curator can see every one that goes out or in. The main hall of the gymnasium is 119 feet long at its greatest length, and 81 feet at its greatest width. It is as long as the Memorial Dining-Hall, and considerably wider. On the right and left sides of this mammoth gymnasium, at a distance of 18 feet from the walls, are placed twelve columns that support the timbers of the central roof. The knees which sustain the gallery spring from these pillars at a point about 12 feet from the floor. Thus, making allowance for the gallery, we have a clear space 30 by 100 feet in the centre of the hall open to the rafters.

On the eastern side of the building, i e. on the side nearest the Scientific School, are the bathing and dressing rooms. A dressing-room fitted with lockers, and measuring 16 by 93 feet, extends from the office door to the northern wall of the building. This part of the gymnasium has one small and two large wings. The northeastern and southeastern wings (each 20 by 24 feet) are provided with stationary wash-bowls and bath-tubs, and have brick floors and glazed-brick walls; thus, the greatest durability and the greatest cleanliness are at once obtained. The small wing, between the other two, measures 14 by 10 feet, and is reserved for an enormous shower-bath. This room also is floored and walled with brick, and it is said that twelve or fifteen persons can stand under the "shower" at the same time.

There are two stairways that lead to the second floor, one in the entrance-hall and one in the gymnasium proper. A track 5 feet wide, and with a circuit of about 250 feet, occupies the gallery. The rest of the floor is taken up with a meeting-room, 26 by 70 feet, a boxing and fencing room of the same dimensions, a janitor's room, store-room, and a gymnasium, 18 by 78 feet, for hydraulic rowing-weights.

The basement will probably be the most attractive part of the building. Here there are nine bowling-alleys in a room 83 by 84 feet. At the northern end space has been set apart, 83 by 30 feet, for ball practice, and coal-bins, store-rooms, water-closets, and a boiler-room fill the rest of the basement. A large bow-window projects from the western side of the gymnasium, and is designated as the "Armory." It is to be hoped that the Pea-body rifles of the H. R. C. will be safe in this armory from the raids of socialists and communists.

The building will cover 14,000 feet, and will be built at a cost of not less than $100,000. It will be faced with yellow brick, and the "colonial" style of architecture will be followed. Further details can be obtained from the plans, which we at last present to our readers after having repeatedly disappointed them.

D.