MANTER HALL BUILDING TO RISE FROM HISTORIC SITE

The lot at the corner of Holyoke and Mt. Auburn streets has been purchased by the Manter Hall Tutoring School, and will be the site of a large new building to be erected and occupied by that institution, it was announced last night. The Dunster House Bookshop and the Advocate Building, which now stand on the newly-acquired property of Manter Hall, will be torn down this fall. The land was sold by the Dunster House Bookshop, previous owners of the property.

School Has 20 Classrooms

The edifice, designed by the firm of Adden and Parker, will be architecturally in harmony with the structures recently built by the University. A three-story brick building, it will be devoted on the street floor to shops, having windows with small panes, in accord with the demands of Colonial architecture. The school itself will occupy the 20 classrooms on the two upper floors.

The Advocate, and the Dramatic Club which it houses, dislodged by the impending destruction of their home, are moving to Ridgely Annex, a few steps from their old habitation. The oldest college publication will occupy quarters on the ground floor, with the Dramatic Club directly overhead.

The Dunster House Bookshop is moving on November 1 to the New Sage building, 66 Church St., where it will take quarters for the winter. In the spring the bookstore will return to one of the stores in the new building, where more spacious quarters will permit greatly enlarged stock.

"Widow" Occupied Little Hall

The present Manter Hall School was founded by W. W. Nolen, who graduated from the University in 1884 and at once embarked upon a life career of tutoring college students. Dubbed "the Widow" by some facetious pupil, Mr. Nolan became a pillar of support to countless members of many college generations. His talents and fame were such that his followers increased yearly in numbers and he was compelled to assemble a corps of assistants. He moved into Little Hall, and retained his quarters there until the end of his life.

Upon Mr. Nolen's death some members of his staff incorporated under the name of the Manter Hall School and moved into their present dwelling at the corner of Massachusetts Ave. and Holyoke St.

With the destruction of the Dunster House Bookshop, another of the last few landmarks of historical Cambridge will be swept away before the swelling flood of business. The building dates back at least to 1750, and probably earlier, from the evidence of the mounding on the outside corners, and other architectural features of the house. It was originally only two stories the top story having been added 100 years ago, at about the time when the Advocate House was built.

Many of the original features of Dunster House are now preserved in the present building. Many of the old doors are still in use, and there are large timbers and planks one and a half feet wide in the second floor.

One interesting feature of the old building is a brick floor three feet in the cellar. Maurice Feruski, proprietor of the Bookshop, said that this implied that the land around Mt. Auburn St., was formerly very mainly, and that the river probably came to within a few hundred feet of the old building.