University, With Medical Center In View, Buys Spee Club House

The completion of transactions whereby the University will receive the present Spee club house on 15 Holyoke Street, and will give the club a plot of ground with an 80-foot frontage on the west side of Holyoke Street at the corner of Mt. Auburn Street and a 90-foot frontage on the south side of Mt. Auburn Street at the corner of Holyoke Street, were made known yesterday. The terms of the exchange which is of significance in connection with the proposed new medical center, permit the members of the Spee Club to occupy their present house until a new building has been constructed on the site they have received.

Makes Way for Medical Center

The acquisition of the land at 15 Holyoke Street, lying between the Big Tree swimming pool and the vacant lot on the northwest corner of Holyoke and Mt. Auburn Streets, consolidates the University's holdings in that area. It is understood that an anonymous alumnus has offered to finance a new building, to serve as offices for the H. A. A. and as a medical center. Plans for a small structure were drawn up some time ago, but carrying out of the proposition was postponed when the advisability of constructing a larger unit resembling the new Yale Medical Center came under consideration. The recent exchange gives the University an opportunity to carry out this play.

Unites University Property

Negotiations began shortly after a fire on March 7 had badly damaged the interior of the club house. The club feels that it is cooperating at a sacrifice with the University's efforts to consolidate its holdings on the ground bounded by Dunster. Holyoke, Mt. Auburn Streets and Massachusetts Avenue, as the building which will be abandoned is not considered a total loss. The building occupied by a radio store adjoining the vacant lot, and a grocery store on the corner of Dunster Street, is leased by a Boston bank: it is understood that no offers to purchase it have been made.

The plot of ground received is the site of the Old Institute of 1770 building, a gray frame structure now known as 25 Holyoke Street, and occupied by students. This, together with 27 Holyoke Street, now occupied by Dr. T. L. Harris, Religious Adviser, and several students, will be torn down.

The Spee Club traces its origin to the early part of the last century, when it was situated on Brattle Street near Harvard Square. In 1886 it purchased a house at 44 Church Street, remaining there until 1904, when the present building was ready for occupancy.