Dudley Hall is Completely Refurnished for Commuters

Dudley Hall has had its face lifted.

The Commuters' Center on Dunster Street, long infamous for its furnishings has undergone a drastic interior renovation. During the summer the main common room has been equipped with numerous leather sofas and arm-chairs, new linoleum flooring has been laid, and a new junior common room has been added and furnished.

Dudley's library, which was practically non-existent until this year, will be housed in book stacks near the reading room, and will contain a complete selection of books needed for college courses. The radio room has been discarded in favor of the library because it was seldom used.

Dudley Once Called Dunster

Built in 1897 for private purposes, the building became University property in 1918, at which time it was given the name Dunster Hall. In 1930, however, it was renamed in honor of Governor Thomas Dudley, one of the founders of Cambridge (at a time when it was called Newtowne), so that Henry Dunster's name could be given to a House.

It cost $40,000 to change the first floor of Dudley into a commuters' center, chiefly because of the solidity with which the building had been constructed in the Edwardian era. The walls of masonry which separated rooms were usually a foot and a half thick, and a large number of them had to be removed.

Dudley, under the direction of charles W. Duhig, has had considerable expansion in both membership and house space. Since 1935 the reading room on the first floor, and lockers and ping-pong room in the basement have been added.

The changes in Dudley's interior, coupled with the new study room program and meals in the Union for Yardling commuters, make the situation of the student who lives at home a much brighter one than it was at this time last year.

The improvements in Dudley Hall have had a marked effect on the membership of the house this year. Yesterday there was standing room only in the cafeteria, and the number of students who are making use of Dudley is greatly increased. This increase is all the more remarkable because the study-room and Union meals plan was expected to cut into Dudley's membership.