Allston Burr Hall Opens Next Week: Provides Needed G.E. Lecture Space

The Allston Burr Lecture Hall will open for classes the week of April 14, it was announced yesterday. Equipped for demonstration of scientific experiments for large and small groups of students, the modernistic building will be used for classes in General Education.

This is the first new classroom building for the College since 1905 when Emerson Hall was built.

The building centers on two amphitheaters--one seating 377 students, the other 207--each with a bank of seat looking down on demonstration tables chalkboard, projection screen, and lecturer.

It will provide much-needed space to General Education courses in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. This is in keeping with the University new requirements for General Education beginning with this year's freshman class, all students will have to take three courses in General Education.

Especially designed for showing experiments in chemistry, physics, and related fields, the building will house several collections of scientific apparatus--including the "philosophical apparatus" used in teaching science to students before the American Revolution.

Altogether the building will provide facilities for 720 students at a time. Besides the two large lecture rooms, there are four smaller lecture halls, workshops, and preparation rooms located on the first floor and five tutorial offices on the second floor.

The four conference rooms will be used for more detailed, quantitative experiments. They will hold about 35 students each. In the workshop and preparations rooms, experiments will be set-up before being presented in the lecture rooms.

The building will honor the memory of Allston Burr '89, a Boston investment banker who was active in University affairs throughout his life. At the time of his death in 1949, he left a large bequest without restriction and part of this was used to finance construction of the Allston Burr Lecture Hall.