Leverett's 'Twin Towers' Will Open in Fall of 1960

Two twelve-story glass-and-limestone buildings, with views sweeping from Boston to the Belmont hills, will open in the fall of 1960 to house 280 students of Leverett House.

The new structure will occupy the west end of the block on DeWolfe Street between Grant and Cowperthwaite, and a separate two-story library will become the center of the House, knitting the new residence halls to Leverett's old half, McKinlock Hall.

The University, by referring to the Leverett addition as "twin towers," has emphasized that Harvard is being forced to "build high" for the first time. Commenting on the plans, President Pusey stated that "because of the scarcity of land in Cambridge, Harvard will have to begin to build higher structures" and that he was "delighted with the solution of a difficult architectural problem."

Picture Windows

Glass and limestone facing were used extensively in the planning to avoid giving the buildings "the appearance of large chunks of brick," according to Shepley, Bullfinch, Richardson and Abbott, the architects. The living room of each suite will have a broad floor-to-ceiling heavy glass window, and inside walls of rough pumice-stone.

The new buildings provide 20 four-man and 64 two-man suites, with a total of 113 single and 82 double bedrooms. John J. Conway, Master of Leverett House, explained that no triples will be included because, "statistically, they are difficult to get rid of, and we already have them in McKinlock."

Any future conversion of "doubling-up" is precluded by low ceiling heights, which rule out the possibility of installing bunk beds. Conway said that the room arrangements should "ease the problem of living out, since they "provide a miximum of privacy" and "get rid of the noisy entries."

Leverett Dining Hall Remodeling

The Leverett Dining Hall will remain in McKinlock, but extensive alteration of it will begin this summer. The remodeling will not be completed before Thanks-giving of next year, which means that residents of the House will eat in the Quincy dining room next fall, Conway added.

When the new House library is opened, the present library in McKinlock will be used as a common room, for meetings and concert programs. The library building will include a reading room, tutors' offices, and seminar rooms, and is connected to McKinlock by an enclosed passageway.

The elevators in each of the "towers" will stop only on alternate floors of suites. Interlocking stairways, like those in Lamont, will also be used. Conway hopes to devise some variation of the traditional House courtyard to give residents "something attractive to look down upon."

To keep within the maximum height allowed by Cambridge zoning regulations, the architects have sunk the buildings into a court which is four feet below ground level. President Pusey commended Shepley, Bullfinch for having "conceived a pleasing design which makes excellent use of the limited space...