Stubbins Named Designer For Countway Library

Hugh Stubbins and Associates of Cambridge, architects for the Loeb Drama Center, has been commissioned to design the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at the Medical School. The appointment of the firm of architects is announced by Dr. George P. Berry, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

The Countway Library of Medicine, which will be a prototype of university medical libraries for the United States, will be built on a parcel of land fronting on Huntington Avenue in Boston. The land is partially occupied by a part of the dormitory for student nurses at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and by a portion of a private way--Shattuck Street. When completed, the Countway Library. These combined collections, in excess of 500,000, will be second in size only to those of the National Library of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

Speaking for the firm that he heads, Stubbins said that his goal in designing the Countway Medical Library will be... "the creation of a prototype building embracing the ideas of the Harvard Medical School, fulfilling its functional requirements and giving it a character fitting to its purpose."

The services of the Countway Library will be based on a collaborative effort of the Boston Medical Library and the Harvard Medical Library, extending their present privileges to the medical community of Greater Boston and all New England. The Harvard Medical Library presently serves the Medical School, the School of Public Health and the School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. Berry terms the Countway Library "the medical library of the future." He noted that the Countway will be the first library structure to be designed by the distinguished Stubbins firm.