Hall Admits Error in Ordering Massachusetts Hall Windows; Harvard Could Lose $18,000

Premature ordering of windows for Massachusetts Hall by Stephen S.J. Hall, vice president of administration, may cost the University more than $18,000.

Hall ordered the windows without receiving the final approval of the Cambridge Common Historical Commission which has jurisdiction over major architectural changes to buildings in its district.

Hall said last night that the windows were purchased from DeVac Co. of Minneapolis before receipt of the commission's assent. He ordered the windows "in haste to get the project off the ground at a time of most convenience." He said that installation could have been completed before students returned last January after the Christmas break.

Hall said that since a group from the commission had requested that "only a few details in the sample window be changed," he could ask the company to make the changes and have them begin manufacture. He said "In my haste, I felt that the issues were resolved and I had satisfied their demand. I admit I was wrong. I goofed."

The commission was sent a copy of the final plans in late December and rejected them because the windows that Hall was proposing would have disrupted Massachusetts Hall's present appearance. William King, vice-chairman of the commission, said, "The original plans would have created an iconoclastic situation with a large window frame but very small panes."

The reason that the commission was so anxious to have new windows be designed correctly, according to Amy Cohn of the commission staff, is that "Massachusetts Hall is one of a handful of examples of 18th Century New England institutional architecture, besides being the oldest Harvard building." She said that Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbot, architects had "taken great pains in the 1930s to see that the changes they made were done perfectly," and that "the commission was eager to see the same thing done in the 70s."

Permission Requested

Procedure dictates that the applicant tell the commission his plans to change a building in the historical district. The commission sent notices to owners of property abutting Massachusetts Hall, informing them that Harvard had requested permission to replace windows.

Since there was no reply to this notice within the ten days allotted for comment, the commission met and decided that the windows were not similar enough to those planned in the 18th-century design of the hall.

Arbitration with the commission led to acceptance of a new window design in August. The new concept eliminates the need for storm windows but maintains the building's original beauty by using aluminum in the outside frame which is dyed to look like wood.

The windows manufactured by DeVac are still in Minneapolis. Hall said that his next job is to resell the windows. "I don't know if I've cost Harvard money yet. It's an embarrasing thing," he said.