B&G To Beautify House Landscapes

Diane K. McGuire, landscape architect in the Buildings and Grounds department; said Friday that her office has designed a "master plan" of landscape improvements for each of the Houses and the Yard.

Plans for all the Houses provide for maintenance and replacement, but Dunster and Eliot designs have provisions for "capital improvements."

Capital improvements are landscape changes that cost more than $5000.

Plans for the Dunster House courtyard include removing existing walks and grass spaces and replacing them with a large circular area of grass in the center, surrounded by blue patio stone.

McGuire said the Dunster renovations are being undertaken because the grass does not grow under the trees, and students trample grass in other areas as they pass through the courtyard.

"We merely want to change the circulation pattern so that grass will grow," she said.

Although McGuire drew up the plans for these improvements, she has little input into implementation of the designs. "I have no idea where the money comes from, or when these changes will be made," she said.

Thomas Vacha, manager of Central Services, said Friday that he puts McGuire's capital improvement plans on a "priority list" with other proposed projects for the Houses.

He said that at the beginning of the year, he submits his list to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which has its own priority list. Together they decide which projects will be funded from the Faculty's funds.

"There is no way I can predict when a priority item will get done," he said.

Vacha estimated the Eliot House improvements would cost around $20,000. Both Vacha and McGuire declined to give an estimate for the Dunster House renovation, but a source close to McGuire's office said the project would cost no more than $33,000.

The only place where any of McGuire's capital improvement plans have come to fruition is the Sever quadrangle.

"The quad was no longer fully functioning because of two diagonals students had cut through it," she said. "Last spring, the administration and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences jointly decided to re-landscape it.