Faculty Plans to Purchase Rarely Used Varsity Club

Negotiations are underway for the sale of the Varsity Club building to the University, Dean Fox said yesterday. Neither the price nor the date of sale has been set.

Most of the 94-year-old privately owned club building, originally designed as a social and dining center for varsity athletes, now stands empty. Only its basement, currently occupied by the Harvard band, is consistently in use.

The three large floors of convertible space make the Quincy St. building adjacent to the Freshman Union a "commodity the Faculty would love to get its hands on," Francis A. Lawton, assistant dean of facilities, said yesterday.

Fox, however, could not speculate on how the Faculty would use the building space.

John Chase, president of the Varsity Club, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

"We are still ironing out all the legal ramifications of the sale," Lawton said, adding that architects are investigating the possibility of creating new Club offices in the business school athletic complex.

"There have been talks about selling the building on and off for as long as I can remember," John P. Reardon Jr. '60, Director of Athletics, said yesterday, citing the club's "unwielding size," and its "out of the way" location as reasons for the proposed sale. Inflation and the added strain of feeding women athletes made it economically unfeasible to continue offering training meals, he added.

A Change

Lawton said preliminary studies of the building's space indicated the band could continue to occupy the club's basement. "The Band's removal is not contemplated at this time," Fox added.

David Green '81, manager of the band, yesterday noted the conveniently situated space, adding that since the band, with 65 scheduled events and over 100 members, is one of the University's largest organizations, it needs the Varsity Club's space for rehearsals, meetings, parties, and storing our drum--losing it would severely change the whole nature of the band."

Green added that the building is occasionally used for dinners and yearbook photography sessions.

Reardon said the impending sale might force the handful of assistant coaches who currently occupy the club's top floor to vacate the building, although this would depend on the Faculty's plans.