Today, the space is used for storage by Buildings and Grounds.
Moving Pillsbury House to make way for the Ferguson Building, 1966.
sense of community was a priority, the myriad nooks and niches of its interior catered to the privatism of the teenagers of the day. Its location put it “out of sight, out of mind” for most students, who preferred to gather in the Study Hall or the library during class breaks. It was too small for dances or social events; even the snack bar was a losing proposition from day one. Few mourned the building’s passing when it was torn down in 2014 as part of the renovation of Murbach Field. The Student Center wasn't isolated for all of its existence, however: The Stone Athletic Center came along in 1993, continuing the southward expansion of the campus, and the new faculty housing on Academy Drive was built five years later. The decade also saw the acquisition of the Grays’ home at the end of Powderhouse Road. Elm Tree Hall, the newest dorm on campus, was constructed in 2002 to replace Sheedy Hall, which was demolished to make room for the Ansin Academic Building.
• • • The LA campus has looked pretty much the same on the outside since the early 2000s; indoors, however, another, ongoing, evolution has taken place. Do any readers remember, for example, that the basement of Spaulding Hall originally housed a fully equipped civil defense hospital, packed in crates and ready to be deployed in the event, presumably, of an enemy attack? The hospital didn’t stay long, for by the mid-1960s, the space had become the music room — with the “butt room” for smokers cut out of one corner — and then, when the Ferguson Building was built, it was transformed into the woodworking shop.
The Gray Building has seen many internal alterations over the years as well: MacNeil Lounge, on the ground floor, is one of the least-changed rooms on campus, except for its furniture. Older alumni will remember the original, heavy, rustic oak chairs and tables, the standing lamps, and the huge table lamp in the middle of the room (a few remnants of these seemingly indestructible pieces can still be found in various offices around campus). There was no cushy wall-to-wall carpeting in the old days, either: The floor was dark brown linoleum tiles with one big rug in the middle. The only lighting in the room other than the lamps came from the four chandeliers, so after sunset, the place was always dingy, at best. There was a baby grand piano in one corner, and, diagonally opposite, to the left of the fireplace, was a small table with a locked oak case that housed the keyboard to the original carillon. At holiday times, Mr. Ferguson or a trusted faculty member would use it to broadcast Christmas carols o’er campus, or occasionally to stir everyone's hearts with a chimed rendering of “Lawrence, Here's to Thee.” One had to be careful when playing harmony parts, as the overtones of certain combinations of notes could be excruciating to the ear. Entering the Gray Building prior to its 1990s remodeling, you would find a ladies’ room on the left and a men’s room on the right. The ladies’ is still there (its plumbing and décor thankfully updated), but the men's room started life as the Trustees’ Room, and was used as such until sometime in the early 1970s, when the board of trustees became too big for the space. The original door had a small brass “Trustees” sign on it. Opposite MacNeil, of course, was the gym, which also served as the theatre until the Ferguson Building was built in 1967. You walked down half a dozen steps to get to the basketball court, over which hung the oak plaque, familiar to most living alumni, with the lines from Sir Henry Newbolt’s poem “Clifton Chapel”: “To set the cause above renown, To love the game beyond the prize.” A door to the right led to more stairs, down to the level of the kitchen, faculty locker rooms, squash courts (yes, squash courts!), and a monstrous furnace. In the early 1970s, the first girls’ locker room was carved out of storage space on that level; it served as such for some 20 years, until the Stone Athletic Center opened.
1957: New Schoolhouse built • 1960: Spaulding Hall built • 1962: Sheedy Hall built FALL 2018 LAWRENCE ACADEMY 5