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RHOADS differs from the other new buildings on campus in that it has
made a financial rather than an intellectual contribution to the college. The
main purpose of this investment, according to Miss Park, was to increase
faculty salaries with the additional income from a hundred new students.
Temporarily, however, the college has been forced to use this money to
defray other expenses. A sum is paid each year towards the amortization,
and in twenty years Rhoads will be our own.
Miss Howe was on the committee to select the furniture. She and
her colleagues visited ''every furniture store known to man,'' but were
finally reduced to having two sets designed. The first was discarded
because it was too fragile and, in the opinion of all, looked as if it had
no eyelashes. The second set, which was finally adopted, was created by
Marcel Brueur of the Harvard Architectural School. Mr. Brueur had art-
fully contrived a desk chair whose most prominent feature was a rung
back. When Miss Howe objected, he suggested that comfort-loving
students could weave their own rope seats. Later she learned that a Har-
vard architectural student had been pressed into the weaving industry
for experimental purposes. Solid seats and backs were, nevertheless,
installed. One unexpected problem arose near the completion of the
building. Miss Howe discovered that the window seats were too narrow,
and only by sitting on one herself and using a yardstick could Miss Ward
convince the architect of their inadequacy.
Among other architectural features, Rhoads boasts water units
rivalled only by those newly installed in Merion, where the bath tubs
have doors. One cleanly senior was surprised in her tub by a flock of
alumnae admiring the new tiles. Each student has a private cubicle for
her tooth brush, paralleled by one in the front hall for her letters. A
