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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Apr 10, 2019 17:01:33 GMT -5
At about the time that Park Smith auctioned off the d;Yquem, the proceeds were seen as a large down-payment for repairs to, and upgrade of, the existing field house. That sale occurred at a time when the then student body, when polled, voiced great support for a 'living room', a building where students could informally socialize. Hogan was apparently no longer suitable for such. The 'living room' faded as a concept, and with the passage of time, student recreational priorities evolved. Up went individual and/or group exercise, down went intramural basketball. Between Park Smith's wine sales and the Luth's giving $7.5M for the old field house (as part of the $32.5M), the college pretty much had the money-in-hand to do an upgrade of the original, --based on the expected costs, and premised on using the field house in the future as it was used during its past: a set on indoor courts within a large open space.. But the college, and its architects came to conclude that the $15 million or so would be spent trying to re-vitalize a 70+ year old building, that was originally built by the Federal government as a temporary building. And in 25 years, the college would be using a 100 year old 'temporary' building as its centerpiece for student recreation.. The college changed architects -- I suspect FADNP had a hand in this -- switching from a Rhode Island firm that upgraded recreational facilities at Providence College, to Cannon Design, which designs student recreation facilities for major universities, nationally. University of Colorado, Boulder, designed by Cannon. The Worcester hills aren't quite so majestic.. The revised design provided much more space for individual and group exercise, because that is the focus of student recreation these days. The Luth's kicked in another $7.5 million, and were rewarded with naming rights. For 'big' events, Loyola Field at the Luth is designed to seat 6,500, if memory serves.
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Post by HC92 on Apr 10, 2019 19:03:48 GMT -5
Good riddance, fieldhouse. I once took a charge from Stefan Stration, a very large DE on Duffner’s team back in the day, in that building playing intramurals. Gave me the shakes every time I had to drive by on my way up to the Hart Center. Now the healing can begin
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Post by hchoops on Apr 10, 2019 20:14:59 GMT -5
Have you sought any help over these past years ?
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Post by CHC8485 on Apr 10, 2019 21:04:23 GMT -5
Stefan says it was a block.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Apr 11, 2019 5:03:24 GMT -5
A couple of factoids.
Park Smith's wine sale was held in November 2006; when The Jo opens, it will mark 14 years since the sale that started it all.
As an indice of the evolving nature of student recreation, Univ of Colorado Boulder has 9x the number of undergraduates as Holy Cross. The total number of indoor hoops courts for student use at Boulder (six courts) are 3x what HC will offer at The Jo.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Apr 26, 2019 6:40:09 GMT -5
From being an occasional sidewalk superintendent via the webcam, the four month demolition of the old field house and clearing the site was done by a different contractor than the construction contractor for the new student recreation center. I say that because the demolition contractor is finished and has removed all its equipment.
There was a lot of separation of demolished materials, some of which likely will be salvaged and re-used / re-cycled. The hazardous materials were trucked to a landfill allowed to accept such wastes; these landfills are few and far between.
It would appear that the Jo construction contractor, I believe somebody said it is DiMeo, who does a lot of work for Yale, takes 'possession of the site on the 1st of May, and has 16 months to complete the building. That shouldn't be a problem if the contractor can install the facade and windows by winter.
I was surprised at the clay soil under the field house. Perhaps 70+ years ago, the cclay was trucked in to create a stable base for the cement floor.
The new parking lot received its top coat of asphalt, and now only needs to be striped.
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Post by sader1970 on Apr 26, 2019 8:07:23 GMT -5
Yes, 8485, I am back, but determined to be mostly a "lurker." That said, I have a question for the all-informed, Phreek. The new fieldhouse has been dubbed "The Jo" which seems to have come not from the grassroots students, as any nickname should, but from TPTB as a tribute to the current Mrs. Luth. My question is: how much did the Luth's donate to this building compared to Park Smith's wine selloff? Depending on the answer, I may start calling it "The Park." Or, if I call it "The Jo," it'll be my tribute to my late mother of the same name. Regarding the recycling materials from the old, there will be one less item they can use as it is in my study at home:
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Apr 26, 2019 9:21:07 GMT -5
Yes, 8485, I am back, but determined to be mostly a "lurker." That said, I have a question for the all-informed, Phreek. The new fieldhouse has been dubbed "The Jo" which seems to have come not from the grassroots students, as any nickname should, but from TPTB as a tribute to the current Mrs. Luth. My question is: how much did the Luth's donate to this building compared to Park Smith's wine selloff? Depending on the answer, I may start calling it "The Park." Or, if I call it "The Jo," it'll be my tribute to my late mother of the same name. Regarding the recycling materials from the old, there will be one less item they can use as it is in my study at home: The Luth's gave $15 million, in two gifts of $7.5M each. That's half the cost. Park Smith's Chateau d"Yquem and other great wines that were sold at auction in 2006 yielded $5,35 million. There was another auction in 2017, which yielded less money, and it is unclear whether the proceeds went to the Smiths, HC, or another beneficiary. As a former Marine, Smith also supports USMC-affiliated causes. At one point, Smith's cellars held 85,000 bottles, more than half of which were magnums; 14,000 bottles were sold in the 2006 auction. Park Smith in his cellar, circa 2007. Photo courtesy on NY Times. Note the oriental art. Is there a Japanese tea garden in HC's future?
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Post by rickii on Apr 26, 2019 10:35:29 GMT -5
I remember students were allowed to watch the first scrimmage HC had under Coach Donohue at the field house. The rule was you needed a ticket to get in (they could be obtained for free up until the day of the scrimmage). Students had to sit in the balcony (over the old offices). It was packed and we were cautioned not to cheer. Ah, those were the days. Re: the balcony
Never thought about it while a student but now wonder what that maybe 300-400 seat balcony was used for.
Also recall that, pre Hart, some consideration was given into converting/remodeling the field house into our hoops venue.
In addition to exams, my fondest memory is the mayhem of course registration with IBM punch cards and the dozens of lines for same in the fieldhouse. We often called this day the most important one of the year
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Post by rgs318 on Apr 26, 2019 10:50:35 GMT -5
I remember walking to the department registration tables with my copy of the student-produced course evaluation under my arm. I never was surprised by a course is I followed what the write-ups said about each course and professor. (Some faculty were not thrilled by the evalations. The books had to be printed off campus and were sold in a semi-underground fashion. They typically sold out the first day they were available. I still have a couple. When I started teaching high school, my sociology class did the same for the courses in my high school as a "class project." There were some not happy with the result, but the students did not "attack" anyone in the course evaluations and some positive changes came about as a result of the study. I always appreciated being able to use what I experienced at Holy Cross in my career as an educator/counselor.)
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Post by Tom on Apr 26, 2019 13:04:25 GMT -5
Yes, 8485, I am back, but determined to be mostly a "lurker." That said, I have a question for the all-informed, Phreek. The new fieldhouse has been dubbed "The Jo" which seems to have come not from the grassroots students, as any nickname should, but from TPTB as a tribute to the current Mrs. Luth. My question is: how much did the Luth's donate to this building compared to Park Smith's wine selloff? Depending on the answer, I may start calling it "The Park." Or, if I call it "The Jo," it'll be my tribute to my late mother of the same name. Regarding the recycling materials from the old, there will be one less item they can use as it is in my study at home: I think some of the materials used to build the new fieldhouse came from the demolished Howard Johnson's at the bottom of the hill. That's where the name came from. TPTB thought The Jo was more appropriate than The Ho. I'm not sure what the official name of the building is going to be, but the kids are going to use whatever nickname they want. It might just be called "The Gym"
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Apr 29, 2019 12:07:05 GMT -5
A short update. It seems they are widening the eastbound Upper Campus Road to allow its continued use during construction of The Jo, perhaps make it two way. That outbound portion of the road that went from Hogan to College St will be closed permanently.
The new parking lot is striped and now open
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Post by rickii on May 9, 2019 9:34:38 GMT -5
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Post by hchoops on May 10, 2019 11:45:31 GMT -5
CAUTION !! Watch at your own risk Have tissues handy
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Post by rgs318 on May 10, 2019 11:48:16 GMT -5
That video moved my wife to tears...especially when I pointed to the spot on the dirt that was once the foeldhouse floor. That was where we met back in 1965. The rest (as is said) is history.
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Post by matunuck on May 17, 2019 9:15:31 GMT -5
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Post by Chu Chu on May 17, 2019 12:37:40 GMT -5
Well, I think that balancing the inherent opposing forces of tradition vs. modernity is critical in creating a contextual response with modern functionality. The result is a contextual piece of architecture with more meaning than simply applying the forms of English Collegiate Gothic to the mass of the design, but rather captures and resects the essence of the college’s past.
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Post by rickii on May 17, 2019 12:47:28 GMT -5
Is this replacing the Flynn complex and located on Flynn's footprint ?
Obviously a larger facility needed and appears roomy enough....nice touch on the exterior matching general campus buildings. Those pools look good.
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Post by sader1970 on May 17, 2019 15:46:03 GMT -5
Did you learn how to talk like that in medical school? The recently deceased I.M. Pei would be proud of you.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on May 17, 2019 16:23:32 GMT -5
Is this replacing the Flynn complex and located on Flynn's footprint ? Obviously a larger facility needed and appears roomy enough....nice touch on the exterior matching general campus buildings. Those pools look good. Yes to the first part of the question. No to the second. Edmonds Hall was demolished. .https://www.bisnow.com/boston/news/other/skanska-lands-113m-contract-to-build-new-boston-college-recreation-center-75776
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Post by rickii on May 17, 2019 17:50:50 GMT -5
Thanks pp....so what is the future of Flynn....it's now largely unattractive no ?
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on May 17, 2019 18:13:57 GMT -5
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Post by Chu Chu on May 18, 2019 11:08:39 GMT -5
Did you learn how to talk like that in medical school? The recently deceased I.M. Pei would be proud of you. I was quoting directly from the BC article! It seems a bit pretentious and overwrought.
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 6, 2019 9:43:34 GMT -5
Periodically, Phreek and others reference the webcam showing progress on the new rec center (the "Jo," if you will ): Just took a look and it is radically changed from last time I was on campus or checked the webcam. You might find it interesting too. Hint: expand the view to full screen for a better look: www.holycross.edu/webcams/recreation-center
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Post by sader1970 on Jun 6, 2019 16:11:06 GMT -5
Not a "useless thought" at all! Of course, doing what you suggested would imply that Holy Cross was "in the entertainment business" and we could have none of that. Perhaps TPTB gave your idea some consideration but had to reject it for the reason I've stated. Ya think?
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