Harvard Union
Encyclopedia
Harvard Union, now known as the Barker Center and once known as the Freshman Union, is a historic building on Quincy and Harvard Streets in Cambridge, Massachusetts
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s at Harvard College
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It was "made possible by the gift of Mr. Henry Lee Higginson
, who was the donor also of Soldier's Field, and is a club which every member of the university may join; the annual dues are ten dollars. It has a very large and fine building, with a magnificent hall, comfortable reading-rooms, pleasant dining-rooms, and a good library. But its very size and comprehensiveness prevent it from fulfilling one of the most important functions of a club, the promotion of friendships. It serves many useful purposes, it makes a convenient rallying-point, but there is in it no club feeling or life. "
The Union later functioned as a general dining hall for students. Its interior was mostly demolished when Harvard University, having obtained the building, turned it into the Barker Center for Humanities in the late 20th Century. The Union was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
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History
The union was built in 1900 by McKim, Mead & White. The concept of the union was to provide a social space to students otherwise not members of the more exclusive final clubFinal club
A final club is an undergraduate social club at Harvard College.- Origins :The historical basis for the name final clubs is that Harvard used to have a variety of clubs for freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, with students of different years being in different clubs, and the "final clubs"...
s at Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
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It was "made possible by the gift of Mr. Henry Lee Higginson
Henry Lee Higginson
Henry Lee Higginson was a noted American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.-Family and Early Life:...
, who was the donor also of Soldier's Field, and is a club which every member of the university may join; the annual dues are ten dollars. It has a very large and fine building, with a magnificent hall, comfortable reading-rooms, pleasant dining-rooms, and a good library. But its very size and comprehensiveness prevent it from fulfilling one of the most important functions of a club, the promotion of friendships. It serves many useful purposes, it makes a convenient rallying-point, but there is in it no club feeling or life. "
The Union later functioned as a general dining hall for students. Its interior was mostly demolished when Harvard University, having obtained the building, turned it into the Barker Center for Humanities in the late 20th Century. The Union was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.