Brown University

 I drove through Providence on Tuesday on my way to play golf with friends in eastern Massachusetts.  So long as I was in town, I stopped at my alma mater, Brown University, for a sandwich and a fifteen minute walk around.  The place looked great.

Faunce House encloses the northern end of the college green.  It is the equivalent of a student union.  A Henry Moore statue has been added since I was there.

Until four years ago, this handsome building housed 19 small classrooms.  Now, named for the donors who funded the extensive renovations, Friedman Hall is home to seven spacious, light-filled classrooms across its three floors, as well as common areas for students to study and gather informally.

This is the entrance to Wriston Quadrangle, built in the late 1950s to house male undergraduates and fraternities.  It is now coed.  Few fraternities remain.

Sayles Hall anchors the east end of the college green.  It hosts concerts and large gatherings.  It is said to be modeled after H.H.Richardson's Trinity Church in Boston.

The Van Wickle Gates lead to a small green behind University Hall, the administration building.  The central Van Wickle Gates are closed at all times except for opening inward to receive new students in the fall and outward in the spring to send graduates into the world.

The John Carter Brown Library is a center for advanced research in history and the humanities.  In my four years on the campus, I never set foot in the building.  A few years ago I entered during an open house on a reunion weekend.  It was very impressive.  

Lyman Hall had a dark and smelly swimming pool when I was a student.  All athletic facilities have been relocated to grand new buildings elsewhere.  Lyman Hall now has a theater and dance studio.