HOSPITAL
DUKE
m
VOL. 5, NO. 4
APRIL, 1!),')!)
DURHAM, X. C.
Research Building
Has Lusty Childhood
The William Brown Beil iieseinch
Buildiiif? will reach its teens next
year. Ready for oeexipancy in li)47,
the huildins was not dedicated and
named until after the death of Mr.
Bell in li)3(). William Bi-own Bell.
President of the Ameriean Cyanamid
C'omi)any, was a trustee of the Duke
Endowment and of Duke Tniversity.
The research building was nam('d for
him, not because he sponsored the
building:, but in reeojinition of iiis
lonf*tiine interest in medical research.
His early interest in research i1 Duke
Medical School was demonstrated
when he supported renovation and ex-
pansion of the animal quarters siif-
ficieut to quadrui>le immediately ac
cess to animals vitally iu‘ed(“d for
i-eseai-ch. In its twelve years of life
the Bell Building’ has exhibited all
the healthy vigor and restless gi'owth
of an energetic child.
Thoughts of a special ai-ea to b(> (h‘-
\oted entirely to research develo])ed
in 194f) when it became ai)parent that
all s])ace for research in the hospital
and medical school was then satu
rated. The first possibility to be con
sidered was additional si)ace attached
1) the hos])ital building-. A long con-
sider(‘d idea of a building se])aratc
from the hospital was uni)o])ulai'—the
objection raised was that no one woidd
be willing to move out of the hos])ital
and medical school. This objection
was finally overcome in March l!)4r)
when Dr. Josej)!! W. Beard, Kxperi-
mental Surgei-y, and Dr. Hans Neu-
rath, Biochemistry, agreed to move if
a building were built. Problems of
financing in l!)4r)—with the fighting
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
JL.X.
■ ■■Mil ll.»' >*; V L '
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KjH
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1
♦
W’^illiam Brown Bell Research Building
in World War 11 still going on—w'ere
acute. 'I'he original stake in the Re-
seai'ch Bnildiiifr was .$10,000, w’hich
the Rockefeller Foundation had allo
cated for a small animal house. When
tilt' building opened in June 1947, it
was a complete unit containing labora-
toi-ies and animal (piarters; in addi
tion to the Rockefeller Foundation
grant it had been financed by funds
from the Duke Endowment, the De-
])ai'tments of Medicine ami Surgery,
and the Dorothy Beard Reseai-ch
Fund ; and its total cost was $1!)0,000.
Oni' addition after another, financed
by l)nk(‘ I'niversity, by gifts from
the staff of Duke Medical (Jenter, by
grants from the U. S. Public Health
Service and the Markle Foundation,
has been made to the original rectan
gular structure. First a wing was
added to form a T; then another to
form an II; then an extensicm of the
cross-bar on the H ; and now' under
construction another segment parallel
to the original building. From the
first >|il0,000 allocated for the animal
house, has grown a structure which—
with ecpiipTuent—is worth two million
dollars or more. With bas(imeut and
three floors it contains about 100,000
s(juare feet of space (Duke Hospital
has 841,‘214 s(piai-e feet of building) ;
in it some KJO |)ersons spend all or
part of their time on a variety of re
search projects; and in 1058 close to
a million dollars from many sources
sup])orted the research housed there.
The basic concept of the Bell Build
ing is that it shall provide research
s])ace for any medical school (lei)art-
ment that wants it. Allocation of
space in the building is not related
to the financial contribution to con
struction or ecpiipment nuide by a par-
(Continued on page 7)