THE DAILY TAR HEEL
Monday, October 11, 1965
Page 2
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CHARLIE (CHOO-CHOO)
An Artists Palette With A
By JOHN V. ALLCOTT
That prevading tan of the
if
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-it
jry
PERSON HALL TODAY, a detail from the wall which
faces Old West. The wash has been removed reveal
ing the 1795 wall laid in Flemish bond, a shimmering
example of "colonial" brickwork.
- :r:. - - - 'i vA--f
PERSON HALL IN 1919,
as a chapel, Person was
of rectangular windows
VP
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JUSTICE
old buildings in the vicinity of
the Old Well is part of every
freshman's first impression of
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Boas ks
showing wash and paint. Built
given arched windows instead
as on other campus buildings.
Carrying The Olympic Torch For UNC
(Continued from Page 1)
baseball player. The name
was George Stirnweiss, who
answered to the sobriquet of
Snuffy. George played every
thing basketball, baseball
and football. He played them
well.
After his Carolina eligibility
expired, Snuffy turned to pro
fessional baseball. He fitted
the Yankee mold and became
a fine second baseman, dar
ing on the double play and a
smart base runner. In 1946,
Stirnweiss led the American
League in hitting with a .309
mark.
Stirny died a few years
ago. He was riding a train
that wrecked on the outskirts
of New York. This brings to
mind a great friend and col
league of Snuffy's, handy
Andy Bershak. An All-America
end in 1937, Bershak later
was to die of Bright's disease.
Thoughts turn to basketball
and the team comes before the
individual. The year was 1957
and a sports miracle was to
transpire. The Tar Heels of
the hardwood went through an
entire season without a loss.
It meant the National Cham
pionship at Kansas City with
a one-point victory over Kan
sas and the Jayhawker star,
Wilt Chamberlain.
It was a team of talent and
fortitude and an amazing lack
of nervousness. Often it was
behind. Never did the im
mense pressure stir panic.
The fabulous five seemed to
know what was ahead.
A thin kid who looked as if
he needed a care box from
the campus. And as each per
son through the years discov
ers the individual walks, door
ways, wall, cracks, corner
stones, statues, and one-by-one
other parts and aspects
of the old campus, that tan
color is always there. It
mounts in ones mind as a spe
cial topic for wonder anfl med
itation. All of these buildings are
brick. Some are washed with
a brown - tinted cement un
der which one can see the
bricks. Others are stuccoed
smooth, and are incised in
"blocks" to suggest stone con
struction. The color varies
from building to building. Here
it is clear and strong; there,
a layer of paint has flaked
off to reveal a redder wash
underneath.
Have you yet had the good
fortune to leave your office
late on an afternoon after
a rain to see these build
ings wet and orange in sun
light and purple in shadow?
The old campus was not al
ways washed tan. Through the
late 18th and early 19th cen
tury the buildings stood as
red brick. The change from
red to brown came in the
1840's as part of an early Vic
torian fashion which swept
through American architecture
of the times.
The new fashion was anti
colonial, tired of those overly
cheerful colonial buildings
with their sparkling red brick
and white mortar walls. It was
associated with the romantic
revival of classical temples,
gothic and other historical
styles of stone buildings. But,
in direct language, the new
taste was a taste for itself,
for stucco and for plain sur
faces. Not for structures made
of stone placed on real stone,
or for design developing from
using brick as visible brick,
but for stripped-down volumes
The central door which faced the campus, and also a
door which faced the campus, and also a door visible
at right, have now become windows.
Europe was the scoring star.
Name: Lennie Rosenbluth."
The ball was a hot rivet in
his hands. He got rid of it
quickly, usually in the direc
tion of the basket. When the
heat was on, Lennie's accur
acy increased.
Other members of the start
ing family were Tommy
Kearns, Bob Cunningham,
Pete Brennan and Joe Quigg.
The latter two were tall and
rebound hungry. Kearns was
the cocky quarterback. At tip
off time in the NCAA finals,
Tommy, 5-11, jumped at cen
ter against Chamberlain, 7-1.
It was good for a laugh but
most folks believe that Tom
my inwardly felt he could
control the ball.
Basketball has been superb
at Carolina season after sea
son. Do not leave the scene
without a tribute to George
Glamack. He was a two-time
All- America from 194&41.
He developed a hook shot that
had the appeal of a fan dance
by Sally Rand. George, the
famed Blond Bomber, was
scoring 20 points back when
that total decided some
games. In 1941, he hit 45
against Clemson.
Cross-Country
Each sport has championed
its great ones. Jack Milne,
packed with stamina, was the
NCAA cross - country cham
pion almost 20 years ago.
Track at UNC gave Harry
Williamson, Chuck Simmons,
Bill Albans and Jimmy Beat
ty to the U. S. Olympic forces.
Beatty, an All-America dis
in the magical substance of
stucco.
The above ideas are cov
ered in how-to-do-it books writ
ten for masons and builders of
the time. For example, in
"The Model Architect," 1852,
by Samuel Sloane. Sloane, in
cidentally, was the designer of
the Governor's Mansion in Ra
leigh, and of our Old Me
morial Hall, now destroyed.
In talking about fine homes
Sloane expresses a taste which
applies to public buildings as
well:
"It now seems conceded on
all hands that brick buildings
are out of place in this coun
try. Wooden buildings are too
perishable, and stone is dif
ficult to obtain. How then can
we erect a handsome and
pemant dwelling? The walls
must be of brick, and the ex
terior stuccoed. Many have
thought to introduce an im
provement here by pointing
the surface in imitation of
stone. If a design for a stone
building is executed in stucco,
then this artifice must be re
sorted to; but if the building
be for stucco, such an imita
tion destroys the original ef
fect. The present tastes and
economical views of the times,
demands such imitations; but
if architects were allowed to
exercise their own taste, they
would exclude all such absurd
ities. Any Color Walls
The walls could be tinted
any color that suggested itself
to Victorian fancy, such as
lavendar or green. The high
spirited Baptists at Brown Uni
versity in 1834 covered the
venerable colonial walls of
University Hall with green
At Chapel Hill the change of
color came within a thorough
going program of "improve
ments" in the 1840's and 50's.
Sports History At UNC
tance man here, later became
the first American to eclipse
the four-minute mile. How
Jimmy did it is Jimmy's se
cret. His size went against
him at 5-5 1-2. Bigger, strong
er guys took strides twice his
measurement. But nobody
challenged Jimmy Beatty and
got away with it. Most of his
127 pounds was heart.
Thompson Mann rates
swimming's top accolade. A
Carolina co-captain and one of
the great competitors of the
Atlantic Coast Conference, he
made the Olympic team and
set a world mark in the back
stroke. It was a gold medal
at Tokyo for the young Vir
ginian who is now in medical
school at Richmond.
Mann was one of five All
Americas on the Carolina
team his senior year. His
style was smooth and efficient.
He improved steadily and
strength gained the summer
of the Olympics set him in
business as one of the na
tions finest swimmers.
Another Tar Heel, now an
assistant coach, was a gold
medal winner at Tokyo. He is
Larry Brown, a transplanted
New Yorker who will be pro
fessor of freshman basketball
this winter. Larry was the
mastermind of the American
cage team which swept aside
all competition, defeating Rus
sia in the finals.
Lacrosse is a relatively new
sport on campus. Yet, Jeff
Parker, who owns the phy
sique of Davie Crockett, earn
ed third team All-America
honors last spring. He scored
Thousand Shades Of Tan
During this period the cam
pus was transformed from its
original, rude state to one of
order and control.
Let us visit the campus on
the eve of the transformation.
The accompanying diagram
shows the buildings which ex
isted then. Two men were
prominent in developments to
come. David L. Swain, former
Governor of North Carolina,
and since 1836 the President
of the University. And Pro
fessor Elisha Mitchell, "walk
ing encyclopedia," chemist,
mathematician, botanibt, min
eralogist, surveyor the man
whose name was given to the
mountain whose height he
measured, sometime bursar of
the University, and Superin
tendent of buildings and
grounds.
In 1836 Mitchell wrote in his
journal, "The wall was com
menced on the fourth of July."
This is the famous old rock
wall around the campus, made
from stones which had lain
strewn over the ground. Mitch
ell killed off campus disorder
and vague boundaries with the
same stones.
Campus Beautified
In 1838 the Trustees author
ized the thinning of the trees
around the campus and the
planting of ornamental and
shade trees. The following year
they granted $3,000 for the
repair of buildings and
grounds. This grant and con
tinuation grants in successive
years enabled the University
to plant trees and lay out
walks. And of course the
grant meant "go" on the proj
same stones.
Campus Beautified
Mitchell inquired of U. S.
Army Engineers, "What will
be the cheapest and most dur
able way for improving the
appearance of the exterior
walls of the college build
ings. He was given information on
experimental construction in
cement for cisterns and even
for "edifices!" He was in
structed on stucco. And he
was told about "wash to pre
serve brick walls, this mode
of covering decidedly prefer
able to repairing the mortar
in the joints. But it is a mat
ter of taste you know. This
mode is the fashion of the
day."
President Swain inquired of
Paton, the man in charge of
construction of the impressive
stone Capitol building just be
ing finished in Raleigh. Paton
lived in a grand stone realm
high above repair jobs and
brick jobs; he relayed the in
quiry to someone below. The
reply to him read:
"Sir, you inquired on what
mode was adopted in Phila
delphia to improve the out
side appearance of brick and
stone buildings. This is done
by giving it two coats of plas
tering after which it is trow
elled smooth. Then it is struck
out in blocks of the proper
size, and the joints penciled.
Finally the whole is sprinkled
with a preparation that gives
it the blue cast peculiar to
granite which it resembles so
nearly as to decieve the most
practiced eye, exept on a close
examination."
Paton's practiced eye must
have turned stoney as he
read these optimistic words.
seven goals against Virginia
last season.
When Vic Seixas took
racquet in hand, he moved
much in the same manner as
Doug Fairbanks, the silent
screen idol, with sword.
Graceful, swift and poised,
Seixas won Southern Confer
ence honors as a Tar Heel,
later was listed as the nation's
M f
BIG JIM
He sent the information along
to President Swain with the
caution, "Should you wash the
fronts of the buildings in the
way proposed without their be
ing benefited they will lose
their architectural character
and be without beauty or ex
pression." No Stucco
Paton also gave President
Swain an estimate of the cost
of stuccoing, $1 per square
yard. And it was probably this
stiff price which caused the
University to give up the idea
of stucco in favor of simple
wash. A few days later Pres
ident Swain wrote to a friend,
"We are about to change the
dull aspect of the exterior of
the college edifices by cover
ing them with a preparation
made of equal quantities of
Roman cement and common
unslaked lime, with the addi
tion of one tenth of sulphuric
acid to the quantity of water
with which thehfenntttttttthhn
and it was a success. An im
portant North Carolina news
paper, The Raleigh Register,
took note of it in an article
on commencement activities
for 1841:
"Our University ... the eye
of the visitor cannot but be
struck with the improvements
which have been made in the
external appearance of the
University within the last
three or four years. The dark
colored walls of the buildings
have been clad in a lighter
livery, forming a tasteful con
trast with the deep green of
the surrounding foliage. The
'Campus' will soon be en
closed within a neat and sub
stantial stone wall. Trees have
been set out in various parts
of the college area, and the
venerable old grove has been
so grubbed and trimmed and
thinned, as to lose much of
its rude forest garb. These im
provements, however, altho'
pleasing to the eye of every
one who remembers how long
that lovely place lay in its na
tive rudeness, do not convey
lo the heart half so much pleas
ure as is derived from wit
nessing the improved deport
MEW wesr
66RR.ACD
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No. 1 player. He took the big
one at Wimbledon. A year ago
he was honored by being
named captain of America's
Davis Cup team.
Like Seixas. Harvie Ward
had the dash and flair of an
actor. He wasn't rugged of
stature, but when he siapped
a golf ball it took off for the
great beyond. Harvie won the
BFATTY
ment of the young men of the
institution."
About five years later addi
tional wash was required to
cover new construction on the
campus, the extensions of Old
East and of Old West, with the
great facades looking to
Franklin Street. The designer
was the distinguished Ameri
can architect, Alexander Jack
son Davis, who earlier had
been a member of the firm
which designed the Capitol in
Raleigh.
Davis dreamed of covering
the old and new parts of the
buildings with great pilasters .
and stucco decorations. He
had to suppress these grandi
ose ideas, but his final design
was in terms of stucco. And
he got "Mr. 'Gill, the stucco
man" to ovver to come down
to Chapel Hill and do the job
for 50 cents a square yard,
half the price which Paton
had quoted earlier.
And a local bidder, Dabney
Cosby, offered to do the work
"in good stile such as is only
to be seen in Pittsboro, for 40
cents a yard, and from here to
Boston, I recken, at 50 cents."
But the University could not
yet venture into the luxury of
stucco, and the new additions
were merely washed.
The washing of the new parts
of Old East and Old West mad
the previously washed old
parts look a little sad. A small
matter you might think, but it
was of great concern in 1847.
This was the year of the Polk
Commencement, when Presi
dent Polk "revisited his Alma
Mater after an absence of 29
years." Within an all - out
hustle and bustle of prepara
tions for the President and his
suite the old parts were re
washed. The next development, at
long last, of course, was stuc
co. It. arrived as encasement
for a wonderful new ballroom,
now become the Playmaker's
Theater. Students and social
ly conscious alumni had been
agitating for a ballroom "to
promote gentility" for 15
years, and the Polk Com
mencement only pointed up the
need for one.
PERSON
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National Amateur and the
British Amateur. He had a fol
lowing like the Beatles when
he strolled the links.
William R. Kenan
He wasn't one of Carolina's
greatest athletes, but no man
has ever given more to his
school in spirit and material
than the late William Rand
Kenan Jr. Good halfback as a
footballer and a baseball play
er as well in the 1890s, Ke
nan went on to become an in
dustrial tycoon. He always
remembered his University.
Kenan Stadium, regarded
by many as the nation's most
picturesque football arena, is
a gift from the former athlete.
His interest and donations to
Carolina's athletic program
was immense. Death took Ke
nan at the age of 93 last sum
mer. The names roll off the
tongue easily. Justice, Weiner,
Severin, Ramsey Potts, Arch
ie Henderson, Pete Greene,
Branch, McDonald, Dillon,
Bill Haywood, Harrison Mer
rill, Burgess Whitehead, Rip
Hawkins, Donnie Thomas,
Barclay, Cunningham, Bren
nan, Willard, Carmichael,
Quarles and a telephone direc
tory more.
The school has never been
without the big ones. The little
ones were there, too, working
diligently. There will be oth
ers to add to a list now long
and respected. There is some
thing about Carolina that de
mands athletic excellence.
Tar Heel athletes can fill a
sizeable section of any Who's
Who in sports.
Image Important
But public image was as im
portant in those days as now,
and how could the University
dance and maintain its sober
posture? Where there was a
will there came a way. Davis
designed a library, the book
shelves around its walls to be
covered by "muslin curtains
(painted with flowers), . . .
at library hours to be rolled
up like window curtains," and
at non - library hours to be
rolled down again for the ball.
The library had a "music gal
lery." On the exterior walls
Davis got his stucco pilasters
all around.
The next buildings erected
on the campus, New East and
New West, were also stucco.
Their present charming patina
is a by-product of drastic re
modelling. They complete our
group of tan old buildings;
after them came the Civil
War which stopped campus
projects for 25 years.
The fashion for wash and
stucco ran its course, and in
time gave way to other en
thusiasms. One of these has
to be noted here: the return
of colonial. Old University
Hall at Brown University, for
example, "for more than 70
years hidden under green
stucco," was restored to co
lonial in 1905. And the brown
wash was removed from some
of our buildings, partially
from South, and with determi
nation from Person Hall. But
today, alas, the original brick
walls of these buildings are
being devoured by yet anoth
er new fashion, that for ivy.
To students who would like
to find out something more
about the old buildings, go
out on the campus. Check the
points we have mentioned, and
you will be surprised at what
other points you discover. A
short, lively account of the old
campus is found in "An Ad-,
dress on the History of t h e
Buildings of the University,"
delivered by Kemp Battle in
1883, when he was President
of the University. Copies of
this pamphlet are in The Car
olina Room at The Wilson Li
brary, and in Art Library.
PLAYAKGS