An MIT Alumni Association Publication
Guest Blogger: Debbie Levey, CEE Technical Writer

Relocating from Boston to the new 1916 Cambridge campus solved many of MIT’s problems of cramped classrooms and inadequate lab space. However, students complained loudly about the lack of proper athletic facilities. When President Karl Compton announced plans for a new field house at the 1934 commencement, The Tech reported excitedly that the new building would double the current facilities for track, basketball, wrestling, squash, and other sports.

The brand-new Barbour Field House in 1934
The brand-new Barbour Field House in 1934.

Funded by the estate of MIT benefactor Edmund Dana Barbour, construction on the new Barbour field house began that July under the supervision of Professor Walter Voss of the Building Engineering and Construction Department (old Course 17) and Albert Smith, superintendent of buildings and power.

By fall, students marveled at the new one-story building of yellow brick. At the dedication on October 26, 1934, The Tech described how the new athletic center filled “a long felt need in athletics and at the same time replac[ed] one of the campus eyesores.” Lockers to accommodate 1,000 men was “a distinct enlargement over the previous locker space…. Although the building had no windows, skylights filled every room with soft light.”

The Tech reporter concluded, “The entire building is completely air conditioned and is a far cry from the draughty old building that was the hang-out of the athletes previously.”

Like the rest of campus, the field house adapted to different needs during World War II. From 1943 to 1944, much of the space became a temporary civilian cafeteria while military personnel occupied Walker. Campus maps in the early 1950s label it as the student activities building.

As campus expanded, the Barbour Field House was replaced in 1956 by the Compton Laboratories (Bldg. 26) and the Dorrance Building (Bldg. 16). Demolishing the former Westgate veterans’ housing in the late 1950s provided much more space for athletic fields on West Campus. The new Student Center (W20), dedicated in 1965.

As student interest in sports increased, DuPont Athletic Center opened in October 1959 and, unlike Barbour, included a women’s locker room. In 2002, the new Zesiger Center added an Olympic size swimming pool, fitness center, indoor track and flexible space. Today, the vast majority of MIT students participate in some type of physical activity at varsity, club, intramural, or recreational levels.

Thanks to Robert Doane and Ariel Weinberg of the MIT Museum for information and photos.