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By
Elizabeth Walker
The future of the College looked bright to Fr. McFarland when he arrived on
campus last summer, but his wood-ceilinged and panel-walled office was definitely
dim. The new president addressed that situation with a simple request, "Let
there be light!" Physical plant very quickly restored to the raftered ceiling
of the president's office the suspended glass and bronze lamps that had illuminated,
for 70 years, the "sanctum sanctorum," as it was
called in a 1925 Tomahawk article; the lights were removed in the early
1990s. The increased wattage brightened the office and once again showcased
the beauty of the Idaho pine that has "gift-wrapped" its walls since the mid-1920s,
thanks to the family of James A. Buckhout '21
of New York City.
The Buckhout family gave the College a generous, handsome and ultimately practical
gift of $50,000 worth of fine woods during Fr. Dinand's tenure as president.
The family's unusual gift made possible the refurbishing of the suite of offices
in Fenwick Hall, known then as, "the Fr. Rector's office, anteroom, general waiting
area and vestibule." The Buckhouts' generosity also provided the paneling that
was installed along Fenwick's main corridor.
Although later dubbed "mahogany row," the walls that hold the distinguished portraits
of the Holy Cross presidents are actually covered in oak with
a mahogany stain.
As it was reported in the same 1925 Tomahawk story, "Gone are the old
red walls . the old square ceiling of the corridor is being vaulted and stupendous
changes are being wrought day by day ... The room next to
the Dean's Office is to be the new office of Fr. Rector, and will be paneled
with knotted pine with a raftered ceiling after the old English style ..."
Among those "stupendous changes" was the addition of a large fireplace to the
far wall, "counterbalanced by a bookcase" below a carved clock. A handsome wood
carving of St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius was hung
above the fireplace mantel. It is still there, as are the smaller carved
likenesses of Bishop Fenwick, and Frs. Fitton, O'Kane and Hanselman that adorn
the walls. The wooden plaques were gifts from alumni, friends
and the "lay professors" of the College. The massive rector's desk, which
was destroyed in the 1988 fire in that office, was donated by the Holy Cross
Club of New York. Several days before that fire, Fr. Brooks had moved back into
the office after the completion of three weeks of extensive repair work following
a flood from a pipe that burst in the ceiling.
The 1926 renovation continued into the "anteroom" or assistant's office,
with the expectation that "it would be second only in magnificence." From the
top of its three-quarter-height gumwood panels, silver velour reached to the
ceiling. The velour is long gone, but the walls of the outer room, then known
as the "general waiting room," are still adorned with "large
picture panels." The intricate wood carvings in the centers of the panels include
the seals of the Society of Jesus, Holy Cross, the Papacy, the House of Loyola,
the Diocese of Worcester and the State of Massachusetts. The vestibule just inside
the main entrance to Fenwick, was not overlooked. To this day, the beauty of
the oak panels and elaborate oaken ceiling in
the vestibule are considered "a fitting prelude to the grandeur of the inner
rooms."
In the 75 years since Jim Buckhout's parents' gift to the College caused "stupendous
changes" to the Fenwick offices and main corridor, the beauty of the fine woods
they gave has yet to dim. In fact, with the frequent dusting and occcasional
dose of oil each panel receives, the wood, like the future of the College, seems
brighter than ever, thanks to the generosity of its alumni, parents and great
friends.
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