Hammond song

The School of Art's sculpture department moves into a brand-new state-of-the-art building this semester. But that didn't keep sculpture students, faculty, and alumni from shedding a tear or two for Hammond Hall, the decrepit former metallurgy lab on Mansfield Street that has housed the department since 1973. On December 3, the art school threw a farewell party, billed as a “wake,” for the 104-year-old building, which is to be demolished to make room for new residential colleges. Some 350 people attended, including Rachel Ann Mason ’04MFA (center), who sang a song in German to a bust of mining engineer John Hays Hammond (1855-1936), the building's namesake. (Mason had sculpted the bust while a student to replace one that went missing in the 1970s.) “The building was just magical,” says Mason. “It sometimes felt like there were ghosts in it, and when I returned, I felt them again.”

Mark Ostow

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