Harvard Lampoon Building
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Harvard Lampoon Building
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| Location | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°22′17.8″N 71°7′2.5″W / 42.371611°N 71.117361°W |
| Built | 1909 |
| Architect | Wheelwright, Edmund M. |
| Architectural style | Mock Flemish |
| NRHP Reference # | 78000440 |
| Added to NRHP | March 30, 1978 |
The Harvard Lampoon Building (sometimes referred to as the Lampoon Castle) is a historic building in Cambridge, Massachusetts that is best known as the home of The Harvard Lampoon and for its unusual design.
The building was constructed at 44 Bow Street not far from Harvard Yard and close to the "Gold Coast" of residences for undergraduates of Harvard College before the creation of Harvard's "house system" (some of them now part of Adams House). Designed by Edmund M. Wheelwright, who also oversaw the construction, it was first opened on February 19, 1909. Wheelwright had attended Harvard University and was one of the founders of the Harvard Lampoon. Wheelwright's design was inspired in part by an old church in Jamestown, Virginia, and by the Flemish Renaissance details of Auburn Street buildings in its vicinity. The building has been described as a "Satirical Castle". Seen from directly front, the building bears an obvious resemblance to a human face wearing a Prussian helmet, complete with spike.
During the construction phase of the project he traveled to Europe to procure appropriate furnishings and windows. He purchased leaded windows in Belgium and an Elizabethan mantelpiece in England. The building also features 17th-century Delft tiles that were imported from the Netherlands. The Delft tiles are blue, white, and aubergine. The tiles were used in a room with an open ceiling and plain furniture and timbers.
The building features a copper ibis, symbol of the Lampoon, mounted on the top of the dome. The statue is roughly 4 feet (1.2 m) high and weighs roughly 70 pounds (32 kg). Though it was first installed in 1909, it has frequently been stolen and returned ever since. On one occasion members of The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper and rival of the Lampoon, which issues an annual Crimson parody issue, stole the statue and presented it as a gift to the Russian delegation to the UN. After initially promising to install it on top of a building at Moscow State University, the delegation returned the statue.
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