Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building
Address3, Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number330
Building Root Number
04405
Architect (Original)
Howells and Stokes
Land Acquired
1816
Constructed 1914
Building Acquired 1914
Constructed 1914
Building Acquired 1914
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named for Fanny Peabody Mason a noted benefactor to the Harvard music program.Historical NotesThe Music Building was originally built in 1914 to a design by the New York-based firm of Howells and Stokes (John Mead Howells, A.B. 1891). The original construction included Paine Hall. In 1955-56 the Eda Loeb Music Library was added (to a design by Stanley Parker). And in 1970-72 the Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building was added (designed by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott of Boston). In 1997, a small renovation created new office space for the music department.The building was initially funded with an anonymous donation of $80,000 and later by various donors including James Loeb, Paul and Felix Warburg and Dave Hennen Morris. In 1911, a fund was raised by subscription for general maintenance.
Paine Hall is named after John Knowles Paine (1839-1906), American composer and organist, and Harvard's first music professor.
Additional Information
Edna Kuhn Music Library
G. Wallace Woodworth Listening Room
Aldrich Reading Room
Spalding Room
Davison Room
Seeger Room
Isham Memorial Library
“Newest of Harvard’s New Buildings.” Boston Evening Transcript, 11 Nov. 1914, p. 20.
Brinkmann, Reinhold. Harvard's Paine Hall : Musical Canon & the New England Barn. Cambridge, Mass., 2010. Loeb Music Library call number ML200.8.C25 H3 2010.
Printed Ephemera Relating to Harvard University, 1865-2005. Houghton Library call number MS Thr 1037 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.Hough:hou02531.
Harvard University. Department of Music. Records of the Music Department, 1904-1959. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 587.xx.
Spalding, W. "The Music Building." The Harvard Graduates' Magazine. Mar 1, 1913, Vol. 21:83, p.443. https://books.google.com/books?id=ty9YAAAAYAAJ&dq=the%20music%20building%20w.%20spalding%20harvard%20graduates%20magazine&pg=PA443#v=onepage&q=the%20music%20building%20w.%20spalding%20harvard%20graduates%20magazine&f=false.
General Information by and About the Music Building and Paine Hall. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1583.2.
"News and Reviews of the Music World: New Music Building for Harvard Assured by the Endowment Fund - Music in College Training - Henry Grafton Chapman's Death." New York Times, Jan 26, 1913, pp. 1.
Lucky, Jared T. “Paine Hall Opens After Renovations.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 26 Feb. 2012, www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/2/26/paine-hall-quartet-renovation.
"$25,000 Toward Fund for Harvard Music." The Christian Science Monitor, Oct 03, 1912, pp. 1.
"Harvard Given Music Building: Will be Built at Once at Cost of $80,000. Fund of $50,000 Subscribed for its Maintenance. Will be Used for Lectures and by Organizations." Boston Daily Globe, Jan 16, 1913, pp. 15.
"Harvard Music Building Plan Includes an Organ: Professor Spalding, Head of Department, Proposes Complete Equipment for Productions of Every Sort Raising Money not Expected to be Difficult." The Christian Science Monitor, Sep 26, 1913, pp. 1.
“$450,000 Music Library to Rise by Fall of 1956.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 1 June 1955, www.thecrimson.com/article/1955/6/1/450000-music-library-to-rise-by.
“Harvard Music Building.” Boston Evening Transcript, 28 Apr. 1902, p. 8.
“New Music Building Planned for Harvard.” Boston Evening Transcript, 29 Apr. 1902, p. 2.
“Music Building Nearer.” Boston Evening Transcript, 22 Dec. 1911, p. 13.
Harvard University Archives. Construction Management Records, ca. 1953-1986. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 298.8000
Forbes, Elliot. A History of Music at Harvard to 1972. Harvard University Department of Music, 1988.
“Gift of $80,000. Made for Building for Musical Department at Harvard - Other University Building Operations.” Cambridge Tribune, 16 Dec. 1911.
“Site of New Music Building.” Harvard Crimson, 11 Mar. 1913, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1913/3/11/site-of-new-music-building-pthe/.
“Building for Department of Music, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.” American Architect, vol. 109, no. 2113, Jan. 1916, pp. 402–03.
Weber, Paul J. Photographs of Harvard University Buildings and Grounds Taken by Paul J. Weber, Ca. 1929-1931 and 1939. Harvard University Archives call number HUV 2329