firm active: 1907-1921 minneapolis, minnesota :: chicago, illinois philadelphia, pennsylvania :: portland, oregon

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Chi Psi Fraternity House, alterations
University of Minnesota
Purcell, Feick and Elmslie
Minneapolis, Minnesota  1911

Text by William Gray Purcell
Parabiographies entry, Volume for 1911

Job Date (in Parabiographies): 1911

CHI PSI HOUSE, University Avenue

To build a fraternity initiation room in the very low-ceilinged basement of an old residence was a difficult problem. Tom Wallace got us to do the work, and the whole thing was carried out with a fervor of secrecy which seemed a bit silly. We were not allowed to see the room, and supervision was all done with Tom as intermediary. The carpenters and painters could hardly have been blindfolded. We used horizontal paneling, emphasizing every horizontal feature we could find, so as to discount the low ceiling. The design was set in a rather rugged set of values to go with some heavy craftsman furniture they were buying. Tom said the result was highly satisfactory.
 

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   Collection: William Gray Purcell Papers, Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota [AR:B4d1.5]