Verdant yet flawed.
For an alphabetical index of the New England College series of pieces, click here.
Founded in 1813, Colby College is home to 1,800 undergraduates and encompasses 714 acres in central Maine, some 50 miles north of Lewiston-Auburn. The school has a strong liberal arts tradition and is in excellent repair throughout.
Our visit here was a mixed bag for while the college has a vibrantly verdant setting there is no sense of a cohesive whole that is to be found in other schools. Frankly, much of this impression is based on the architecture, frequently shockingly bad and the use of the main building as a library is a very poorly done conversion. Most books were shipped offsite and the awful low ceilings quite destroy the interior in contrast to the superb exterior.
A verdant setting.
Poor architecture.
Farmhouse brick style does not cut it; tent remains from the past weekend’s graduation ceremonies.
Not even the poor weather obscures the beauty of the Miller Library ….
…. yet the interior with its low ceilings and chintzy furniture could hardly be worse.
More farmhouse architecture. These people cannot even get bricks right ….
…. and when it comes to glass and steel the result is downright awful. This is the art museum.
This is what passes as seating inside the museum, amply counterpointed by the ugly, rusted cube outside.
More chintzy mediocrity in the Lunder Reading Room, though the photography library is extensive and excellent.
I can only think a sarcastic comedian made this banality the center of the art displays. This is Frederick R. Spencer’s ‘The Harriott Children’ of 1844 and must surely be one of the worst formal portraits ever painted. Even the dog looks like he shared a plastic surgeon with the First Lady.
More kitsch. This horror is Paul Manship’s ‘Dancer & Gazelles’ of 1916.
Duh!
Well, the toilets are nice ….
No stopping this Olin chap, whose guilt extends to yet another building on a New England campus.
This works ….
…. whereas this needs nothing so much as a wrecker’s ball.
The Lorimer Chapel is fine but rather hidden away in a corner of the campus.
The main quad from the Miller Library.
There’s no arguing with the presentation of the Miller Library.
So the question for aspiring entrants is not so much the academic standards, which are fine, but whether they can live with so much mediocre architecture, and having to do so for four years could constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
Alumni of Colby College include a bunch of politicos, including economist Eric Rosengren of the Fed, Billy Bush of pu**y grabbing fame and the fine historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.