Dartmouth Sports has a press release for the completion of the West Stands, and the Big Green Alert Blog has been publishing photos all along, including on July 1, August 19, and September 24 (completion, and the first interior views).

The Valley News article on the Lone Pine logo contained this intriguing note:

Searching for a concept to provide a sort of mental home-field advantage for his troops, Teevens came up with the idea of “The Woods” a few years back. He once coached at the University of Florida, where the football field is known as “The Swamp” and decided something similar should grace Memorial Field. The nickname is used in promotional materials and videos, and plans are in the works for the phrase and the Lone Pine logo to be painted on the facade of the refurbished west stands.

One hopes that the school’s architectural office, the Office of Design, gives the football team some design assistance here.

It is difficult to tell from photos alone whether the designers had a part in relocating the constellation of plaques that has moved from the War Memorial Garden at the Hop to Memorial Field (see the photo at Big Green Alert).

The stands were built as a First World War memorial, of course, and the memorial heart of the building was the high-vaulted, open entrance chamber of limestone and brick. That memorial room has been demolished; it is understandable that Dartmouth could not afford to preserve the building’s entry, or that the openings were too narrow for the new stairs. The college did salvage the small number of First World War plaques from the walls and has put them up again in circumstances that seem somewhat less reverential than before.

As a generic all-wars memorial, the stands feature a green wall — is it painted concrete, or painted wood? — with some plaques¹One does miss the old tradition of putting the date of dedication on a plaque. Attention to wording also seems to be declining: One noble plaque, generously given by surviving classmates, honors the “men who served in WWII and those who gave their lives for their country,” implying that those who gave their lives did not serve, and omitting an indication of the category to which the 24 names belong. attached — including the Class of 1945 Weather Post plaque, apparently separated now from its temperature and pressure dials. This building does seem to be a good place to relocate the plaques if the upcoming Hop expansion requires the use of the garden space. One hopes that the plaques were not moved here for thematic reasons alone.

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