3 I BUILDINGS AND BUDGETS ^ 51 



HE PERSON ARRIVING at the MBL first encounters Swope, the check-in center for 

 the entire laboratory as well as a major dormitory and dining hall. Until 

 1981 check-in took place in the Lillie Building, and if one arrived after 5 p.m. 

 or on a weekend, he or she had to wait patiently until the watchman 

 returned from his appointed rounds. It is still easiest to arrive during a 

 weekday. 



BittCdin^s OidandNew 



The short-term or winter visitor will usually stay in the modern Swope 

 Center. With the increased housing demand after World War II, the MBL 

 decided to build a new dormitory. After various disagreements about 

 location and several changes of plan, MBL friend Gerard Swope, Jr. pur- 

 chased a piece of land on the Eel Pond. The replacement of the "Do-Re-Mi" 

 houses there with the large, concrete Swope building in 1971 made a major 

 change in the landscape of Woods Hole. As one nostalgic old-timer griped, 

 the place was getting to be less unique and more like any old ordinary 

 laboratory. 



Students enrolled in courses congregate mainly in the Loeb and Whit- 

 man buildings next to the original site of Old Main. Landscaped with 

 outdoor tennis and paddle tennis courts, these buildings provide modern 

 lecture and laboratory space. The teaching laboratories are large, well- 

 equipped rooms not unlike the original general laboratories except in detail 

 and equipment. 



There are advantages to the relatively modern design of the newer 

 buildings. For example, in the 1940s and 1950s the older buildings caused 

 trouble for the unsuspecting researchers who had begun to embrace the 

 new and exciting work with radioactive isotopes. The isotope containment 

 room where researchers kept experimental specimens was on the south 

 side, which climbed in temperature as the summer afternoon progressed. 

 The researchers kept their control samples back in their labs, away from 



