THE NEW GYMNASIUM BUILDING 
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
Designed by Frank Miles Day & Brother, Architects 
C OLLEGE athletics have become a per¬ 
manent and important feature of Ameri¬ 
can life. By the academic sounding term 
“ physical culture” they are related to the 
modern college curriculum and by visions of 
track records, base ball and foot-ball games 
they are ever present in the public mind. 
Being a part of the college training, the ath¬ 
letic department must now have a commo¬ 
dious and well-equipped home. As occa¬ 
sions for vast assemblages the public contests 
must be held in a place and under condi¬ 
tions where the safety of spectators is as 
well considered as their satisfactory means of 
seeing. Thus it is that the former play¬ 
grounds of our large colleges are now 
“ fields ” whose very names recall to loyal 
students and their partisan fellows the battle¬ 
grounds of hard fought victories won by Penn, 
Fair Harvard, Old Nassau and the rest. 
A few years ago the substantial Stadium 
was built on Soldiers’ Field at Cambridge. 
The Greek Theatre, Berkeley, California, 
is another example of permanent facilities 
being provided for open-air college life. 
More complete than any of these, how¬ 
ever, is the new gymnasium building, 
field and grand stand which, as one har¬ 
monious design and construction, now em¬ 
braces Franklin Field, the athletic ground 
of the University of Pennsylvania, in West 
Philadelphia. This comprehensive group of 
buildings accommodates both the outdoor 
and indoor activities of the athletic depart¬ 
ment of a University that, by its own records, 
enjoys a distinct importance, and on account 
of its nearness to other large Eastern cities, 
has become foremost in the public eye, for 
it is on Franklin Field that the national 
Army and Navy foot-ball game is now an¬ 
nually played. 
The entire design is the work of Messrs. 
Frank Miles Day & Brother, Architects. It 
covers seven acres. Much of this land was 
THE GYMNASIUM FROM THE SOUTHWEST 
Showing the Thirty-third Street Facade 
17 
