Located on Holyoke Street, opposite Lowell House, the MAC is used
for both intercollegiate and intramural sports as well as casual exercise. It
was built in 1930 at a cost of nearly $1 million, renovated in 1985 at a cost
of $4 million, and the gymnasium floor was refurbished in the summer of 1997;
the original architects were Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch and Abbott. Impetus
as well as funding for the renovations came from Peter L. Malkin (A.B. 1955),
member of fifteen Harvard committees including the committee on University Resources.
The MAC houses two volleyball courts, three basketball courts,
wrestling rooms, a swimming pool, a fencing room, weight rooms with Nautilus
equipment, and a glassed-in mezzanine over the pool for dance, aerobics, and
other recreational activities. Other facilities include locker, shower, sauna,
and rubbing rooms, as well as office and storage space.
The original facility, the Indoor Athletic Building, was built
largely with the money of a donor who gave two donations under the name "Alumnus
Aquaticus" and "Mr. Anonymous Aquaticus." An earlier effort to raise money to
build new athletic facilities to alleviate overcrowding at Hemenway Gymnasium
was halted after raising $12,000 because the corporation thought that the school
needed many other buildings more than an indoor athletic building. Thus, when
Harvard dedicated the pool in March, 1930 at the NCAA Championships, the college
was embarrassed to announce that no one from Harvard would participate because
this was the first time the college had a pool adequate for competitive swimming.
