Editing Book and Snake (section)

== Buildings ==
[[File:Yale-book-and-snake.jpg|thumb|Book and Snake Tomb, 2005]]The Book and Snake Tomb is at the corner of Grove Street and High Street in [[New Haven, Connecticut|New Haven]], adjacent to the [[Yale Law School]] and the [[Beinecke Plaza]]. The Tomb was deliberately sited with its back to campus and faces across the street to the Egyptian-revival gates of the [[Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven|Grove Street Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ball |first1=Molly |last2=Bell |first2=Emily |date=2016-05-02 |title=Behind the walls of Yale's secret societies {{!}} Summer 1998 |url=http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/frosh/1998/blue/secret.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=The Yale Herald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502214202/http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/frosh/1998/blue/secret.html |archive-date=2016-05-02 |via=web.archive.org}}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":16" /> The Tomb was designed in [[Ionic order|Greek Ionic]] style by [[Louis R. Metcalfe]] and completed in 1901.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":13" /> It is supposed to be the finest replica of a Greek temple in the United States.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Khederian |first=Robert |date=2018-06-21 |title=Tomb raiders: The clubhouses of Yale's secret societies |url=https://archive.curbed.com/2018/6/21/17484316/yale-secret-society-tomb-history-skull-bones |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Curbed |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":12" /> 

The windowless Tomb is built of solid white Vermont marble and has a roof of large marble tiles.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":11" /> It is {{convert|60|ft|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|42|ft|abbr=on}} wide, and {{convert|40|ft|m}} feet high, including two stories and a gable.<ref name=":18" /><ref name=":17">{{Cite journal |date=September 1901 |title=News and Notes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhATAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA229 |journal=The Record |publisher=Sigma Alpha Epsilon |volume=21 |issue=3 |page=229 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Its four [[Ionic pillar|Ionic pillars]], carved from marble, support a triangle-shaped pediment across its front.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":6" /> Its bronze (originally wooden) front door is modeled after the [[Erechtheion]] Temple on the [[Acropolis]] in [[Athens]].<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":18" /> 

The Tomb's alcove was built using steel–the first use of steel for a residence in the United States.<ref name=":18" /> Another of Metcalfe's innovations was using pipes to take the smoke from the Tomb's furnace to the chimney of a nearby commons building.<ref name=":18" /> The iron fence that surrounds the property features wrought-iron snakes or [[caduceus]] around posts shaped like flaming torches.<ref name=":6" /> In 2021, the society added the sculpture ''Aspire by'' Archie Held to its grounds.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Mark Alden |date=August 12, 2021 |title=Secrets revealed! |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/blog_posts/3697-secrets-revealed |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

Previously, Book and Snake owned a chapter house and dormitory at [[Sheffield Scientific School]] known as the Cloister or Cloister Hall.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":16" /> [[H. Edwards Ficken]] designed the ornate [[brownstone]] Cloister which was completed in 1888.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":14" /> At the time, it was considered "one of the most picturesque buildings on the Yale campus."<ref name=":16" /> The society added a matching rear addition in 1915.<ref name=":14" /> Today, the building is called Warner House and is used for the Yale University graduate school and the Yale College Deans offices.<ref name=":14" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Graduate School Moved to Warner House |url=https://gsas.yale.edu/news/graduate-school-moved-warner-house |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences}}</ref> A plaque honoring the society is on the first floor of the building.