Editing Widener Library (section)

===Terms and cost of gift===

To her gift Eleanor Widener attached a number of stipulations,{{ran|B|p=43}}<!--elaborate-->
including that the project's architects be the firm of [[Horace Trumbauer|Horace Trumbauer{{nbsp}}& Associates]],{{r|valve_abele}}
which had built several mansions for both the Elkins and the [[Widener family|Widener]] families.{{ran|B|p=27}}
"Mrs. Widener does not give the University the money to build a new library, but has offered to build a library satisfactory in external appearance to ''herself,''" Harvard President [[Abbott Lawrence Lowell]] wrote privately.
"The exterior was her own choice, and she has decided architec{{shy}}tur{{shy}}al opinions."{{hsp}}{{r|shandtucci|p=167}}
Harvard historian [[William Bentinck-Smith]] has written that

[[File:GoreHallHarvard UnderDemolition early1913 cropped.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|link=File:GoreHallHarvard_UnderDemolition_early1913.jpg
|Gore Hall was reduced to a "pile of stones and rubbish" to make way for Widener.{{r|bentinck1980|p=13}}]]

{{blockquote|To [Harvard officials] Mrs. Widener was a lovely and generous lady whose wealth, power, and remoteness made her a somewhat terrifying figure who must not be roused to annoyance or outrage. Once [construction] began, all financial transactions were the donor's private business, and no one at Harvard ever knew the exact cost. Mrs. Widener was counting on $2{{nbsp}}million, [but] it is probable the cost exceeded $3.5{{nbsp}}million [equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|3.5|1914|r=-1}} million in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}].{{NoteTag
|{{r|bentinck1980|p=14}}{{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}}
Eleanor Widener expressed vexation at newspapers' misreporting of the circumstances of her gift, writing to Lowell, "I want emphasized{{nbsp}}... that the library is a memorial to my dear son, to be known as the 'Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library,' given by me{{nbsp}}& not his [paternal grandfather [[P. A. B. Widener|{{nobr|P. A. B.}} Widener]]] as has been so often stated."{{hsp}}{{r|mrsw}} Years later her second husband [[Alexander Hamilton Rice Jr.|A.{{nbsp}}H. Rice Jr.]] insisted that Lowell do his best "to see that in all official reports, etc. the Library is referred to as the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library{{mdashb}}Widener! Not one cent of Widener money, one second of Widener thought, nor one ounce of Widener energy were expended on either the conception or construction of the Library.{{hsp}}{{r|bentinck1980|p=15}}
<!--END NOTE>>--> }}<!--END QUOTE>>-->}}

Though Harvard awarded Trumbauer an honorary degree on the day of the new library's dedication,{{NoteTag
|{{r|meister|p=147}}
Eleanor Widener was not similarly honored, because women were ineligible for Harvard honorary degrees at the time.{{r|observed|p=72}}
The ''[[Harvard Graduates Magazine]]'' reassured its readers that the admission of ladies, for the first time, to certain Commencement proceedings "will not, however, create any precedent. It was due to the dedication of the Library, which demanded that once, at least, custom should be broken in favor of Mrs. Widener and her friends{{nbsp}}..."{{hsp}}{{r|sanders}}
}}
it was Trumbauer associate [[Julian F. Abele]] who had overall responsi{{shy}}bility for the building's design,{{r|valve_abele}}
which largely followed the 1910 architects' committee's outline (though with the committee's central circula{{shy}}tion room shifted from the center to the northeast corner, yielding pride of place to the Memorial Rooms).{{NoteTag
|{{r|canoe|p=89}}
''The Library Journal'' commented: "The building has administrative disadvantages necessitate by its character as a memorial, with a central [[wikt:fane#English-temple|fane]] housing the private library collected by young Widener{{nbsp}}... This occupies what would otherwise be the central court and cuts off access from the stack except at the two ends, but is scarcely to be criticized in view of the splendor of the gift and the parental affection thus enshrined and perpetuated by Mrs. Widener."{{hsp}}{{r|tlj_may1915}}
<!--END NOTE>>-->}}

After Gore Hall was demolished to make way, ground was broken on February{{nbsp}}12, 1913, and the corner{{shy}}stone laid June{{nbsp}}16.
By later that year some 50,000 bricks were being laid each day.{{r|gazette2012A}}