The Alexander Graham Bell tower refers to a planned tower that would have been constructed at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
as a tribute to former faculty member
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone while at the university. Intended to sit behind
Marsh Chapel
Marsh Chapel is a building on the campus of Boston University used as the official place of worship of the school. It was named for Daniel L. Marsh, a former president of BU and a Methodist minister. The building is Gothic in style.
While Meth ...
on the
Charles River
The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...
, the
Collegiate Gothic masonry spire was to be modeled on the tower of
St. Botolph's Church in
Boston, England
Boston is a market town and inland port in the Borough of Boston, borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, Lincolns ...
, the town from which
Boston, Massachusetts takes its name. The tower at St. Botolph's is commonly known as "the Boston Stump."
The tower was first planned in 1920 as part of a unified campus plan, which would have allowed for around 30,000 students, but was cancelled for unknown reasons sometime after 1928, and was still mentioned as being planned in a
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
book from 1937.
Today, an engraving exists on the theology building that shows the likeness of the planned bell tower.
Another collegiate tower modeled after the Boston stump,
Harkness Tower
Harkness Tower is a masonry tower at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Part of the Collegiate Gothic Memorial Quadrangle complex completed in 1922, it is named for Charles William Harkness, brother of Yale's largest benefactor, Edward ...
at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, was completed around the time that the Alexander Graham Bell tower was planned.
References
{{Coord, 42, 21, 3.47, N, 71, 6, 22.97, W, display=title
Boston University
Proposed skyscrapers in the United States
Unbuilt buildings and structures in the United States
Gothic Revival architecture in Massachusetts