I wrote earlier about the unique entrance to Harvard’s Biological Laboratories building, which today is home to the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.  My grandfather, who studied in the then state-of-the-art laboratories shortly after being built in 1931, had taken a photograph in the entry of the building.  I found it to be a beautiful image that captured the novel decorations on the doors and their shadows cast onto the marble floor.  I wanted to see and experience this space.

The opportunity presented itself when Poldi’s “Italian sister” Rossella decided to visit while Poldi was in New York– she also expressed interest in seeing Boston, a few hours away.  I invited myself to join their mini-fall tour of New England and they humored me by helping locate the Biology Labs building on the Harvard campus.  It was as distinctive as I had imagined.

The exterior of the building is adorned with animal friezes designed by Katherine Lane Weems, pneumatically carved into the crest of the brick façade.  It is a large building and the animals overhead command your attention until you notice the life-sized rhinoceroses at ground level, also created by the young artist, and which have become mascots (“Victoria” and “Bessie”) for the Harvard biology community.