Then

Circa 1924, Gilman Hall reigned over a sparsely populated Homewood campus, before Keyser Quad had a name. Remsen Hall, completed in 1924, is visible to the right, but Krieger (1933), Mergenthaler (1941), and Ames (1955) halls had yet to make their appearances. In 1964, the Milton S. Eisenhower Library would join them to complete the rectangle.  

Now

When the Milton S. Eisenhower Library was approved in 1961, the architects decided to place most of it underground so it wouldn’t dwarf Homewood House next door (not because Daniel Coit Gilman required that no structure rise higher than Gilman Hall, as a popular legend holds). Generations of students have enjoyed “The Beach” encircled by the original curved drive.