Introduction

“It seems to be an Aladdin-like creation—these stately buildings arising overnight . . . a concrete symbol of what American business is prepared to give—and be.”
Edwin Gay, Former HBS Dean, Dedication Addresses, June 4, 1927
Baker Library (detail), McKim, Mead & White.

Baker Library (detail), McKim, Mead & White.

From the incorporation of Harvard Business School (HBS) in 1908, its founders wrestled with questions regarding the School’s institutional mission and social responsibilities intrinsic to the study of business within the university setting. It soon became apparent that the School, which occupied parts of far-flung buildings on the Harvard grounds in Cambridge, would require a larger, integrated site to sustain its growing student population. With the support of New York banker George F. Baker and the guidance of HBS Dean Wallace B. Donham, construction of the neo-Georgian campus, designed by McKim, Mead & White and located on the banks of the Charles River, was completed in 1927. The graceful, expansive new campus not only gave the School its first real home, but helped legitimize the fledgling discipline of business administration.