Flat Top

Flat Top was a particularly unattractive building which was erected on the lower campus between the Lincoln Field Building and the Metcalf Research Laboratory in 1946 for use as a temporary cafeteria building. It was a surplus government building, which acquired its nickname from the fact that, when viewed from the rear of Sayles Hall, it resembled an aircraft carrier. It remained in this unsatisfactory location, where cashiers sometimes had to wear boots when the floors were flooded, until 1951, when the shortage of dining facilities was ended with the opening of Sharpe Refectory.