Bevington is organised around its quads: groups of four or more buildings that face inward to a central green or feature. The six formal quads contain student dorms, a dining hall (except Batons Quad), and either a library or an administration building.

This time, we'll focus on one of Bevington's residential quads: Spellman.

Spellman Quad stands as one of Bevington College's original quadrangles, with roots stretching back to the 1700s. What began as a single dormitory building with scenic views of Pinecone Pond evolved into one of the more academically and magically significant areas of campus. The Spellman family, whose members were among Bevington's earliest alumni, became the quad's primary benefactors around 1830, contributing substantial funds that transformed the area from a simple residence hall into a comprehensive academic hub. Their continued patronage over nearly 200 years has allowed the quad to maintain its historical character while incorporating modern magical innovations.

The Eagle is the campus' second largest dining hall (after the food court at Bodeman Main). The building was built in the early 1900s. It was designed by noted alumna, magickal architect Susan Germaine Johnson, who was one of the first women admitted to the University of Chicago after graduating from Bevington in 1894. Johnson worked closely with Frank Lloyd Wright and was a pioneer of the organic school of architecture which countered the brutalist movement. The Eagle is built partially within the hillside that looms over Spellman quad and uses natural insulation to keep the dining hall warm in winter and cool in summer. Water for The Eagle's kitchens is provided by the stream that flows into Pinecone Pond and the quad gets most of its power from a small hydroelectric plant at Mirror Falls. The Eagle also has a very notable view over the pine forest that surrounds Bevington.

The Eagle's Nest followed shortly after the construction of The Eagle in 1907, perching even higher on the hillside and trying to rise above the light pollution from the newly installed electric street lights in the town below. The Eagle's Nest is a traditional observatory with a rotating dome and two permanently mounted telescopes (one magickal, one mundane). As light pollution increased, the telescopes at the Eagle's Nest became obsolete. In the early 2000s, Bevington began collaborating with U Mass Amherst and the government of Mexico to provide students with opportunities for deep sky discoveries via the TolTEC array in central Mexico. However, the Eagle's Nest is still beloved by Bevington's students for more casual nighttime observations (and clandestine activities). Most astronomy classes at Bevington are taught in the ground floor classrooms of The Eagle's Nest. There is also an all-night student lounge in the observatory and the observatory staff coordinate with the nearby cafe, Delicious Books and Bites, during reading week and exams to provide a “midnight feast” of coffee and sweet treats to students.

Spinner's Tower remains a central feature for the college, even after being decommissioned as a dorm. It houses more esoteric classes, a rotating collection of magickal sculpture, and faculty offices that tend to be cozier and quirkier than the concrete monstrosity on the other side of Main Street. Most department heads choose to have their offices in Spinner's Tower, leaving the concrete shoeboxes of Old Chapel Annex and Bodeman Main to their junior colleagues. The tower's distinctive hexagonal shape wasn't part of its original design. It was rebuilt under Dean Weatherby in the late 1800s, who believed hexagonal structures better facilitated the flow of Elemental magic. This renovation coincided with the installation of the Unseen World's strongest known permanent fireball, a feature that has become the tower's most prominent attraction. Fire mages seeking academic inspiration have been known to spend the night in the fireball room, furthering the college urban legend that the spirits of past Bevington scholars will whisper answers into the mage's dreams.

Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Spinner's Tower became known for housing experimental magic research. An experiment in the 1970s left rooms on the top two floors permanently upside-down. Rather than fix the problem, Bevington's faculty decided to use the rooms as part of the upperclass curriculum.

Spinner's Tower is the site of an enduring Bevington tradition: the Ascension Papers. Graduating seniors fold their thesis papers into paper airplanes and launch them off the top of the Tower after the graduation ceremony. The paper planes create a brilliant display, circling the tower for several hours before spreading over the campus, only to incinerate colorfully as they reach the college's outer wards. Students and faculty have lively betting pools about whose thesis will be the first and last to “ascend.”

The quad's library is the Noctua Nocturnis. The college's first library, it became a special collection of cursed books and dark magic materials once the Bladelaw was built. The Noctua is housed in a Gothic revival building with no windows, guarded by the campus Gargoyles. Despite the forbidding exterior, the Noctua is quite cozy inside. Each reading room has an enchanted fireplace and “Ghost Tea”: a cart with tea, coffee, and snacks that creaks slowly up and down among the study tables. No matter what type of coffee, tea, or snack the student desires, it’s to be found on the cart by the time it rolls to their table. The concentration of dark energy at the Noctua means wards often fail, so technology is glitchy at best in the reading rooms. The library makes up for the inconvenience by having several “ghost writers”: ghosts who sit at the study tables and will happily take notes for students, so long as the student endures having a ghost read their mind. Other features of the Noctua include the “Whisper Room” where vocal cursed books are housed, the Unseen World's largest collection of “weepers” (books that cry or scream when opened), the “Skin Stack” (containing folios bound with skin and/or written in blood), and the “Librorum Mortuorum” (a collection of books written by ghosts). The Noctua is beloved by Bevington’s Necromancers.

There are several satellite buildings around Spellman quad, including the Bevington Museum, Talonn and Oracle House (both faculty residences although Oracle House also has several classrooms and laboratory spaces for the campus Seers), and the brand new Blackwatch, which is the subject of another entry.

Spellman is on the western edge of campus, which officially ends at Pinecone Pond although there are a number of student accommodations and faculty houses on the other side of North Street (including The Den which housed the Cait princes in Ulune's Daughter and Cathmoir's Sons). It is an easy walk along the leafy footpaths to Main Street with its shops or Bodeman Main and Old Chapel for classes.

Have you ever noticed the list of names immortalised in bronze at the entrance 
to the Noctua Nocturnis?

There are 21 names in total. Twenty names have a single date beside them while the twenty-first name has two dates, four months apart, in the year 1999. 
The names are all Bevington freshman and the dates are during their freshman year. 

Send your guesses as to why these twenty-one Bevington freshman have entered the Noctua's “roll” to bevingtonarcana@gmail.com!

Coming Soon!

February brings us the Snow Moon, aptly named as we endure the deepest snowfalls of winter. Students are reminded that snow-banishing spells are strictly prohibited on campus walkways, as our groundskeepers have this well in hand. Those attempting to create personal "snow-free zones" will find themselves responsible for shoveling the entire quad, by hand. Inversely, any enterprising Water mages who consider creating personal “snow days” with localized blizzards should reconsider. Weather spells are prohibited except in designated practice areas, easily traceable, and impressively unoriginal. Curb your icy enthusiasm. 

Or else.

--Charon Carver

 

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