Queer Places:
Princeton University (Ivy League), 110 West College, Princeton, NJ 08544
Harvard University (Ivy League), 2 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Wellesley College (Seven Sisters), 106 Central St, Wellesley, MA 02481
18 Woodridge Rd, Wellesley, MA 02482
107 Livingston Rd, Wellesley, MA 02482
West Laurel Hill Cemetery
Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA
Bernard Chapman Heyl (1905 - September 6, 1966) was professor emeritus of art at Wellesley College and a grandson of Isaac H. Clothier, one the founders of Strawbridge & Clothier. Prescott Clarridge would boast there was a very active underground homosexual life in the 1940s Harvard. "We had gay cocktail parties and late night orgies, cruised the many gay bars of Boston as well as the gay friendly Club 100 and Casablanca in the Square. Some of us cruised the Lamont Library bathroom. We had affairs and breakups and did a lot of gossiping, just like today." Bernard Heyl, head of the Art Department at Wellesley, used to have Sunday afternoon tea dances at his suburban home where no tea was served, but there was lots of scotch and dancing. The parties were full of servicemen and college students, including Clarridge, as well as older men. Most of the servicemen were only interested in older men who could pay them for sex. According to Clarridge, at night half of the clientele at Locke Ober's (one of the city's poshest and stodgiest restaurants) was gay as older wealthy men chose to dine there with their young male dates. Many gay Harvard students liked to go to dinner on the theatre with older gentlemen such as Nathaniel Saltonstall, Prescott Townsend, Stewart Mitchell and Bernard Heyl.
Heyl served on the Wellesley faculty 32 years prior to his retirement in June, 1965, at which time he held the Clara Bertram Kimball Professorship of Art.
He was an art collector as well as a specialist in Baroque art and the history and theory of art criticism. His book "Esthetics and Art Criticisms," was translated into a half dozen languages and he was completing a book on criticisms of the sculptor, Bernini, at the time of his death.
He was a graduate of the Haverford School and a member of the Princeton University class of 1927. He earned a masters degree at Harvard University in 1929 and a master of fine arts degree at Princeton in 1931.
Since his retirement, Heyl resided at Jamestown, R. I. He died at Newport Hospital on September 6, 1966, after suffering a heart attack. He was 61.
The Slade Graduate Fellowships provide financial aid for graduating seniors and alumnae to pursue graduate studies in Art History and Studio Art. At her death Mary Clothier Slade (1865-1953) left funds to a variety of charitable and philanthropic institutions. She included Wellesley as a recipient because her son, Bernard Heyl, was Kimball Professor of Art at Wellesley from 1931 to 1965. According to Professor Heyl, through art “our powers are expanded, our enjoyment enriched, our understanding of the world and its people broadened and deepened.”
Susan Lee Memorial Sanctuary and the adjoining Heyl property border Livingston Road . Combined, these parcels preserve a natural corridor for wildlife and plants between lands bordering the Charles River and nearby Guernsey Sanctuary. The Heyl Gift was donated by Bernard Heyl in 1965. This 1.4 acres woodland is located at the southeastern corner of Livingston Rd. and Ridge Hill Farm Rd. and is located across from Dr. Heyl's former contemporary house at 107 Livingston Road. There are no trails through this sanctuary..
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