On Jan. 23, 1900, at 4 p.m., hundreds of donors gathered in the northwest corner of Harvard Yard to dedicate the new Phillips Brooks House (PBH) to the ideals of "piety, charity and hospitality."

Exactly one hundred years later--to the very hour--75 students, donors and PBH affiliates assembled yesterday afternoon to rededicate the building and celebrate its storied past.

The house was built in memory of Phillips Brooks, Class of 1855, who became a well-known Episcopal preacher in the Boston community and the bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Massachusetts in 1891.

At the original opening ceremony, Chair of the Building Committee Robert Treat Paine indicated that the purpose of the building was "to increase the study of holy things and to make the worship of God the career of some and an essential part of the life of all."

At yesterday's event, Robert Treat Paine Storer '45, great-grandson of the original ceremony's opening speaker, told the assembled guests of the close ties his family had had with Phillips Brooks. He also emphasized the importance of religion in his own life and in the creation of PBH.

"I think PBH was dedicated to increase the religious spirit of Harvard," he said. "I look upon the 1,700 student volunteers as being the first step in spreading the Judeo-Christian creed, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'"

Other highlights of the event included a cake made in the shape of Phillips Brooks House, donated by Alden Merrell Cheesecake Company, and a speech by Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals.

Gomes recalled the spirit of Brooks in his address.