Today in history (1642), commencement ceremonies began at Harvard, the oldest university in America. This post will go over some of the houses of the Harvard campus in Cambridge, including school presidents' houses. The Presidents' House, traditionally, was Loeb House at 17 Quincy Street which stands on the site of the house where the presidents of 19th century Harvard lived but was built by President Lowell's cousin around the turn of the century. In the '70s, the president decided to live at Elmwood and the rest of the presidents have continued to live in that house, which had previously been a Deans' House. Additionally, students at Harvard usually live on campus for their entire college career in 12 "houses" or dorms that have a more livable sorority/fraternity house vibe and used to have a similar system of selection. Or you could consider it more Harry Potter-like as the students are sorted into these houses (now at random) and hang out in their Common Rooms.
Loeb House (above) was named after the generous Loeb family donors of Wall Street's Loeb Rhoades firm. It is now used for events and meetings since the university presidents began living in Elmwood. Below is a photo from the Loeb House website of a typical event setup.
Next is the foyer and staircase at Loeb House. The house is totally classical and perfect for an academic setting.
Presidents over the past 50 years have resided at Elmwood. The house was built by Thomas Oliver, the last Royal Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1766. Other famous people lived at Elmwood after him including U.S. Vice President Elbridge Gerry and writer James Rusell Lowell (of the same Lowell family as the Harvard president). The estate was originally 100 acres; both Oliver and his wife came from wealthy West Indies planter families. The Lowell family sold the estate in pieces, and a Harvard professor acquired the house who then gave it to the school for use.
The house is a yellow Georgian style with white trim. It has been restored to its Georgian appearance, inside and out, as the school erased any Victorian additions. The following photos show the interiors (via Historic New England) at a time when some of the Victorian influence was still present.
We love the silhouettes on the mantle and books everywhere in the above photo.
Amazing wall-coverings and paneling all around...
The below room looks suited to serve as a chapel.
Next, we will look at the student houses. There are nine "River Houses" along the Charles River and three "Quad Houses" near Harvard Yard (where freshman dorms are). The first is Adams House, which is coincidentally, the name of the dorm I (Ginny) lived in before moving into my sorority house at the University of Oklahoma. Even more coincidentally the Harvard Adams dorm is named after John Adams/John Quincy Adams, presidents and Harvard alums, and the OU Adams dorm is named after "Boots" Adams, Philips Petroleum president, whose grandfather was named John Quincy, suggesting he is a descendant.
Adams House is one of the oldest of the houses and was originally a private dorm around the turn of the century. It was renovated and made non-private in the '30s. FDR lived in this house while at Harvard when it was the private "Gold Coast" dormitory and his suite is made to look as it would have at the time (below).
Like sorority and fraternity houses, each of the Harvard houses have a different reputation and Adams has that of being artsy. The Gold Room (below) dives Dada vibes and reinforces this stereotype.
Like the Greek houses we are accustomed to in the south, each house has its own coat of arms and motto. Adams' is adapted from John Quincy Adams' signet ring and includes five oak leaves for the five buildings and the color gold for the Gold Coast original dorms. The Latin motto translates to: "He who plants trees labors for the benefit of future generations."
FDR wasn't the only famous Adams resident. Others include Robert Frost, William Randolph Hearst, and Prince Frederik of Denmark. The next River House is Dunster. It was built in 1930 when the housing plan started and named after Harvard's first president.
Dunster was built to resemble Tom Tower of Christ Church at Oxford. However, Dunster himself was a Cambridge alum and Cambridge actually sent gothic tracery stones as a gift to Harvard in his honor, which were incorporated into the architecture of Dunster House. The house was fully renovated a few years ago.
The above lounge area at Dunster reminds both of us of our freshman dorms, playing the piano in the lounge. Elinor's girls dorm, Andrews, at the University of Texas had a large lounge area with piano right upstairs. She and her cousin lived in the same dorm room as both their mothers did when they were at UT.
Above is a dining hall at Dunster at Christmas which reminds us of Harry Potter at Christmas. The Dunster coat of arms is the Dunster family coat of arms and the house has a reputation of being social. The house has notable alumni like Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones.
The next house, which opened in 1931, is called Eliot House after another of Harvard's presidents. The Eliot family were Bostom Brahmins and the house has that reputation of being especially "preppy." The Lowell family discussed above were Boston Brahmins as were our own Warren ancestors discussed here and here. However, there are many famous non Boston Brahmins who lived in this house such as Rashida Jones, Jay Rockefeller, and Paul Matisse.
The below study hall at Eliot House reminds me of the room I liked to study in during grad school, with its large oriental rug.
Below is the Eliot House Coat of Arms:
The next River House is Kirkland, again named after a president of Harvard. It had began construction in Edwardian times but caught up to be finished in the '30s with the rest of the mandatory dorms. It had a reputation for being athletic.
Below is an old photo of the Kirkland Common Room.
The coat of arms is that of the Kirkland family.
Once again, you will recognize former Kirkland students like Mark Zuckerberg or Jared Kushner. Leverett House was built in 1925, with towers added later. It is the largest house with a crazy layout from the sounds of it. It is named for a former Harvard president as well.
Once again, the house coat of arms belongs to the Leverett family. The Leverett president's father was Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Below is that coat of arms.
Next on our list of River Houses is Lowell House. It was named for the Lowell family we keep mentioning. It was built in 1930, when Lowell (president) was implementing his mandatory housing system on campus. It is known for its bells which are some of only a few pre-revolution Russian bells which came from the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and were returned to it upon its reconstruction.
Lowell House is also known for its blue tower. Matt Damon lived at Lowell House as did Natalie Portman. The house bears the Lowell family coat of arms and the motto "Recognize Opportunity."
The next River House is Mather House, naturally named after Increase Mather (father of Cotton). It is the newest of the houses, constructed in 1970, and is a Brutalist style tower. It is certainly less charming than the other houses and looks like my own (Ginny's) Adams Tower in Norman. I was thrilled to moved out of that style dorm and into my beautiful classic sorority house, though some people love these modern buildings. The architecture firm responsible for Mather House also built the Stanford campus, where my grandfather was a professor, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Conan O'Brian lived at Mather House.
The Mather house coat of arms is below:
Quincy House is the next of the River Houses, and yet again, was named for a Harvard president. The below shows both the house and its coat of arms.
Like Mather House, Quincy is more modern and symbolized a "New Harvard" verging on the '60s. Therefore there is less history of us to go into on this house. The last of the River Houses is the Winthrop House, which goes back to the early 20th century. It is named for another past president of Harvard, John Winthrop, whose very great grandfather was Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony- there is a pattern here! The house is based on the 17th century garden wing of Hampton Court.
You can see in this photo that the house definitely has a palatial feel. President John F. Kennedy was a resident at Winthrop House. His dorm room has been renovated for important guests of the school. Below is one of the rooms at Winthrop House.
Next are the three Quad Houses. The first we will look at is Cabot House. It was a part of Radcliffe College but in the '70s, the schools began merging the dorms into co-ed.
Cabot House was home to Helen Keller, among other important alumini. The coat of arms is that of the French Cabots and the house motto is "Always Heart."
Another of the Quad Houses, formed from Radcliffe halls, is Currier House. The house was named to honor a Radcliffe girl, granddaughter if Currier & Ives, who was killed in a plane crash. Many famous students lived at Currier House including Bill Gates, Yo-Yo Ma, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Caroline Kennedy. Again, Currier House looks a bit more like my own dorm and less like a house in architecture (Below).
The final Quad House is Pforzheimer House named after the Pforzheimer family, founders of the New York Stock Exchange, who were donors of Radcliffe. The house dates to 1901, when students first began living at Radcliffe.
The Belltower Suite (of which other houses also have one) is a coveted room for students. Groups of friends aim to live in the connecting rooms. Below are some Radcliffe girls in Pforzheimer House prior to the merging with Harvard into co-ed dorms.
There is one more house, which is for off campus grad students' use, called Dudley House. It seems that it is mostly for Arts & Sciences grad students (like me). My friends and cousins who went to Harvard went to business and law school so I cannot confirm the purpose of Dudley House for grad students- I seem to remember they surely lived off campus but were able to use the same gym etc. as undergrad students. Dudley House is situated on Harvard Yard and named for yet another Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor, Thomas Dudley. It is a beautiful Georgian style building.
This look through the houses of Harvard has made us want to look into the history of the houses at our own alma maeters. We will save that for our next post.