Adams House (Harvard University) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Adams House is one of the twelve undergraduate houses at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, located between Harvard Square

Harvard Square

Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...

and the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

. Named to commemorate the Adams family, including John Adams

John Adams

John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

, the second president of the United States and John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...

, the sixth president. Adams House is often regarded as Harvard's most historic House. It celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2007.

History

All but one of the buildings of Adams House were originally private "Gold Coast" dormitories built around 1900 to provide luxurious accommodation for rich Harvard undergraduates. They, along with the white clapboarded Apthorp House (1760), one of the most distinguished Colonial residences of Cambridge – now the Master's residence – predate the rest of Harvard's Houses by several decades. The current main entrance hall, Russell, which contains the common rooms, library, kitchen and dining areas, as well as the C-entry suites, was added to link the various disparate structures together when the house system was initiated in the 1930s. Although officially inaugurated in 1931, Adams was not completed until 1932.

Surprisingly, given the House’s current appeal, Adams was not popular initially; the Victorian era rooms of the Gold Coast buildings seemed dark and "Germanic" to 1930's taste, and many students preferred the entirely up-to-date neo-Colonial structures of Eliot

Eliot House

Eliot House is one of twelve residential houses for upperclassmen at Harvard University and one of the seven original houses at the College. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the university for forty years .-Traditions:Before Harvard opted...

, Winthrop

Winthrop House

John Winthrop House is one of twelve undergraduate residences at Harvard College and home to slightly under 400 students.Commonly referred to as Winthrop House, it consists of two buildings, Standish Hall and Gore Hall. Both were built in 1912 as separate freshman dormitories...

and Dunster

Dunster House

Dunster House, built in 1930, is one of the first two Harvard University dormitories constructed under President Abbott Lawrence Lowell's House Plan, and one of the seven Houses given to Harvard by Edward Harkness. In the early days, room rents varied based on the floor and the size of the room...

Houses. Adams' location, however, (it is the closest of all the Houses to Harvard Yard

Harvard Yard

Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...

) and its reputation for good food (it is one of the few Harvard Houses that doesn't share a kitchen) soon overcame any perceived architectural deficiencies. In fact, some of these same “deficiencies” turned out to be quite handy: students in the 1940s and 50s wishing to avoid the College's

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

strict nightly curfews and parietal rules came to greatly value Adams' multiple and unguarded entries, unlike the central, monitored portals of the newer undergraduate residences. Today, of course, such stringent measures are long gone, and the various buildings that comprise Adams House are considered some of the most interesting and architecturally significant structures in the University system.

Adams is also home to one of two Presidential Suite Memorials at Harvard. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

lived in Westmorly Court (now B-17) from 1900 to 1904. The FDR Suite Restoration Committee at Adams House (FDR Suite at Adams House, Harvard University

FDR Suite at Adams House, Harvard University

The FDR Suite is a set of rooms at Adams House, Harvard College that were occupied by the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from 1900-1904. Currently under restoration, the Suite is being refurbished as a living museum and memorial to President Franklin D...

) has largely restored the 32nd President's Harvard quarters to their 1904 appearance, as the only memorial to FDR at Harvard, as well as a museum of early-20th-century Harvard student life. The Suite is open by appointment to University members, members of the press, and other accredited guests. A virtual museum, allowing anyone to tour the Suite and understand more about day-to-day Edwardian-era living at the College, is planned.

Emblem and Motto

Like all the other Houses at Harvard, Adams possesses its own coat of arms: Adams' is derived from an 1838 seal ring of John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

. James Finney Baxter, the House's first master, changed the background to gold to symbolize the Gold Coast, and added four additional oak sprigs to the original one to represent the five buildings of Adams House. Its official heraldic designation is: "Or, five sprigs of oak acorned in saltire, Gules." The House motto, "Alteri Seculo," is taken from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations: "He who plants trees labors for the benefit of future generations." ("Serit arbores quae alteri s[a]eculo prosint.") (The alternate, late-Latin spelling, 'seculo' in lieu of the more normal 'saeculo' was noted at the House's founding in 1932. A letter to Master Baxter, now in the Adams House Archives, indicates that Adams himself had thus spelled the word in his signet, and therefore this spelling would be maintained for posterity in the House's official motto.)

Reputation & Traditions

Before Harvard College opted to use a system of randomization to assign living quarters to upperclassmen, students were allowed to list housing preferences, which led to the congregation of like-minded individuals at various Houses. At first, in the 30s, 40s and 50s, Adams was the athletic house; then, during the late 60s, that reputation changed, and Adams became a center for student activism. Later, under the aegis of Masters Bob and Jana Kiely (1972–1999) Adams became an artistic and literary haven; during this period, Adams also became widely regarded as the most gay-friendly house, in an era before equal rights for people of different sexual persuasions were even considered a viable alternative at Harvard. Adams, under the Kielys, was also the first Harvard House to become fully co-ed.. Vestiges of that avant-garde reputation still remain today, protected and promoted by the House's current masters, Judy and Sean Palfrey, and embodied in many of the House's unique facilities, including the Pool Theater, a converted swimming pool (a change much lamented by alumni mourning the many late night trysts and other quasi illicit activities that were reputed to have occurred there); the recently restored Coolidge Room (the site of artist Edward Penfield

Edward Penfield

Edward Penfield was a leading American illustrator in the era known as the "Golden Age of American Illustration" and he is considered the father of the American Poster. His work has been included in almost every major book on American Illustration or the history of the poster...

's famous murals) and the Gold Room, Adams' marvelously Moorish gilded vestibule to the world. Adams also boasts the Bow and Arrow Printing Press which is located in the former house grill in B entry, and the Adams Art-Space (previously the House's squash courts.)

The House has continued to uphold its most beloved traditions, including Halloween's Drag Night and Masquerade; a Winter Feast, which features a black-tie reading of Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear, is a fictional anthropomorphic bear created by A. A. Milne. The first collection of stories about the character was the book Winnie-the-Pooh , and this was followed by The House at Pooh Corner...

; the Winter Waltz; the Spring Swing; and Friday afternoon Masters' Teas that are considered the best in the University. House events like Carpe Noctum are coordinated weekly by the Adams House Committee.

Effusive House spirit, architectural beauty, and convenient location continue to make Adams a highly desirable residence for undergraduates and tutors.

The current masters of Adams House are Dr. Judith Palfrey

Judith Palfrey

Judith Palfrey is the T. Berry Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the author of Community Child Health: An Action Plan for Today and Child Health In America: Making A Difference Through Advocacy , and co-author of the Disney Encyclopedia of Baby and Childcare...

and her husband Dr. John "Sean" Gorham Palfrey VI.

Alumni Magazine

Alone of the Harvard Houses, Adams has its own alumni Magazine, called the Gold Coaster. Published in e-zine format three times a year, the Gold Coaster features stories on Adams House history, famous residents, alumni profiles, student submissions, and news of upcoming alumni events.

Architectural Descriptions of Adams House

Bainbridge Bunting, Margaret Henderson Floyd, Harvard: An Architectural History, Harvard University Press, 1985.
Shand-Tucci, Douglass, Harvard University: An Architectural Tour, Princeton Architectural Press, 2001

Historical References

Roosevelt, Franklin D.; Roosevelt, Elliot, ed. FDR: His Personal Letters (4 vol., 1947); volume one covers Roosevelt's years at Groton and Harvard; pg 371 gives a physical description of FDR's Suite at Adams House, and includes Roosevelt's own drawing of the floor plan; subsequent letters describe the rooms' decor and furnishing.

Notable residents

Notable former residents include:

Andy Borowitz
Andy Borowitz
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John Brademas
John Brademas
John Brademas is an American politician and educator originally from Indiana. He served as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981 at the conclusion of a twenty-year career as a member of the United States House of Representatives...
Amy Brenneman
Amy Brenneman
Amy Frederica Brenneman is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in the television series NYPD Blue, Judging Amy and Private Practice...
General John Burgoyne
John Burgoyne
General John Burgoyne was a British army officer, politician and dramatist. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War when he participated in several battles, mostly notably during the Portugal Campaign of 1762....

(imprisoned in Apthorp during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

)
William Burroughs
E.J. Dionne
Martin Feldstein
Martin Feldstein
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Robert Frost
Robert Frost
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Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
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Lauren Greenfield
Lauren Greenfield
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Andre Gregory
Andre Gregory
Andre William Gregory is an American theatre director, writer and actor.Gregory studied at Harvard University.During the 1960s and 1970s, Gregory directed a number of avant-garde productions developed through ensemble collaboration, the most famous of which was Alice In Wonderland , based on Lewis...
Fred Gwynne
Fred Gwynne
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Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
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William Randolph Hearst, Jr.
William Randolph Hearst, Jr.
William Randolph Hearst, Jr. was the second son of the publisher William Randolph Hearst. He became editor-in-chief of Hearst Newspapers after the death of his father in 1951. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his interview with Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, and associated commentaries in...
Douglas Kenney
Douglas Kenney
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Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes
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Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
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Bernard Law
Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
Donal Logue
Donal Logue
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Terrence Malick
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
William P. Perry
William P. Perry
William P. Perry is an American composer and television producer.-Life and career:Born in Elmira, New York in 1930, he attended Harvard University and studied with Paul Hindemith, Walter Piston, and Randall Thompson...
John Reed
Alison Rogers
Alison Rogers
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr. was an American historian and social critic whose work explored the American liberalism of political leaders including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Schlesinger served as special assistant and "court historian"...
Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
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Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars
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Courtney B. Vance
Courtney B. Vance
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Michael Weishan
Michael Weishan
Michael Weishan is perhaps most widely known as the host of the American public television series, The Victory Garden, a position he held from 2001 through 2007...
William Weld
William Weld
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Additionally, John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

met with his senior thesis adviser in the Coolidge Room. Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...

lived in the House as a guest.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.