This is a list of dormitories at Harvard College

Harvard College

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

. Only freshmen live in the dormitories. Sophomores, juniors and seniors live in the House system.

Apley Court

Apley Court — Located about a half block from Harvard Yard on the "Gold Coast," Apley was built in 1897 as a private dormitory during a time of great affluence at Harvard. Apley boasts a beautiful marble staircase, hardwood floors, high ceilings and in-suite bathrooms. Rooms in Apley are typically singles, doubles or triples. The Apley Common Room has a comfortable, old-Harvard feel that is reminiscent of many of the upper class houses. It features a full kitchen for cooking. For relaxation there is a ping pong table, along with couches and chairs. The Apley TV room is a more private, quiet room featuring a TV and VCR, along with couches and chairs to seat seven. Apley's beautiful accommodations more than compensate for its short distance from Harvard Yard. Former residents include T. S. Eliot

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...

.

Canaday Hall

Canaday Hall, completed in 1974, is the newest dormitory in 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...

, historical home of Harvard College freshmen for their first year in residence upon their initial arrival in Cambridge. When seen from above, its seven buildings resemble the shape of a question mark. It is named for Ward M. Canaday, former president and major shareholder of the Willys

Willys

Willys was the brand name used by Willys-Overland Motors, an American automobile company best known for its design and production of military Jeeps and civilian versions during the 20th century.-Early History:In 1908, John Willys bought the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company...

 Corporation, manufacturer of Jeep

Jeep

Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...

s during World War II.

Canaday's architecture can be traced back to its period of construction, which immediately followed the student takeover of University Hall

University Hall (Harvard University)

University Hall is a white granite building designed by noted early American architect Charles Bulfinch on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is now a National Historic Landmark....

 in 1969. Fearing further student unrest, College administrators fireproofed Canaday and reconfigured it around stairwells to foil student organizing. As such, Canaday Hall grew to resemble most of the other dormitories in Harvard's Old Yard, which are also organized around stairwell entryways accessible to no more than six or eight suites, each connected to the rest of the dormitory building only by an exterior walkway.

On the other hand, residents of Canaday Hall enjoy the shortest average distance to some of the most important buildings on the Harvard campus, including the Science Center, Memorial Hall, Emerson Hall, Sever Hall, and Robinson Hall.

Past residents include Paul Wylie

Paul Wylie

Paul Stanton Wylie is an American figure skater and 1992 Olympic silver medalist.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, Wylie began skating at the age of three. At age eleven, his family moved to Denver, Colorado, where he began to train with Carlo Fassi...

, David Sacks

David Sacks

David Sacks is a television writer and producer. His writing and producing credits include The Simpsons, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Malcolm in the Middle, The Tick and Murphy Brown...

, Ben Mezrich

Ben Mezrich

Ben Mezrich is an American author from Princeton, New Jersey. He graduated magna-cum-laude with a degree in Social Studies from Harvard University in 1991. Some of his books have been written under the pseudonym Holden Scott. Mezrich attended Princeton Day School, in Princeton, New Jersey...

, Mira Sorvino

Mira Sorvino

Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...

, Sean Gullette

Sean Gullette

Sean Gullette is a writer, actor, and filmmaker.-Biography:He was born in Boston and attended public schools and Harvard, where he acted in theater and films and directed plays....

, and Charles Lane

Charles Lane (journalist)

Charles "Chuck" Lane is an American journalist and editor who is a staff writer for The Washington Post. His articles are concerned chiefly with the activities and cases of the Supreme Court of the United States and judicial system. He was the lead editor of The New Republic from 1997 to 1999...

.

Grays Hall

Grays Hall opened in 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...

 in 1863 and became Harvard College

Harvard College

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

's first building with water taps in the basement. Residents of other buildings in Harvard Yard had to haul water from pumps in the Yard.

Known as "The Harvard Hilton" Grays Hall is currently used as a dormitory housing freshmen and is considered the most luxurious dorm in the Yard. It boasts spacious common rooms, exposed brick walls and an illustrious history. This dorm has a room that houses high-security freshmen.

Past residents include Norman Mailer

Norman Mailer

Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...

, Harpoon Brewery

Harpoon Brewery

Harpoon Brewery is an American microbrewery, with plants in Boston, Massachusetts and Windsor, Vermont. Founded in 1986, the brewery was the first company to obtain a permit to manufacture and sell alcohol in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in over 25 years. In 2000 it purchased the former...

 co-founder Daniel Kenary, Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman

Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...

, Frank Rich

Frank Rich

Frank Rich is an American essayist and op-ed columnist who wrote for The New York Times from 1980, when he was appointed its chief theatre critic, until 2011...

, Jeff Bingaman

Jeff Bingaman

Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman, Jr. , is the senior U.S. Senator from New Mexico and a member of the Democratic Party...

, Mo Rocca

Mo Rocca

Maurice Alberto "Mo" Rocca is an American writer, comedian and political satirist.-Early life and work:...

, 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...

, and John Weidman

John Weidman

John Weidman is an American librettist. He is the son of librettist and novelist Jerome Weidman.He has written the books for a wide variety of stage musicals, three in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim: Pacific Overtures, Assassins, and Road Show...

.

Greenough Hall

Greenough Hall — Located just outside 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...

, Greenough is part of a group of dormitories outside the Yard called the Union Dormitories.

Greenough Hall is a four-floor freshman dormitory divided into one large section in the middle and two smaller alcoves on the sides. The middle sections host double and single rooms in the rear of the building and two-room triples in the front of the building, complete with bay windows. On the sides, rooms are either doubles, singles, and triples, or a six-person suite. There are four bathrooms per floor in Greenough: one in each alcove and two in the middle. Greenough features large windows, large walk-in closets in the triples, and hardwood floors. The dormitory has an elevator at the 10 Prescott Street end of the building. (Greenough is so long it has two house numbers: 10 and 12 Prescott Street.)



Past residents of Greenough include Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams

Elliott Abrams is an American attorney and neoconservative policy analyst who served in foreign policy positions for two Republican U.S. Presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. While serving for Reagan and in the State Department, Abrams, Paul Wolfowitz, and retired U.S. Marine Corps officer...

, Wallace Shawn

Wallace Shawn

Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...

, Bill Kristol, and Laurence Tribe

Laurence Tribe

Laurence Henry Tribe is a professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. He also works with the firm Massey & Gail LLP on a variety of matters....

.

Hollis Hall

Hollis Hall, built in 1763, is one of the oldest buildings at Harvard College

Harvard College

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

. It is located in 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 faces the statue of John Harvard

John Harvard (clergyman)

John Harvard was an English minister in America whose deathbed bequest to the Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was so gratefully received that the school was renamed Harvard College in his honor.-Biography:Harvard was born and raised in Southwark, England, the fourth of nine...

 across the Old Yard.

Hollis is a short walk from classes and Annenberg Dining Hall. Hollis has housed some of Harvard's most esteemed alumni such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and President Charles W. Eliot. Hollis also housed George Washington's troops during the American Revolution. Hollis is one of the smaller dorms and houses freshmen in very spacious, wood paneled, single-room doubles with common bathrooms. Occupants of Hollis Hall have included Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...

, Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips

Wendell Phillips was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, and orator. He was an exceptional orator and agitator, advocate and lawyer, writer and debater.-Education:...

, Charles Francis Adams, Sr.

Charles Francis Adams, Sr.

Charles Francis Adams, Sr. was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat and writer. He was the grandson of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and the son of President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams....

, Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...

, George Santayana

George Santayana

George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...

, John Updike

John Updike

John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....

, Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner

Charles Sumner was an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and Reconstruction,...

, William Weld

William Weld

William Floyd Weld is a former governor of the US state of Massachusetts. He served as that state's 68th governor from 1991 to 1997. From 1981 to 1988, he was a federal prosecutor in the United States Justice Department...

, Edward Everett

Edward Everett

Edward Everett was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State...

, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.

Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....

, Horatio Alger, Jr.

Horatio Alger, Jr.

Horatio Alger, Jr. was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty...

, Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr.

Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr.

Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr. is Vice Chairman of the Washington Post Company. From 2000 to 2008 he was publisher and chief executive officer of The Washington Post.-Early life:...

, and Jim Cramer.

Holworthy Hall

Holworthy was founded in 1812 and was named after Sir Matthew Holworthy, a wealthy merchant, who made what was at the time the largest donation to Harvard in the university's history. Holworthy is a first-year dormitory at Harvard College and is located in Harvard Yard. Housing three entryways, it is the closest dorm to the Science Center. It is the second closest dormitory to Memorial Hall, which houses the freshman
dining hall

Cafeteria

A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...

, Annenberg.

Holworthy has the only floorplan of its kind among Harvard dormitories. On each floor of an entryway, there are two suites connected by a ten foot-long hallway and a shared bathroom. Each suite features a large common room, with two double bedrooms. While some residents choose to close the hallway doors, many leave the bathroom hallway open, creating an eight person "megasuite," unmatched by other freshman housing. This provides a built-in social community for the residents within each suite. Each bathroom contains two sinks, two toilets, and two showers.

Past occupants have included Cornel West

Cornel West

Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America....

, Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien

Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....

, and Horatio Alger, Jr.

Horatio Alger, Jr.

Horatio Alger, Jr. was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty...

.

Hurlbut Hall

Hurlbut Hall — Another member of the Union dorm cluster built in 1959, Hurlbut has some of the largest rooms in the Yard. Half of the rooms are stand-alone singles, organized in what is commonly called a "pod," around a common area and a bathroom. The other half are six-person suites, with multiple shared bedrooms, a common room, and an in-suite bath. There is a large laundry room and a computer room with vending machines in the basement. Past residents include James Blake

James Blake

James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...

, Roger Myerson

Roger Myerson

Roger Bruce Myerson is an American economist and Nobel laureate recognized with Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin for "having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory." A professor at the University of Chicago, he has made contributions as an economist, as an applied mathematician, and as a...

, Amory Lovins

Amory Lovins

Amory Bloch Lovins is an American environmental scientist and writer, Chairman and Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He has worked in the field of energy policy and related areas for four decades...

, Elizabeth Wurtzel

Elizabeth Wurtzel

Elizabeth Lee Wurtzel is an American corporate attorney, writer and journalist, known for her work in the confessional memoir genre. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.-Early life:...

, and Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.

Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.

Roger W. Ferguson, Jr. is an American economist, who was Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 1999 to 2006 and is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association - College Retirement Equities Fund...

.

Lionel Hall

Lionel Hall — Located in Harvard Yard, Mower Hall's twin. Tucked away in a corner of the Old Yard, Lionel, like Mower, is small, homey, and has fantastic rooms. Lionel Hall is a memorial to Lionel deJersey, the only relative of John Harvard to attend Harvard. Also like Mower, Lionel has suites that house three or four freshmen, and all suites have bathrooms. Past residents include Peter Benchley

Peter Benchley

Peter Bradford Benchley was an American author, best known for his novel Jaws and its subsequent film adaptation, the latter co-written by Benchley and directed by Steven Spielberg...

, Erich Segal

Erich Segal

Erich Wolf Segal was an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He was best-known for writing the novel Love Story , a best-seller, and writing the motion picture of the same name, which was a major hit....

, Lou Dobbs

Lou Dobbs

Louis Carl "Lou" Dobbs is an American journalist, radio host, television host on the Fox Business Network, and author. He anchored CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight until November 2009 when he announced on the air that he would leave the 24-hour cable news television network.He was born in Texas and lived...

, Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist

Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...

, Kevin Kallaugher

Kevin Kallaugher

Kevin Kallaugher is a political cartoonist for The Economist and the former cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun. He is known as KAL at The Economist.-Editorial cartoon career:...

 and Endicott Peabody

Endicott Peabody

Endicott "Chub" Peabody was the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts from January 3, 1963 to January 7, 1965.-Early life:...

.

Massachusetts Hall

Massachusetts Hall — The oldest surviving building at Harvard and the country’s oldest dormitory, Mass Hall is located next to Johnston Gate at the entrance to the Yard. While the building was designed by two Harvard Presidents, John Leverett and Benjamin Wadsworth, between 1718 and 1720 for the housing of 64 students, the building has since been given various roles – as a refuge for American soldiers during the Siege of Boston, as well as an observatory when Thomas Hollis donated a 24-foot telescope to the university in 1722. Today, it serves as office space for the most significant administrators at Harvard, including the President, as well as home to a handful of lucky freshmen. In addition to a rich history – five founding fathers lived here – Mass Hall offers a prime location and excellent double and single rooms.

Matthews Hall

Matthews Hall — Situated in the heart of Harvard Yard, Matthews boasts large suite common rooms and lovely interiors. All Matthews suites are doubles or triples with shared hallway bathrooms. In the basement, Matthews has a newly-renovated common room. The basement also has a study room with white board, a full kitchen, music practice rooms and a trash room. Matthews' basement has the offices of FOP, FUP, and has music practice rooms. Past residents include Matt Damon

Matt Damon

Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...

, Robert Rubin

Robert Rubin

Robert Edward Rubin served as the 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury during both the first and second Clinton administrations. Before his government service, he spent 26 years at Goldman Sachs eventually serving as a member of the Board, and Co-Chairman from 1990-1992...

, Chuck Schumer, Barney Frank

Barney Frank

Barney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...

, William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...

, Mark Penn

Mark Penn

Mark J. Penn , is the worldwide CEO of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and president of the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates. In September 2007, he released a book titled Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes, which examines small trends sweeping...

, and John Dos Passos

John Dos Passos

John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...

.

Mower Hall

Mower Hall — Located in 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...

, Lionel Hall's twin. Mower has suites that house three or four freshmen, and all suites have bathrooms. In Mower basement, students will find a full kitchen as well as a common room with a TV and DVD player. There is also a dedicated space for quiet study. Past residents include Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

, Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....

, Bob Somerby, Al Franken

Al Franken

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

, Edward Gorey

Edward Gorey

Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his macabre illustrated books.-Early life:...

, Arthur Kopit, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Thomas Oliphant

Thomas Oliphant

Thomas "Tom" Oliphant is an American journalist who was the Washington correspondent and a columnist for the Boston Globe. - Life and career :...

, Timothy Crouse

Timothy Crouse

-Family:Timothy Crouse's affinity for campaign reporters and the theater took root thanks to his father, Russel Crouse, who was a career newspaperman and playwright. "The stories he told me of his newspaper days—especially traveling around the country with prankish sports teams—had a fatal tinge of...

 and Charles Murray

Charles Murray (author)

Charles Alan Murray is an American libertarian political scientist, author, columnist, and pundit working as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC...

.

Pennypacker Hall

Pennypacker Hall is part of a group of dormitories outside 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...

 called the Union Dormitories. Built in 1927 and acquired by Harvard in 1958, it was named after Henry Pennypacker, a former president of the admissions committee. Originally used as temporary housing, it is now a permanent space for freshmen.

WHRB (95.3FM Cambridge), the campus radio

Campus radio

Campus radio is a type of radio station that is run by the students of a college, university or other educational institution. Programming may be exclusively by students, or may include programmers from the wider community in which the radio station is based...

 station run exclusively by Harvard students, is given space in the basement of Pennypacker Hall.

Past residents include: Hendrik Hertzberg

Hendrik Hertzberg

Hendrik Hertzberg is an American journalist, best known as the principal political commentator for The New Yorker magazine. He has also been a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and editor of The New Republic, and is the author of ¡Obámanos! The Rise of a New Political Era and Politics:...

, Nicholas D. Kristof

Nicholas D. Kristof

Nicholas Donabet Kristof is an American journalist, author, op-ed columnist, and a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since November 2001 and is known for bringing to light human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, such as human trafficking and the...

, Andrew Tobias

Andrew Tobias

Andrew Tobias is an American journalist, author, and columnist. His main body of work is on investment, but he has also written on politics, insurance, and other topics. Since 1999, he has been the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.-Biography:Tobias graduated from Harvard College in...

, and Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace (journalist)

Christopher "Chris" Wallace is an American journalist, currently the host of the Fox Network program, Fox News Sunday. Wallace has won three Emmy Awards, the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award, and a Peabody Award. Wallace has been with Fox News since 2003...

.

Stoughton Hall

Stoughton Hall — Stoughton was built in 1805 and was the second building to be named Stoughton Hall at Harvard. The original Stoughton Hall was built in 1700 and funded by Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, who also presided over the Salem witch trials. Stoughton is situated next to Hollis and, like Hollis, houses freshmen in large single room doubles with common bathrooms. Stoughton is a short walk from the Science Center and Annenberg Dining Hall.

Straus Hall

Straus Hall — Straus was built in 1926 by three brothers in memory of their parents, Isador and Ida Straus, New York department store entrepreneurs (Abraham and Straus), who had died on the Titanic. Straus has four entryways, A to D, and consists of suites of doubles, triples, and quads overlooking Massachusetts Avenue and Harvard Square. Like residences in many other Yard dormitories, all suites in Straus Hall have wood-burning living room fireplaces. Straus residents also enjoy a spacious common room, furnished with the leather chairs, oriental rugs, and mahogany panelling characteristic of the Edwardian Harvard reflected. An excellent meeting space for large groups, the room also boasts its own kitchen, a TV, a DVD/VCR, and seating for over thirty. Past residents include Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...

, William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...

, David Souter

David Souter

David Hackett Souter is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from 1990 until his retirement on June 29, 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by William J...

, John Roberts, Phil Bredesen

Phil Bredesen

Philip Norman "Phil" Bredesen Jr. was the 48th Governor of Tennessee, serving from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected Governor in 2002, and was re-elected in 2006. He previously served as the fourth mayor of Nashville and Davidson County from 1991 to...

, Tom Ridge

Tom Ridge

Thomas Joseph "Tom" Ridge is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives , the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania , Assistant to the President for Homeland Security , and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security...

, Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...

, Soledad O'Brien

Soledad O'Brien

María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien is an American Broadcast journalist. She is currently the host of the "In America" documentary unit on CNN, and is best known for anchoring the CNN marquee morning newscast American Morning from July 2003 to April 2007, with Miles O'Brien...

, Tim Wirth

Tim Wirth

Timothy Endicott Wirth is a former United States Senator from Colorado. Wirth, a Democrat, was a member of the House from 1975 to 1987 and was elected to the Senate in 1986, serving one term there before stepping down. He was Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs during the Clinton...

, and Joseph Lelyveld

Joseph Lelyveld

Joseph Lelyveld was executive editor of the New York Times from 1994 to 2001, and interim executive editor in 2003 after the resignation of Howell Raines. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, and a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books.In all, Lelyveld worked at...

.

Thayer Hall

Thayer Hall — Thayer was built in 1870 and originally offered housing to students who had trouble affording the ever increasing prices of housing outside the university. Thayer is centrally located and tends to be a social dorm as rooms are situated on long hallways. Freshmen in Thayer share doubles and triples. Thayer residents will also appreciate having elevators on move-in and move-out days, a luxury that few Harvard students share. Rooms are clustered by gender around single-sex bathrooms. Thayer Basement is prime freshman real estate, newly renovated and completely contemporary. In four distinct spaces there is a full kitchen with eat-in bar, a quiet study room with dry erase board, a room with a pool table, and a lounge with a plasma TV and DVD player. Thayer Basement also houses a laundry room. Past residents include E. E. Cummings

E. E. Cummings

Edward Estlin Cummings , popularly known as E. E. Cummings, with the abbreviated form of his name often written by others in lowercase letters as e.e. cummings , was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright...

, Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Jonathan Taylor Thomas

Jonathan Taylor Thomas is an American actor, voice actor, former child star, and teen idol...

, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hamzah bin al Hussein of Jordan, Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer

Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...

, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., James Agee

James Agee

James Rufus Agee was an American author, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, he was one of the most influential film critics in the U.S...

, Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson is a writer and biographer. He is the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. He has been the Chairman and CEO of CNN and the Managing Editor of TIME...

, Perri Klass

Perri Klass

Perri Klass, MD, is a pediatrician and writer, who has published extensively about her medical training and pediatric practice. She is well-known for her writing about the issues of women in medicine, about relationships between doctors and patients, and about children and literacy. She is the...

, Jonathan Mostow

Jonathan Mostow

Jonathan Mostow is an American film director, writer and producer.-Biography:A graduate of Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut and Harvard, Mostow also trained at the American Repertory Company and New York City's Lee Strasberg Institute...

, Bernard Francis Law, Owen Wister

Owen Wister

Owen Wister was an American writer and "father" of western fiction.-Early life:Owen Wister was born on July 14, 1860, in Germantown, a well-known neighborhood in the northwestern part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, Owen Jones Wister, was a wealthy physician, one of a long line of...

, Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz is a comedian and New York Times bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is best known for creating the satirical website , which has an audience in the millions...

 and Roy J. Glauber

Roy J. Glauber

Roy Jay Glauber is an American theoretical physicist. He is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University and Adjunct Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona...

. Also Princess Owada Masako of Japan was in Thayer North in 1981.

Weld Hall

Weld Hall at Harvard College

Harvard College

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

, built in 1870, was the second of two important additions to the Harvard campus designed by the architectural firm Ware & Van Brunt

William Robert Ware

William Robert Ware , born in Cambridge, Massachusetts into a family of the Unitarian clergy, was an American architect, author, and founder of two important American architectural schools....

 (the first being Memorial Hall

Memorial Hall (Harvard University)

Memorial Hall is an imposing brick building in High Victorian Gothic style, located on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts...

). Although originally divided into North and South entryways, it is now one continuous building.

The building was a gift of William Fletcher Weld

William Fletcher Weld

William Fletcher Weld was a shipping magnate during the "Golden Age of Sail". He later invested in railroads and real estate. Weld multiplied his family's fortune into a huge legacy for his descendants and the public.-Early life:...

 in memory of his brother Stephen Minot Weld

Stephen Minot Weld

Stephen Minot Weld, Sr. , scion of the Weld Family of Boston, was a schoolmaster, real estate investor and politician. After his death, the Harvard dormitory Weld Hall was raised in his honor.-Early life:...

. Weld Hall represented a new trend toward picturesque silhouettes that became important to American domestic architecture of the later nineteenth century, as can be seen in the Queen Anne style

Queen Anne Style architecture

The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...

 which was popular during the same period.

Past residents include 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....

, Michael Kinsley

Michael Kinsley

Michael Kinsley is an American political journalist, commentator, television host, and pundit. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on Crossfire...

, Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton

John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...

, Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg, PhD, is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,...

, Christopher Durang

Christopher Durang

Christopher Ferdinand Durang is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s.- Life :...

, Douglas J. Feith, Neil H. McElroy

Neil H. McElroy

Neil Hosler McElroy was United States Secretary of Defense from 1957 to 1959 under President Eisenhower. He had been president of Procter & Gamble.- Early life :...

, Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke

Ben Shalom Bernanke is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as Chairman, Bernanke has overseen the response of the Federal Reserve to late-2000s financial crisis....

 and Douglas Kenney

Douglas Kenney

Douglas C. Kenney was an American writer and actor who co-founded National Lampoon magazine in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its early material.-Childhood:...

.

Wigglesworth Hall

Wigglesworth Hall is the second-largest of the dormitories

Dormitory

A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...

 housing first-year students at Harvard College

Harvard College

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

. It is located along the southern edge of 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...

, between Widener Library

Widener Library

The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, commonly known as Widener Library, is the primary building of the library system of Harvard University. Located on the south side of Harvard Yard directly across from Memorial Church, Widener serves as the centerpiece of the 15.6 million-volume Harvard...

 and Boylston Hall to the north, and Massachusetts Avenue

Massachusetts Avenue (Boston)

Massachusetts Avenue, known to locals as Mass Ave, is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts, and several cities and towns northwest of Boston...

. It was constructed in 1931, and according to Harvard's website, its location "was part of President Lowell's plan to enclose the Yard from the traffic of 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...

." The dorm is actually disconnected, and consists of three buildings: (from east to west) A-D entries (stairwells), E-I entries a.k.a "MidWigg" or "BigWigg", and J-K entries, a.k.a. "Wigglet" or "Little House on the Prairie." Moving between entryways within the same building requires going outdoors or going through the common basement. Interestingly enough, the entire dorm building also tends to vibrate whenever the nearby train passes by.

Past residents include Bill Gates

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

, Sen. Lee E. Rosenthal , Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...

, Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...

, John Lithgow

John Lithgow

John Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...

, Robert Lowell

Robert Lowell

Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...

, Benjamin C. Bradlee

Benjamin C. Bradlee

Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee is a vice president at-large of The Washington Post. As executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991, he became a national figure during the presidency of Richard Nixon, when he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers and...

, Sen. David Vitter

David Vitter

David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...

, Pat Toomey

Pat Toomey

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Toomey, Sr. is the junior United States Senator for Pennsylvania and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Toomey served as a U.S. Representative for three terms, but did not seek a fourth in compliance with a pledge he had made while running for office in 1998...

, 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...

, Mark Danner

Mark Danner

Mark David Danner is a prominent American writer, journalist, and educator. He is a former staff writer for The New Yorker and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books. Danner specializes in U.S. foreign affairs, war and politics, and has written extensively on Haiti, Central America,...

, Donald P. Hodel

Donald P. Hodel

Donald Paul Hodel is a former United States Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Interior, and Chairman of the company FreeEats.com/ccAdvertising, which has had a controversial role disseminating push polls for the Economic Freedom Fund...

, Naomi Yang, NPR's Melissa Block

Melissa Block

Melissa Block is an American radio host. She is one of the hosts of NPR's All Things Considered news program.-Biography:Block was recording an interview in Chengdu, China when the area was struck by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Her coverage of the earthquake earned NPR a George Foster Peabody...

, and Jared Diamond

Jared Diamond

Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA...

.