Adams House is one of the twelve undergraduate houses at Harvard University, located between Harvard Square and the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Named to commemorate John Adams, the second president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, the sixth, as well as other members of this illustrious clan, Adams is often regarded as Harvard's most historic House. It celebrated its 75th anniversary on the weekend of Oct. 6-8th, 2007.
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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[1] – 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, Winthrop and Dunster Houses[2]. Adams' location, however, (it is the closest of all the Houses to Harvard Yard) 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 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. Later, Adams was the first House that openly welcomed gay and lesbian students. (Harvard University Gazette). 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 lived in Westmorly Hall (now B-17) from 1900 to 1904. The FDR Suite Restoration Committee at Adams House (FDR Suite at Adams House, Harvard University) is currently active in restoring the suite to its 1900 appearance, as the only memorial to FDR at Harvard, as well as a museum of early-20th-century Harvard student life.
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. 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 designaton 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 housing to upperclassmen, students were allowed list preferences. At that time, Adams was considered the artistic and literary house; vestiges of that reputation still remain today. This tradition is 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 House's former Explosives B theater has been replaced by the Molotov Cafe. 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.) Today, assignment to upper-class houses at Harvard is totally random and therefore no House has an official identity.
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, the Winter Waltz, the Spring Swing, and Friday afternoon Master's Teas that are considered the best in the University. 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 and her husband Dr. John "Sean" Gorham Palfrey VI.
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
- John Brademas
- Amy Brenneman
- General John Burgoyne (imprisoned in Apthorp during the American Revolution)
- William Burroughs
- E.J. Dionne
- Martin Feldstein
- Buckminster Fuller
- Andre Gregory
- Fred Gwynne
- Seamus Heaney
- William Randolph Hearst, Jr.
- Douglas Kenney
- Alan Keyes
- Henry Kissinger
- Bernard Law
- Jack Lemmon
- John Lithgow
- Donal Logue
- Terrence Malick
- William P. Perry
- John Reed
- Alison Rogers
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
- Charles Schumer
- Peter Sellars
- Courtney B. Vance
- Michael Weishan
- William Weld
Additionally, John F. Kennedy met with his senior thesis adviser in the Coolidge Room. Aaron Copland lived in the House as a guest. Coordinates: 42°22′19″N 71°06′59″W / 42.371810°N 71.116314°W
External links
- Adams House official site
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Suite Restoration Project
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Suite Restoration Blog: Where the 19th Century Meets the 21st
- Boston Globe article on the FDR Suite Restoration
- NPR's Here and Now chronicles the FDR Suite
- Harvard Magazine's Portrait of Frank at Harvard
- Brilliance Twice Recalled - article on Master Judith Palfrey in the Boston Globe
- Ken Gewertz, in Harvard University Gazette, 1998
- Boston Globe article on Adams House teas, 2004
Notes
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