Adams House (Harvard University)

, the sixth, and 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.

History

Most 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 white clapboard Apthorp House (1760), one of the most distinguished Colonial residences of Cambridge, now the Master's residence, predate the rest of Harvard's Houses. The current main entrance hall, 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 Richardsonian Romanesque and neo-Tudor Gold Coast buildings seemed dark and "Germanic" to 1930's taste, and many students preferred the entirely new neo-Colonial structures of Eliot, Winthrop and Dunster Houses. Adams' location however (it is the closest of all the Houses to Harvard Yard) and its reputation for good food (it's one of the few Harvard Houses that doesn't share a kitchen) soon overcame any perceived architectural deficiences. In fact, some of these same “deficiences” turned out to be quite handy: students in the 1940s and 50s wishing to avoid the College's strict nightly curfews and fraternization rules came to greatly value Adams' multiple and unguarded entries, unlike the central, monitored portals of the newer undergraduate residences, particularly in Claverly Hall, site of a gay undergraduate party in the early 50s that made the pages of "Confidential Magazine". Later, Adams was the first House that openly welcomed openly gay and lesbian students. (Harvard University Gazette). Today, of course, such stringencies are long gone, and the various buildings comprising Adams House are considered some of the most interesting and architecturally significant structures in the House system.

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 spelled the word such in his signet , and thus this spelling should be maintained for posterity in the House's official motto.)

Reputation and 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 illicit nude parties that used to occur 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 (formerly the Christmas Feast) that 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 fortunate tutors.

The current masters of Adams House are Dr. Judith Palfrey and her husband Dr. John "Sean" Gorham Palfrey VI.

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
*John Lithgow
*Donal Logue
*Terrence Malick
*Nathaniel Nakasa (exiled South African journalist, Nieman Fellow)
*William P. Perry
*John Reed
*Alison Rogers
*Franklin Roosevelt
*Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
*Charles Schumer
*Peter Sellars
*Courtney B. Vance
*Michael Weishan
*William Weld
*Apthorp Elves
*Alexis Adler (Hon.)

Additionally, John F. Kennedy met with his senior thesis adviser in the Coolidge Room. Aaron Copland lived in the House as a guest.

External links

* [http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~adams Adams House official site]
* [http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/12.17/kielys.html Ken Gewertz, in "Harvard University Gazette", 1998]
* [http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2004/03/24/tea_and_company_at_harvards_apthorp_house/ Boston Globe article on Adams House teas, 2004]