Sever Hall
Address25, Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number336
Building Root Number
04425
Architect (Original)
Henry Hobson Richardson
Constructed
1880
Building Acquired 1880
Building Acquired 1880
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named after James Warren Sever (1797-1871), late husband of Anne Elizabeth Parsons Sever (1810-1879) who donated $100,000 to erect a dormitory.Historical NotesSever Hall was designed by the prominent American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (A.B. 1859) and built between 1878 and 1880 as an academic classroom building. Sever Hall is noted for the extensive use of carved and molded brick shapes and has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The building was funded as a bequest of Anne E. P. Sever.Additional Information2006 winner of Cambridge Historical Commission Preservation Award
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places December 30, 1970. National Register Information System ID: 70000732
Hurlbut, Byron Satterlee. A Guide Book to the Grounds and Buildings of Harvard University. Cambridge: U, 1898. Print.
Harvard University Archives. Construction Management Records, ca. 1953-1986. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 298.8000
Weber, Paul J. Photographs of Harvard University Buildings and Grounds Taken by Paul J. Weber, Ca. 1929-1931 and 1939. Harvard University Archives call number HUV 2329
Photographic Views of Sever Hall, 1881-1982. (1881). Harvard University Archives call number HUV 50
Henry Hobson Richardson Drawings (MS Typ 1096). Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Henry Hobson Richardson Additional drawings and papers (MS Typ 1097). Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution. Hannah Winthrop chapter, Cambridge. An Historic Guide to Cambridge. 2nd ed., rev. ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1907.
Foster, Maxwell E. "Circling the Square: Sever Hall." The Harvard Crimson, September 30, 1949. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1949/9/30/circling-the-square-plike-an-old/.
"The New Sever Hall." The Harvard Register, vol. 1:3, February 1880, p. 37. http://books.google.com/books?id=jOETAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22sever%20hall%22%20harvard&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q=%22sever%20hall%22%20harvard&f=false.
"The Shrouds of Cambridge." Harvard Magazine, September/October 2005. http://harvardmagazine.com/2005/09/the-shrouds-of-cambridge.html.
Goddard, Elizabeth. Sever Hall by H.H. Richardson, 1974. [Undergraduate honors thesis], Harvard University Archives call number HU 92.74.430.
Brooks, Arthur Hendricks. Report on Sever 11 [Undergraduate paper], 1891. Harvard University Archives call number HUC 8890.324.7.
Buildings Records for Sever Hall: Drawings and Plans, [ca. 1878]. Harvard University Archives call number UAI 15.82 pf.
Contracts Papers. Sever Hall, 1904-[1906]. Harvard University Archives call number UAI 50, Box 70, Folder 5.
General Information about Sever Hall. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1781.2.
Correspondence Regarding Sever Hall Benches, 1949-1955. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 136.449.
Will of Anne E.P. Sever, 1877. Harvard University Archives call number UAI 15.1570.
Bequest of Mrs. Anne Sever, Notes , ca. 1871. Harvard University Archives call number UAI 5.130 Box 15.
"Henry Hobson Richardson." Harvard Monthly, vol. 3, October 1886, p. 1-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=3eQjAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Harvard University Archives Biographical Files. Henry Hobson Richardson. Harvard University Archives call number HUG 300.
Harvard University Archives Biographical Files. James Warren Sever. Harvard University Archives call number HUG 300.
O’Gorman, James F. H.H. Richardson and His Office: A Centennial of his move to Boston: Selected Drawings. Cambridge, Mass., 1974.
Henry Hobson Richardson drawings. Houghton Library call number MS Typ 1096 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.Hough:hou00434.
Oschner, Jeffrey Karl. H.H. Richardson, Complete Architectural Works. Cambridge, Mass., 1982.
Moneo, Jose Rafael. Sever Hall. [Part of Ornament at Harvard]. Cambridge, Mass., 1986, p. 68-69.
Wooden Bench Removed from Sever Hall During Renovation. Harvard University Archives call number HUB 1781.3pf.
Photograph of a Perspective Sketch by Henry Hobson Richardson of Harvard Yard with Sever Hall in the Foreground. Loeb Design Library call number NAB 5275 Har.
Associate Dean for Physical Resources. Project Records, 1966-2005. Harvard University Archives accession 17375.
Heskel, Julia. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott: Past to Present. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, 1999.
Gerfen, Katie. “Projected Daylight.” Architecture, vol. 95, no. 4, Apr. 2006, p. 65.
Campbell, Robert. “Harvard Yard’s Renovated Sever Hall Deserves a Long Look; Craftsmanship of Exterior Walls Shines Once More.” Boston Globe, 12 Mar. 2006, p. N.11.
“Old Cambridge. Brief Notes. The New Sever Hall.” Cambridge Chronicle, 2 Oct. 1880, p. 1.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.