Skip to main content
Menu
Dunster House
View All Records View On Map
Dunster House
Dunster House

Dunster House

Address945, Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number920
Previous Building Number 921
Building Root Number 03251
Architect (Renewal)
Architect (Original)
Building Acquired 1930
Constructed 1930
Renewed 2014
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named for Henry Dunster (1609-1659), a Puritan clergyman and the first president of Harvard College.Historical NotesDunster House is one of Harvard's twelve undergraduate residential communities. It was completed in 1930 to plans by Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott of Boston. Dunster House was funded by a gift of Edward Stephen Harkness.
Additional Information
White Library
Gordon Maskew Fair Room
Annicchiarico, Francesca. “Dunster Demolition.” Harvard Magazine, July 2014, https://harvardmagazine.com/2014/07/dunster-renewal-update.
"Harvard Begings a Notable Experiment." Daily Boston Globe, 30 Nov. 1930, p. SM7.
"Harvard's New "House Plan" Buildings Unfold Their Portals." Daily Boston Globe, 14 Sep. 1930, p. C2.
Photographic Views of Dunster House, 1929-1959. (1929). Harvard University Archives call number HUV 658
Harvard University. Descriptive pamphlets of the buildings included in the House Plan - Adams House, Dunster House, Eliot House, Kirkland House, Leverett House, Lowell House, John Winthrop House 1930-1931, [include sketches and plans]. HOLLIS number 003160105.
Heskel, Julia. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott: Past to Present. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, 1999.
Harvard University Archives. Construction Management Records, ca. 1953-1986. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 298.8000
"Implied Rebuke Sent to Lowell." Daily Boston Globe, 19 Sep 1931, p. 1.
Maycock, Susan E., and Charles Sullivan. Building old Cambridge: architecture and development. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2016. Print. Lamont Library call number NA735.C28 M39 2016; Loeb Design Library call number NA735.C28 M39 2016.
“House Profiles.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 20 Mar. 1963, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1963/3/20/house-profiles-pbia-foreword-to-freshmenib.
Assad, Bita M. and Ahmed N. Mabruk. “Preserving Some of Harvard’s Best Kept Secrets.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 19 Oct. 2009, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/10/19/house-houses-residents-neogeorgian.
“Pres Lowell Leads Harvard Unit Survey.” Daily Boston Globe, 26 Sep. 1931, p. 13.
“Seven Harvard Colleges Where One Grew Before.” Daily Boston Globe, 27 Sep. 1931, p. B2.
“First Harvard Unit House Plans Made: Architects Outline Details of Design Made Possible Through $12,000,000 Gift.” Daily Boston Globe, 29 Apr. 1929, p. 24.
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
Griffin, Arthur. Dunster House Harvard. 1935. Web. 07 Jun 2017. .
Delwiche, Theodore R. “Fully Renovated Dunster House Opens Its Doors | News | The Harvard Crimson.” The Harvard Crimson, 2 Sept. 2015, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/9/2/dunster-house-renewal-tour/.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.
Related Projects