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Eliot House

Eliot House

Address101, Dunster Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number922
Previous Building Number 923
Building Root Number 03263
Architect (Original) Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott
Dedicated 10/4/1931
Constructed 1931
Building Acquired 1931
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named for Charles William Eliot (A.B. 1853), president of Harvard College from 1869 to 1909 and influential proponent of University-based research and curricular reform.Historical NotesEliot House is one of Harvard's twelve undergraduate residential communities. It was completed in 1931 to plans by Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott of Boston. Eliot House was one of the Harvard's original seven River Houses, undergraduate dormitories modeled on the English residential colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.

Eliot House sits on the site formerly occupied by the Boston Elevated power house. It was funded by a gift of Edward Stephen Harkness.

Eliot House initially housed male students and became co-educational in 1972 then opened to Radcliffe College women.

A central kitchen connected to Kirkland House was expanded in 1988. It serves several of the River Houses.

Additional Information
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 Eliot House, 1930-1990. (1930). Harvard University Archives call number HUV 662
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.
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.
Mehta, Ved. “Veritas (Part I).” Raritan, vol. 27, no. 1, 2007, pp. 118–156,166.
Mehta, Ved. "Veritas (Part II)." Raritan, vol. 27, no. 2, 2007, pp. 83-110,180.
“The Houses in Operation: Eliot House.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 21 Mar. 1932, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1932/3/21/the-houses-in-operation-eliot-house.
Gray, Katherine M. “Workers Resculpt, Paint Eliot House.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 30 June 2006, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/6/30/workers-resculpt-paint-eliot-house-tower.
Kempf, Charles P. “Eliot-Kirkland Kitchen Begun.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 6 April 1988, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1988/4/6/eliot-kirkland-kitchen-begun-pstudents-accustomed-to.
“Earliest Known Portrait of Franklin in Eliot Library.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 7 Oct. 1931, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1931/10/7/earliest-known-portrait-of-franklin-in.
“Announce Plans and Personnel of Eliot House, Third of New Building Units.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 8 Nov. 1930, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1930/11/8/announce-plans-and-personnel-of-eliot.
“Construction Hubbub at Eliot House to End.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 13 May 1994, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1994/5/13/construction-hubbub-at-eliot-house-to.
Jobson, Kristi L. “Harvard Explained. Did Lowell Really Steal Eliot’s Chandeliers?” Fifteen Minutes Magazine [Cambridge, MA], 7 Nov. 2002, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/11/7/harvard-explained-did-lowell-really-steal.
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.
“Seven Harvard Colleges Where One Grew Before.” Daily Boston Globe, 27 Sep. 1931, p. B2.
“Pres Lowell Leads Harvard Unit Survey.” Daily Boston Globe, 26 Sep. 1931, p. 13.
“House Profiles.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 20 Mar. 1963, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1963/3/20/house-profiles-pbia-foreword-to-freshmenib.
"A "Touchable at Harvard." Daily Boston Globe, 7 Feb. 1932, p. A52.
"Harvard Begings a Notable Experiment." Daily Boston Globe, 30 Nov. 1930, p. SM7.
"Harvard Names Five New House Units." Daily Boston Globe, 13 May 1930, p. 9.
"Eliot House Third in Harvard Plan Nears Completion." Cambridge Tribune, 29 Aug. 1931, p. 1, 4.
"Razing Power House Under Way by March 3." Cambridge Tribune, 1 Mar. 1930, p. 1
"Harvard Name the Remaining Five Houses." Cambridge Tribune, 16 May 1930, p. 13.
Karl Haglund, Inventing the Charles River, pp 194-206.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.
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