Winthrop House - Standish Hall
Address48, Mill Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number960C
Building Root Number
03333
Architect (Renewal)
Beyer Blinder Belle
Architect (Original)
Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge
Constructed
1916
Building Acquired 1916
Renewed 2016
Building Acquired 1916
Renewed 2016
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named after Captain Miles Standish (c. 1584-1656) of the Mayflower, as chosen by Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, one of his descendants.
Standish Hall is a part of Winthrop House which is named after two John Winthrops, who participated in, benefited from, and supported the practice of human enslavement. The elder John Winthrop served as the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the younger, a descendent of Governor Winthrop, was the Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard and served as the President of the College from 1773-1774.Historical NotesStandish Hall was built by Harvard as a residence hall in 1916. It was designed by Shepley Rutan and Coolidge of Boston. It was funded from a gift of Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage. Today it is part of Winthrop House, one of Harvard's twelve undergraduate residential communities. In 2016 it was completely renovated as a part of the Riverhouse Renewal program and the former Faculty Dean Residence was incorporated into it.
Additional Information
John A. Kaneb Courtyard
Rothenberg Courtyard
Reid S. Tonkens Common Room
“Harvard Freshmen Begin College Life in the Middle: President Lowell’s Plan of Freshmen Dormitories Means That the Entering Class Will Not Live the Same Life of Servitude as Did His Predecessors.” The Hartford Courant, 1 Nov. 1914, p. X3.
Harvard University Archives. Construction Management Records, ca. 1953-1986. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 298.8000
Heskel, Julia. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott: Past to Present. Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, 1999.
Photographic Views of Gore Hall, Standish Hall, and Winthrop House, 1913-1957. (1913). Harvard University Archives call number HUV 660
"Harvard Names Five New House Units." Daily Boston Globe, 13 May 1930, p. 9.
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, HOLLIS number 003160105.
“First of the New Freshman Dormitories.” Cambridge Chronicle, 12 July 1913, p. 10.
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
“Recent Collegiate Architecture.” The Brickbuilder, Nov. 1914, p.259-268, https://books.google.com/books?id=AVhNAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA262&ots=sHZ8a31CFJ&dq.
“Seven Harvard Colleges Where One Grew Before.” Daily Boston Globe, 27 Sep. 1931, p. B2.
“Harvard Regiment Put in Freshman Dormitories.” Daily Boston Globe, 26 Jun 1917, p. 3.
“House Profiles.” The Harvard Crimson [Cambridge, MA], 20 Mar. 1963, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1963/3/20/house-profiles-pbia-foreword-to-freshmenib.
“Pres Lowell Leads Harvard Unit Survey.” Daily Boston Globe, 26 Sep. 1931, p. 13.
“First Freshman Dormitory.” Cambridge Tribune, 19 July 1913, p. 7.
“Arrangement of Rooms in New Harvard Freshman Dormitories.” Boston Evening Transcript, 11 Dec. 1913, p. 16.
“New Harvard Dormitories on the Banks of the Charles.” Boston Globe, 26 Nov. 1913, p. 18.
“First Home for Freshman Soon.” Boston Globe, 18 Mar. 1912, p. 8.
This building has been designated by the University Planning Office as having a Notable Interior.
