The Houses

For information about housing for the Class of 2029, see First-Year Living.

About

The House System

The Houses serve as the foundation for the undergraduate experience at Harvard College. Ninety-eight percent of all undergraduates live in one of the twelve residential Houses. Additionally, Dudley Community serves non-residential students who live off-campus and those living in the Dudley Cooperative. Each House accommodates 350-500 students with its own dining hall, common rooms, and facilities for academic, recreational, and cultural activities.

Living and Learning

With the goal of forging a link between learning and living, the House system hosts a diverse assortment of intellectual activities and traditions. In addition to lectures and seminars, each House runs a collection of weekly language and interest tables that provide informal opportunities for students with common interest to meet, exchange ideas, or learn particular skills. Houses are places where learning occurs all the time, whether in the dining hall as students share a meal with faculty and visiting scholars or in House tutorials and seminars taken for degree credit.

Community

The life of the House extends beyond the intellectual. The Houses host robust cultural and social opportunities and are are home to their own film, music, art, and drama resources that range from small-scale jam sessions to full opera productions. Houses encourage physical wellness by fielding a variety of competitive intramural sports teams. Social functions, such as Faculty Dean open houses, formal dances, and coffee hours, provide students an opportunity to relax and interact with members of their House community.

House Websites
Adams House	Cabot House	Currier House
Dunster House	Eliot House	Kirkland House
Leverett House	Lowell House	Mather House
Pforzheimer House	Quincy House	Winthrop House

Residential Staff

Veterans & Students With Families

Harvard College does not offer undergraduate housing in the Houses or dorms to married undergraduates or undergraduates with families; however, students who are veterans, married, or have children may be eligible for Harvard-affiliated housing through Harvard University Housing (HUH). Given the leasing period for HUH housing, students are strongly encouraged to make such a request during the spring term (between March 1 and May 1) if they are requesting housing for the following academic year. Requests and inquiries related to this policy should be directed to the Harvard College Housing Office.

House Renewal

Harvard’s House system is one of the most unique features of our undergraduate experience. Ensuring its excellence and vitality in the 21st century is critical to our educational philosophy. Harvard is undertaking a major renewal of the Houses creating a home where students can bring together their academic, social, and personal passions and pursuits. Harvard is far along on this program with the sixth House (of twelve) now in renewal.

House Renewal aims not only to improve conditions through renovation, but also to change how the physical spaces function to meet programmatic and other goals essential to the residential experience at Harvard.