One of the twelve undergraduate houses at Harvard, Quincy House opened in September 1959. The house was named after Josiah Quincy III (1772-1864), who served as the fifteenth president of Harvard from 1829 to 1845. It consists of three buildings: Old Quincy, built in 1929-30 and originally called Mather Hall (built to house the Biology department's Center for Primate Study until a larger facility was built some years later); New Quincy, built in 1959; and the 20 DeWolfe St. residence hall, completed in 1991. The building sits on a full city block of land over what was once a Puritan burial ground. As of 2001, Quincy House is the largest of the twelve undergraduate houses, with some 2,300 students and an additional number of resident tutors and faculty affiliates.
The house system at Harvard began in 1928, under President Lowell with a $13 million dollar gift by Edward Harkness. Modeled after the colleges at Oxford, the system was intended to strengthen the social bonds between students, and to encourage more informal interaction among students, tutors, and faculty. The Houses offer some academic instruction, have their own dining halls and libraries, and promote extracurricular activities relating to music, theater, sports, and other special interests. Each House is overseen by a Master, a senior faculty member who lives in a private residence within the house. House staff includes an Allston Burr Resident Dean (formerly Senior Tutor), responsible for overseeing students' academic and personal well-being, as well as resident and non-resident tutors. The staff and non-resident faculty associates make up the Senior Common Room, which hosts dinners and other events.
From the description of Records of residential life in Quincy House, 1959-2005. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 542580742
