In the seven residential halls that make up Adams House, Faculty Dean Sean Palfrey wrote, “There are nooks and crannies everywhere, though even more so inside where there are gold-leaf-walled rooms, arches, organs, stained glass, Moorish ceilings, marble floors.” Currently, Adams House is under renovation. It is a project that will take five years and aims to “keep Adams weird.”

Cabot House

“Lots and lots of open space often filled with kids and dogs and neighbors and just lots of laidback fun,” said Ian Miller, faculty dean of Cabot House, one of the three Houses that make up the Quad. “The Quad is really unusual. All of the other Houses are gated communities. Cabot is open to the world and open to Cambridge, and that is in many ways what defines our House ethos: Semper Cor, or ‘always heart.’ We lead with kindness, care, and creativity — and we endeavor to be open to the world.”

Currier House

Of all Harvard’s undergraduate Houses, no building brings the outdoors inside like Currier. “The tree house” is all about the landscape where alternate sloping and sunken hillsides are organic, serene, and tree-filled. Frank Lloyd Wright would approve of Currier. In the common room called “the fishbowl” there are oversized windows that face the slopes. On a winter day this space transforms to feel more like a snow globe than a fishbowl.

Dudley House

Two Victorian homes nestled between Harvard and Porter squares comprise the Dudley Co-op. Founded in 1958, the Co-op offers an alternative to on-campus living with its “progressive, participatory community.” The structures, one on Massachusetts Avenue and the other on Sacramento Street, mingle well in the Cambridge community.

Dunster House

A small triangular plot along the Charles River is the site of Dunster House, named after Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard (1640‒1654). The large-scale, heavy, and elaborate adornments harken back to 18th-century Baroque English architecture.

Eliot House

“There is a reason so many films have featured Eliot from the air,” said Faculty Dean of Eliot House Kevin Madigan. “To start with, it is spectacularly situated on the river, and the architects neatly fit it between JFK and Memorial Drive. Its near-perfection, architecturally speaking, is that is it a single building that essentially makes up an equilateral triangle, sun-drenched and opening onto a view of the river.”

Kirkland House

Kirkland House, named for the Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, Class of 1789, who served as president of Harvard from 1810 to 1828, is composed of three primary structures: Smith Hall (1913), the main residence quad; Bryan Hall (1931), the Faculty Dean’s lodging; and John Hicks House (1760), the site of the House library. Among the smallest Houses, the intimate structure is steeped in classic charm and refinement, with high ceilings and intricate woodwork.

Leverett House

The 12 stories of Leverett Towers (1960) were erected as an adjunct to Leverett’s existing McKinlock Hall (1925) on nearby Memorial Drive. This was Harvard’s first experiment with high-rise design and differed greatly from the neo-Georgian style farther up the river. The central garden is depressed and the towers are asymmetrical. The towers and the elevated library form a natural courtyard and stage, and thus a Commencement ceremony space as well.

Lowell House

Harvard President A. Lawrence Lowell (1909‒1933) hired his close friend Charles Coolidge to design the River Houses. Coolidge initially wanted to create a Gothic Revival grouping; his partners had to convene a meeting of Boston architects to talk him out of it. Today the River Houses, including Lowell, are considered a masterwork of Georgian Revival design and are central to the feel of Harvard’s landscape. Lowell House, specifically, was praised by historian Walter Muir Whitehill as a “masterpiece of creative eclecticism.”

Mather House

Mather House, a 19-story high-rise built in 1970, was designed by Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott, the oldest architectural firm in Boston and the one that designed all of Harvard’s River Houses. Mather’s brutalist style is showcased in the rigid geometry. Enormous concrete pillars decorate open patio spaces.

Pforzheimer House

Pforzheimer, or PfoHo, as it’s known pfar and wide, is farthest north of all of Harvard’s undergraduate Houses; thus its polar bear mascot. Central in the horseshoe-shaped Radcliffe Quadrangle, with its wide and expansive lawn, is the well-proportioned and impressive Moors Hall, PfoHo’s showpiece. Inside Moors is a double-decker dining hall.

Quincy House

Faculty Deans Eric Beerbohm and Leslie Duhaylongsod like to say that Quincy — “the people’s house” — lives up to its name even in its hybrid look. “Our inclusiveness starts with its two structures — the superb joining of Stone Hall’s neo-Georgian with New Quincy’s boxy modernism,” Beerbohm said. According to architect Bainbridge Bunting, (new) Quincy House showed the designers’ efforts to give international style an American form. They substituted Harvard red brick with white stucco and used limestone trim along with varied window designs. The organization of Quincy House around a courtyard, however, follows traditional Harvard guidelines.

Winthrop House

Winthrop House, with its three river-facing courtyards, is an arresting site for walkers along the Charles. The three main structures are Gore and Standish halls (1913), similar in size, and the Beren Hall (2017). Wrought-iron gates link the buildings with elaborate “G” and “S” designs marking the entrances.

“One feature of Winthrop that we especially like is that Kaneb Courtyard (between Gore and Standish halls) is open to all,” said Faculty Deans Stephen Chong and Kiran Gajwani. “Harvard students, staff, and members of the public pass through this beautiful space as they go to and from the river. It’s a great metaphor for Winthrop being welcoming and open.”