Adams House
Quirks & Perks
With acorns as the house’s unofficial mascot, it only makes sense that Adams’ culture is nuts (*pause for groan*). The first words Adams HoCo Co-Chair Grace R. O’Sullivan ’24 would use to describe the house are “unmatched community,” and the house traditions certainly attest to this. Take, for example, Adams’ themed Thursday night Carpe Noctem events to “seize the night.” The most anticipated Carpe of the year is Chocoholica, featuring an assortment of raging students, erotic candies, and chocolate fountain lava cakes. Yet the coup-de-grace of establishing Adams’ dominant culture is certainly Drag Night, where professionals and Adams amateurs alike dress in drag for a night of fashion and fun. As Adams HoCo Co-Chair Sophia C. Weng ’24 described, “Everyone in the house gets involved—from the faculty deans to the students.” The event not only represents the superiority of Adams events, but also the tradition of inclusivity — particularly for the LGBTQ+ community — that persists throughout the house.
Even on days when you cannot party at an iconic Adams event, there is much in the house to enjoy. Check out the Gold Room (literally, a gold room) or the Bow and Arrow Printing Press. If you’re feeling hungry, head over to the castle-esque dining hall, featuring a gong (as all dhalls should have), lion carvings (allegedly bought off a movie set), and the HUDS staff who invented Boom Boom Sauce. That’s right, this HUDS staff was cooking gems long before the Great HUDS Reform of 2023. But what is best about Adams is not just that you will constantly be discovering new beauties within its walls, from stained-glass windows to dragon sconces, but that you will be exploring this alongside your close-knit Adams community.
All About Housing
With renovations set to finish by 2025, Adams is one of the few houses that can boast both great rooms and location. Possibly the only house where you can roll out of your bed at 9:05 a.m., clean up in your in-suite bathroom, dance around in all that space (possibly accompanied by your complimentary organ?), and walk to class in 2 minutes for your CA to begrudgingly mark you present.
Incoming sophomores will most likely find themselves in the newly-renovated Randolph Hall or the boujee swing housing of Hampden Hall and Oaktel. If they choose to venture out of their spacious, Gryffindor-esque room, they can walk through the mural-covered tunnels painted by seniors past or watch a movie in the (used-to-be-a-real-pool) Pool Theater. At night, they can also head over to the three-story Senior House, where a group of seniors lives (and obviously hosts) lively social events.
In essentially every aspect of what makes a house a house, Adams reigns supreme. The culture? Banging yet unique. The location? Ideal. The housing? Iconic in the way you dreamed about when you were eight years old and pondered what a Harvard dorm would like. And, as anybody who visits the House can attest, the community? Goated.
Your Questions, Answered
We know, you still want to know more about Adams. Well, learn more about it here, directly from the Adams HoCo Chairs!
How are Adams IMs going?
GRO: We have very dedicated IM reps. They recently just got a whiteboard in the dining hall for IMs, there is an IMs groupchat for IM fanatics. Maybe it’s not a lot of people who are invested, but we have investment.
SCW: There’s nowhere to go but up!
Any pets in Adams House?
SCW: We have two corgis in the house, Cheddar and Oshie. We have a tiny little Italian greyhound who lives in the Inn named Karl Marx.
GRO: There are a lot of cats, a lot of fish, and we have a lot of tutors who host “Pawffice Hours.”
What fruit would Adams be?
BOTH: A peach.
Do you want to elaborate on that?
*exchange glances*
GRO: Peaches — they’re sweet, they’re nice, they’re great, but then…
SCW: …they’re also a little raunchy.
Cambridge may be on the East Coast, but if you live in Adams, you’ll be living on the gold coast.