Lowell House
Quirks & Perks
Lowell House is known for its abundance of traditions, which have brought together the house community for years. “Our house provides you plenty of opportunities to feel as if this is where you belong,” HoCo Co-Chair Jaya J. Nayar ’24 said. “I think Lowell really does go the distance to make Lowell House feel like home,” added HoCo co-chair Joseph E. Brower ’24. Such opportunities include Lowell Tea, which is hosted every Thursday in the Faculty Deans Residence, and Lowell Speeches during the spring semester, where students give speeches at the end of dinner. In addition, HoCo often throws steins, with upcoming themes including a (friendly) gossip-based “Heard It Through the Grapestein” stein with wine and a “Desteiny”-themed stein featuring a fortune teller.
Lowell’s community does not end at graduation. Lowell alumni can be invited to join the house’s Senior Common Room, which consists of administrators, faculty, and professionals affiliated with the house. Lowell often hosts events to connect the Junior Common Room (the house’s undergraduates) with the SCR, such as dinners and trivia nights.
If larger events are what you’re looking for, they won’t be hard to find in Lowell. Glowell is a glow-in-the-dark rave in the fall semester that’s open to all students. Additionally, Lowell hosts a Yule Ball in the fall. Nayar and Brower emphasized that Bacchanalia — a huge party celebrating Bacchus, the Roman god of wine — takes place in the spring and is one to look forward to, as it is Lowell’s biggest event.
All About Housing
As Lowell was recently renovated in 2019, you are likely to be satisfied with whatever housing you get. There are numerous hallway singles, especially for juniors and seniors. For sophomores, it is most common to have a suite with a double and two singles or two doubles for you and your roommates.
Lowell also has its fair share of party spaces, such as the ten-man, the nine-man, the eight-man, and the seven-man suites (who doesn’t love a good numerical order?). There is also the bell tower suite, which is completely soundproof due to its proximity to the bells. Nayar added that, though it is not a suite, there is also a room at the top of the bell tower that can be used for kickbacks or larger parties. In addition, the underground lounge is often a popular space for booking large-scale events and can fit almost a hundred people.
Lowell House boasts plentiful amenities. In terms of studying spaces, Brower said the Junior Common Room is one of his favorite study spots because you can socialize more than in a library, but it’s still quieter than the dhall. There is also a study area in the bell tower, and there are small nooks throughout the house for studying. Finally, the underground area has a dance studio, a squash court, an art room, a screening room, and a kitchen.
Your Questions, Answered
Want to know more about Lowell? We asked the HoCo chairs a few of your burning questions!
If you could describe your house with a HUDS dish what would it be?
JJN: By far, that cookie cake thing. Everything about us is just sweet and perfect, but we’re rare. It’s hard to get us.
JEB: Probably some sort of Earl Grey tea. It’s on brand.
How is it actually living with the bells?
JJN: I wake up at 8 a.m. every day, so I’m probably not the best person to answer. They don’t bother me.
JEB: Yeah, they've never bothered me either. I’m typically at church on Sundays until 1 p.m. either way. So I come back when they’re ringing — it’s nice and quaint.
JJN: Listen, they’re annoying, we’ll admit that much, anybody will admit that much. But the amount of joy it brings those poor bell ringers, I would not give it up for the world. It’s what they look forward to in their week.
What side of TikTok would your House be on?
JJN: We have a ton of events so we’d probably have like a thrill seeker side of TikTok.
JEB: That’s good, that's good. We’ll go with that!
JJN: Or like somebody who just looks to do a bunch of fun activities. Like one of those sides of TikTok that’s like “32 things to do with your boyfriend in New York because he can’t come up with it on his own.” That’s what we feel like when we’re in HoCo meetings.
What would you say makes your House community unique?
JJN: I think our house is uniquely good at carrying through traditions. In our house, Lowell Tea has been a standing tradition for such a long time that it’s not even a question of whether it’ll be run, it kind of just runs flawlessly at this point.
JEB: I think we do a good job at carrying through on the old while simultaneously embracing the new, like Covid didn’t like create a blip in our step whatsoever.
Is there anything else that you want to add?
JEB: The hype is…
JJN: Definitely real. For sure. I cannot imagine how much better it is to live here than everywhere else.
From fancy chandeliers in the dhall to a personal alarm clock from the bells, Lowell is here to fancify your residential experience.