So Long, SoHo: South House Gets New Name, Large Gift

"SoHo. So there," the longtime motto of many Quad residents was laid to rest yesterday when South House was renamed Cabot House.

The Radcliffe Board of Trustees last week voted to rename the House in honor of Thomas Dudley Cabot '19 and his wife Virginia W. Cabot "in honor of their life-long committment to Radcliffe and Harvard," President Horner said yesterday.

The Cabots' most recent donation to the school includes a "one million dollar plus gift" earmarked for Quad renovations, according to Cabot, a former Radcliffe trustee and member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.

The gift will have a "direct" impact on the plans for large scale renovation of South House and North House, said Vice President for Administration Robert H. Scott. "We can now do more (renovation) than we ever thought possible," said Scull who added that work on the Houses should begin next summer.

Possible renovations include the remodeling of individual rooms into suites and creation of a single dining room to replace the two dining rooms in North House.

North House too may be sporting a new hall before the end of the year, according to Horner, who explained that the Radcliffe trustees are currently reviewing several halls.

The 10 halls that make up North and South Houses were former Radcliffe dormitories until the Houses went co-ed in 1971. Unlike the river Houses built in the 1930s, the dorms making up North and South Houses were not built-as residential colleges--with suites, central libraries, and central dining halls.

But Cabot's gift is "only a small part" of his involvement with Radcliffe, Horner said. Cabot has been both the founder of the Virginia Wellington Cabot Scholarship Fund at Radcliffe and the donor of the Cabot Science Complex.

Horner explained that the trustees chose to rename South House after Cabot in part because of his earlier connections to the House. Cabre Hall, one of the six buildings which compare the Sollo complex, with named for Fill Layman Cabol, in cousin of Cabot's father.

The announcement of the House's new name caught many Sollo dwellers, including the masters, offguard. "It came as a complete surprise," said Associate Master Ann Wacker, who added that she was "delighted South House is going to have a real name instend of just being a direction."

Master Warren E.C. Wacker said he had been anxious to have the House renamed ever since he became Master. "The Cabot name is a very distinguished one around here and I think it will lend a new sense of identity to the House."

For some students, however, the prominence of the Cabot name was a drawback. "There are so many things named for the Cabots around here that it doesn't really give the House a unique identity," said Victoria K. Gifford '85, Vice-Chairman of the House Committee.

But for many students, some name--any name--was better than a direction. "Any surprise takes a few days to adapt to, but I'm beginning to like it already," said Lewis S. Goldman '85.

Other students took a more practical view of the name change. "I think it's a good thing if it means more money for the Quad," said David M. Claza what added that it would take a while for the new name to stick. "It still he South House to us, of least for another year.