If the dining hall restrictions of no freshman and strict “+1 guest only” rules at Quincy’s popular dining hall are any indication, this house is in many ways the center of dining life on the River. Old Quincy, known as Stone Hall, has been renovated in recent years and reflects the traditional Harvard look of many of the houses along the River, while New Quincy boasts fully-furnished singles within a duplex that are popular for juniors and seniors within the House. New freshman penguins (the house mascot) will enjoy late night treats at the unrivaled Quincy Grille or at the comfortable, renovated “Innovation Space” in Stone Hall’s basement. Despite some controversial dining hall murals, freshman placed in Quincy on Housing Day have plenty of reasons to celebrate.
1. Quincy’s mascot, a penguin, was adopted as its official mascot as recently as 2005.
2. “Quincy Assassins” is an annual event where students use Nerf guns to take down fellow House members.
3. The Qube, Quincy’s library, has one of the most extensive comic book collections at Harvard.
4. Famous alumni of Quincy include the former governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredeson, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, and director Rob Cohen, known for films like "The Fast and the Furious and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story."
5. Quincy was the first House built after the original seven river Houses, and so it symbolizes “new Harvard.”
6. Old Quincy was originally called Mather Hall and was part of Leverett House.
7. Quincy House has its own Ceramics Program and pottery studio, located in the basement of Stone Hall.
8. Quincy was the first House to undergo renovation and “renewal” in 2012.
9. Quincy’s building is LEED Gold certified as environmentally friendly.
10. Quincy Grille is open seven days a weeka rarity for grills along the river.
Quincy has a range of natural party spaces given the larger size of its rooms and the duplex format of many of the spaces available to juniors and seniors within the House. There are several party spaces of suites that are actually two regular duplex suites with eight large singles, two common rooms, two bathrooms, and naturally sound-proof walls, and this structure is fairly common for upperclassmen within the house.\r\n
Most sophomores live in Old Quincy, which is similar to many of the older style of dorms along the river, with wood-flooring, a walk-up building, and relatively few suites within each entryway. Some sophomores also choose to live in the overflow housing of Dewolfe, which is typically rooms of four (two doubles, a common room, a kitchen, and a bathroom). Juniors and seniors tend to live in New Quincy because of the availability of singles, privacy, and greater space. However, there is a range of options available to students of all years, with plenty of singles and suites throughout the house.\r\n
{shortcode-dc95352a79f9a347e92f272062483a54e4e92091}', [ShortcodeImageGQL(key='{shortcode-dc95352a79f9a347e92f272062483a54e4e92091}', image_url='https://s3.amazonaws.com/thumbnails.thecrimson.com/photos/2015/03/09/211045_1304829.jpg.1500x1000_q95_crop-smart_upscale.jpg', nofilm=False, pos='right', size='large', byline=True, quote=False, quotebyline=False, theme='light', caption='A sophomore double in Quincy House', hovertext=None, contributors=Quincy boasts an excellent ceramics studio and a House gym. The Qube library, which hovers over Quincy’s courtyard, is a popular space for student studies and is a beautiful spot on a sunny day to work. Students within the house seem to have mixed feelings about the architecture of the dining hall and the new and old parts of the building, but Quincy is know as the “People’s House” because of its central location and bustling atmosphere.
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Quincy’s most popular spaces to spend time in include the newly renovated JCR, Quincy Grille, Stone Hall basement, and study nooks on the fourth floor of Stone Hall. In addition, Quincy hosts a bi-monthly Stein Club on Fridays from 8 to 10 p.m. and special Thursday night community dinners. Co-HoCo Chair Janice Jia ’17 explains, “Deb and Lee are willing to do anything for our house, and so one Thursday, for example, we had a Star Wars night and all of the tutors dressed up.” Sometimes, community events are so popular that students have to be turned away, and Wyatt Robinson recalls a similar special event of a Harry Potter study break where “the dining hall was completely transformed—it was really magical.” In addition, Stein Clubs within the House are known to have non-dining hall food, as Jia ’18 says, “we usually have food and some sort of event or theme for our Friday night Stein Clubs. So recently, we had a Lone Star Stein, where we had the Mariachi come with Felipe’s Nachos.”
Across the board, Quincy residents rave about the close-knit community and the support team available to residents of the house from Deb and Lee. “All freshman should look forward to the... open houses twice a month” says Madeline Zimmerman ’17. As far as IM spirit, Jia ’18 adds, “we’re doing a lot better in IMs than in previous years. I think we’re number four right now.”
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What is one thing you want freshmen to know about your House
David Pfeiffer ’18: “We’re all really close.”
Ari Camacho ’18: “Quincy is cool because you see all of your friends from other houses because everyone comes to our house to eat lunch.”
Janice Jia ’17: “Especially by your fourth year, you will have a Quincy posse of people you might not have known at all when you got into the house. We are such a close-knit community.”
Nadia Haile ’17: “The House Master’s residence was once rated one of the best places to live in Boston.”
Giannina Marciano ’18: “I want them to know that no matter what house they get they’ll be happy, but Quincy is special because you don’t lose touch with other people after you get into the house because it’s so centrally located.”
If you had to describe your house in 3 words what would they be?
Pfeiffer: “the most desired”
Marciano: “Sexy, community-oriented, warm”
Jia: “The People’s House”
If you had to change one thing about your house what would it be?
Robertson: “Sometimes from the sunsets you can get a bad glare in your room”
Pfeiffer: “Sometimes the lighting is so sepia that my jawbone is too on fleek”
Marciano: “The Quincy residents are so tight-knit among classes that sometimes different classes are a little disjointed.”
Jia: “The dhall food is so good that I’m getting fat.”
What Hogwarts house would your house get sorted in to?
Robertson: “I think our house has so many different students and types of people that it’s hard to think of one. But everyone wants Quincy so it has to Gryffindor”
Jia: “Gryffindorwe have courage, we have charisma, we have responsibility, we have brains, and I think we have a disproportionate amount of Rhode Scholars.”
