Eliot House
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eliot House is one of twelve residential houses for upperclassmen at Harvard University. Opened in 1931, the house was named after Charles William Eliot, who served as president of the university for forty years (1869-1909). The architectural style of Eliot House is considered typical of Harvard, with red brick construction and vertical entryways with residential rooms branching directly off stairwells. The House's cupola was modelled after the dome of New York City Hall.
The current Masters of Eliot House are Professor Lino Pertile and his wife Anna Bensted.
Famous former residents of the house include Leonard Bernstein, Peter Benchley, Benazir Bhutto, Ben Bradlee, Archibald Cox, John Harbison, Ted Kaczynski, William Kristol, Richard Leacock, Joseph Lelyveld, Jack Lemmon, Thomas Oliphant, George Plimpton, and Jay Rockefeller.
Before Harvard opted to use a lottery system to assign residences to upperclassmen, Eliot was known as a 'prep' house, providing accommodation to the university's social elite. Vestiges of this remain in traditions like the spring formal, the Eliot Fête, and the house remains especially well-endowed, although Harvard no longer permits donors to fund individual houses.
[edit] Movie Appearance
- Eliot's prominent bell tower is featured in two screen shots in the box office movie Old School starring Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Luke Wilson, as well as the movies Legally Blonde starring Reese Witherspoon and Luke Wilson, and The Firm starring Tom Cruise.
