Elmwood (house)
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For other uses, see Elmwood.
Elmwood, also known as the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, is a registered historic house, residence of Andrew Oliver (1706–74), royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts; Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), signer of the US Declaration of Independence and whose political tactics earned the term gerrymandering, and Vice President of the United States; and James Russell Lowell (1819–91), noted American writer, poet, and foreign diplomat.
The house was built in 1767 by Andrew Oliver, a former stamp-tax collector then serving as royal secretary of Massachusetts. He died in 1774 as a British Loyalist roundly hated by many. The house was confiscated at some point during the American Revolution. In 1787 Elbridge Gerry purchased the estate, and in March 1813 took the oath of office as Vice President in the house, where he lived until his death in 1814. Not long after, Elmwood became the birthplace and lifelong home of James Russell Lowell, one of the most distinguished men of letters of his era and a prominent diplomat. Except during the period 1877–85, when he served as Minister to Spain and Great Britain, Lowell lived in the house. It was he who named the house "Elmwood."
Elmwood has been owned by Harvard University since 1962 and served as residence for the university's presidents since 1971 when acting Harvard President Derek Bok (1971–1991 & 2006–2007) moved his young family to these bucolic grounds to escape the din of student activity on Quincy Street. And Elmwood has continued to serve as the residence of University Presidents since.
Although parts of Elmwood's interior have been altered, its exterior has not changed greatly over the years. It is a large, square, clapboarded structure in Georgian style with brick-lined walls and two interior chimneys. All three floors in the main section are bisected into two rooms on either side by a central hall. Its first- and second-story windows are topped by cornices, and a balustrade encloses the low-pitched hip roof. The most striking exterior feature is the entranceway, which is flanked by Tuscan pilasters supporting a classic entablature decorated with a frieze. A large window sits above the entablature and is flanked by Ionic pilasters and topped by a triangular pediment. A one-story porch with balustraded roof deck on the north side of the house, as well as a terrace on the south side, are later additions.
