The Ottoman Empire.

The Berlin Wall.

The Adams House attitude.

With time, all things crumble.

The populace of Adams House, long renowned for its place in the avant-garde, is becoming a little more conservative. A little more casual. A little more bland.

A little more randomized, as it were.

But as the house that was once "coming to get you" begins to slow its pace, a challenger arises.

"Dunster is the artsy, hip house without the attitude Adams is famous for," says Matthew E. Donahue '97, a Dunster resident.

Still, Adams isn't ready to let go of the artsiness torch just yet.

Like many students, Ana M. Lara '97 lunched in Adams all of last year before making it her first choice in the March housing lottery. And, also like many students, she had a stereotype of house residents in mind.

"What did I expect? Artsy, queer, whatever."

What did she get?

"It's a little preppier than I expected. There are definitely a lot more people into the preppy style."

The housing lottery system of non-ordered choice has brought students of all stripes into what was once the bailiwick of black-clad artistes. In the dining hall, gov now lunch check by jowl with literature concentrators.

"I think because of randomization that you're seeing a lot of students with different interests," says Adams House dining hall checker Jane Kelley.

This demographic shift may have affected house stereotypes, residents say, but it hasn't detracted from the caliber of house life.

"It's very diverse and it doesn't have the same artsy character it did before," Lara says, "but it still has a lot of funky people."

"Adams definitely has the best dining hall," Kelley notes.

But rumor has it that the permanent denizens of Harvard's cutting edge have relocated, culinary quality notwithstanding (after all, anyone can eat interhouse in Adams).

The new home of the College cultural elite, "Adams without the angst" according to the house t-shirts, is just a short walk down to the river.

Donahue moved into Dunster this fall, lured by "the best parties I went to all freshman year."

He knew the Dunster reputation: "You know, Birkenstock-wearing, long hair, as much of a hippie house as you can expect to get at Harvard. It seemed pretty mellow. I thought it would be a good environment."

But instead of the Greenpeace crowd, he found large numbers of students interested in the arts. "There aren't a lot of granola-eating environmentalists around here," he says. "It's more of an Adams crowd."

Some Dunster residents argue that this apparent change in character isn't a change at all, rather a new influx of interest in a longtime house activity.

"Dunster has always been strong in the arts, but it has been overshadowed by Adams in the past," says Dunster House Committee co-chair Victor Chiu '95.

Although newcomers may perceive changes, Chiu says, Dunster has retained its own identity. "I don't think anyone inside Dunster house would say we are becoming what Adams used to be.

"I don't think Dunster House residents would like to be classified as artsy, or to be classified at all."