“It was clear that we couldn’t use [the building] much longer in the state it was in,” McCarthy said.

Some students were more skeptical about the renovations.

“We found out last year and we were all pretty pissed off,” said Christopher J. Yip ’03. “I’m not very happy in general with having many more people in the House.”

He also said he thought that the buildings were “holding up all right.”

Brendan D. Connell ’02 said it “would be a shame” if the kitchens in Wolbach were sacrificed in order to allow more people into the house.

“I really enjoyed having a kitchen,” he said.

Some were less pessimistic.

“The more the merrier,” said Jane E. Humphries ’03.

“Pforzheimer has a really warm community, and I don’t think adding more beds would change that,” said Pforzheimer Senior Tutor Melinda G. Gray ’88, who added that the Jordan buildings have not been renovated since she lived there herself as a student over ten years ago.

At that time, the Jordan buildings were owned by Radcliffe, which built them in 1959 as cooperative housing.

When the buildings switched over to Harvard ownership in 1999 it was unclear whether the buildings could be modified at all due to the terms of the original gift from Susan M. Hilles, though administrators have since determined that some renovations could be made.

“We looked into the terms of the gift and its clear that we can alter the building as long as we’re housing students,” Dingman said.