At the foot of the stairs to the Adams House basement, a sardonic greeting scrawled in paint across the door frame greets residents: “Welcome, members of the ruling elite. View the amusements of the idle rich…”

These amusements were displayed in a wild splash of color last Thursday evening, when over 70 Adams residents gathered to leave their mark on the walls of their basement. The winding underground tunnels have displayed colorful murals and wall-paintings—full of pop culture references, sarcastic quips and Zen-like koans—before the randomization of Houses, when Adams was a mecca for artists.

Tutors and House Masters say they recognize turned artwork from as far back as 1989, but they think that the tradition actually has a much longer legacy.

And a bizarre tradition it is. Lauren E. “Orly” Kivett-Ripmaster ’03 calls the 130 basement murals “a bunch of eclectic quotes and artwork that epitomize Adams House.”

Although the murals change a few at a time from year-to-year as students paint over the oldest ones, this year’s painting party was the first major collaborative effort to give the entire basement a face-lift.

The party, sponsored by the House Committee, began at 10 p.m. and lasted into the morning. Altogether, the students are adding about 35 new designs, painting over many of both old and unfinished murals.

Before the renovations began, the old designs were photographed and filmed for archival on the House website.

The new murals range from fun to functional. Several especially playful murals featured cartoon characters.

Seven friends united to paint “The Seven Dwarfs,” with each one of them represented in one of the quirky Disney characters.

Julie B. Goldman ’05 says the group decided to paint on an whim.

“We submitted a form and didn’t know what we were going to do,” she says of the green slips of paper prospective wall-painters had to fill out in the weeks preceding the painting.

Another group of friends who work for the campus counseling group Room 13 devised a more practical plan: they decided to paint a permanent advertisement on the basement walls.

The black and white mural displays the signature graphic seen on all of the group’s posters and includes the phone number and location of the service.

“It’ll be a good thing for publicity, and it makes postering a lot easier,” says Peter C. Saldarriaga ’03.

Some seniors looking to bequeath their legacy to future Adams residents took a different approach.