Freshman may not know very much about Quincy and probably haven't had much interaction with the house save for pleading with its HUDS staff members—well-trained in the art of freshman-spotting—to let them eat in Quincy's dining hall at dinner. However, freshman lucky enough to end up in Quincy will enjoy a slew of really cool house perks, including a prime location between classes and Harvard Square, a well-stocked Grille that stays open late and serves up tasty treats, and game tables in the main lobby. Not to mention an oddly gripping recurring miniseries about the house’s mascot, the Quincy Penguin.{shortcode-e7c1742ff3b4ef69ae5c8d66cb164e7eabe40747}
{shortcode-9e2453d736d8356705f1f420d45009afdad49d25}Quincy students are blessed with relatively large rooms. While juniors and seniors naturally have the larger rooms in New Quincy, sophomores live in Old Quincy. The dorms in Old Quincy are mostly walk-ups with one or two rooms per floor, and are smaller in size like most of the other sophomore housing options along the river. Looking for more room? Quincy allows you to apply for overflow housing in the nearby DeWolfe Apartments, which typically have two doubles, a spacious common room, and an in-suite bathroom and kitchen. If you’re lucky, though, you’ll be placed in New Quincy, which boasts a larger number of singles as well as an elevator.{shortcode-b3d36ebf00a9eafb9bc9aafcdc557a5534126cdb}
Quincy boasts an excellent ceramics studio and a House gym. The Qube library, which hovers over Quincy’s courtyard, is a popular study space for students and is a beautiful spot on a sunny day to work. Students within the house seem to have mixed feelings about the architecture of the dining hall and the new and old parts of the building, but Quincy is know as the “People’s House” because of its central location and bustling atmosphere. Quincy’s most popular spaces to spend time in include the newly renovated JCR, Quincy Grille, Stone Hall basement, and study nooks on the fourth floor of Stone Hall.{shortcode-fb83efe3f54aa79c741612d10b0bc3f9680c9428}
We took a trip to Quincy House and asked current residents some questions about their experience living in this Square house:
How is Quincy doing in IMs this year?
Nathaniel J. Brodsky ’18: I’m not a huge IM guy myself, but I can tell you for sure that we’re in the broomball championships. It’s a pretty big deal.
What are the best places in Quincy to chill or hang out?
NJB: I always love the dining hall. But my favorite is probably the grill. The people love it, and we are the house of the people after all.
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What is unique or special to your house?
Andrew R. Puopolo ’19: I think we have a very intimate house community that many other houses don’t have. Our faculty deans, Deb and Lee, are instrumental in hyping up quincy spirit. Also, the fact that Quincy is the center of campus is extremely convenient. And this dining hall is amazing, because it’s always got such a bright atmosphere and you always see student from other houses come to work here late at night. If you compare it to other houses at the center of campus, like Adams, it has the advantage that it’s kind of like a community away from a community in that it is fenced off in one Harvard Block.
What are some of Quincy’s best events?
Felix Wong: Quincy actually has quite a few events. For example, we have field days, and masters open houses. While all houses have that, I think Quincy does it particularly well, especially because we have a really awesome pair of faculty deans. Deb for example is known as the fun master because she plans out a lot of events. For example on Thursday we have community nights, and we actually are going to have a swing dance event this Thursday, and she makes a ton of great theme events as well.
Can you describe Quincy’s house spirit?
FW: Quincy house is known as the people’s house, so we definitely have a ton of spirit and we’re definitely a close community. And I think we’re fourth in IM’s right now, so we’re definitely killing it. There’s definitely a lot of house spirit, and you can always see that on Thursday night community nights”
What are some of your favorite Quincy House events?
Miles G. Counts ’18: “They have swing dancing which is always great.
What would you want a freshman to know about Quincy?
Peryn E. Reeves -Darby ’18: I feel like Quincy is honestly the best house, because we have a central location, with great housing options, no pests, and it’s always lit on the weekends.
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