By Maya S. Bhagat
Quincy’s residents swear that you could live almost your entire life in Quincy and not miss a thing. The central location of this house means that your friends will always be willing to catch a meal with you (or you’ll see them cutting through the courtyard on the way to the river). Whether you’re into art, sports, or other pursuits, Quincy House will accept you into its social Quommunity with open arms.
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Quincy House is divided into New Quincy and Stone Hall, which is slightly confusing since the latter was recently renovated in 2014. Sophomores usually get hallway doubles in Stone Hall, but some blocking groups can end up in New Quincy. Although only a few lucky sophomores get hallway singles, by junior and senior year, anyone who wants a single can get one, and all the floors have common rooms. Many rooms have a great view of the Quincy courtyard.
While many rooms in Quincy have parties over the weekends, one well-known party suite is the balcony suite on the 3rd floor of New Quincy, which ironically overlooks the library. Every semester, the students in this room host a house-wide party which can get crazy; Fall 2018’s party was lab-themed, and in addition to mad scientists, past schemes have involved bringing in sand for a Baywatch party.
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Quincy House is known for its lovely Qube library, which is replete with cushy chairs, lots of stuffed animals, and a huge window with a view of the House courtyard. Other study spaces include the Junior Common Room (where pianists commonly practice), the classrooms in the basement of Stone Hall (which have wrap-around tables), and the dhall (where you can hide behind the Christmas trees during fall semester reading period). For the more relaxed periods of the day, many Penguins like to let their hair down outside the House in the Quincy Quammock, the tables in the courtyard, or simply the dhall. Quincy also boasts its own grille, and according to resident Kaiwen Li ’21 who works there, “It’s a great chance to get to meet people.” Quincy also has a pottery studio in the basement next to the gym, and two students run classes there.
The faculty deans, Lee and Deborah J. Gehrke, have a penthouse suite on the top floor of New Quincy. “They do these open houses where they'll have 900 cupcakes, very different flavors, and at the beginning of the year they do a Sophomore Barbecue Cookout up there,” said HoCo co-chair Sierra M. Moore ‘20. Their dog, Ripley, however, is apparently the real ‘Quincy Queen.’ "She goes to all our IMs and she'll come running through the dhall, and she's just absolutely so sweet. It's always a toss-up whether she's going to notice you or not,” Moore says with a laugh.
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Quincy House made history this past year by winning the Straus Cup. “Quincy is really special when it comes to IMs...so many different types of people will actually go play,” Moore says.
Quincy’s defining community aspect is its homey vibe. “People are very outgoing, generally. So when they see someone they know, it's not just a good quick, ‘hey what's up’ and they're already past you. You know, it's sort of like, go stop and talk,” says Moore.
Quincy is also known for its delicious meals and the Harvard University Dining Services staff has a close bond with students. Greg, a HUDS employee, will remind you what you forgot to grab that morning when you’re rushing to class, and Maria makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich. “Sometimes I go to the other houses, but our house is here,” says Ana Braga, who has worked for HUDS in Quincy House for 18 years.
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Still curious about what it’s like to live in Quincy? The HoCo chair filled us in.
What are some misconceptions people have about Quincy?
SM: I think people say, ‘oh, Quincy thinks they are a great house,’ and we are a great house, so misconception confirmed!
Could you tell me about the dhall mural?
SM: No one really knows what is up with the mural. We have a lot of funky art around Quincy...We recognize that it's a little weird-looking but we like it, but only Quincy people can say that it's weird...I'm very protective of our ugly, cute things.
Why did you decide to run for HoCo?
SM: I really wanted all these different events in Quincy that I felt would make it even better...I wanted even more people to find what I had found in Quincy.
Correction: March 12, 2019
In the original version of this article, the name of Kaiwen Li ’21 was misspelled.
Read our overviews of the other Houses here.
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