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In 2019, Adams House leadership carried out a cover-up. The House boarded up racist caricatures carved into a century-old fireplace in Westmorly Hall, hiding the sculptures behind a pair of bulky pillars.
But when the Hall reopened this year, the makeshift pillars — and the racist caricatures underneath — were nowhere to be seen.
The fireplace, which sits in the A entryway of Westmorly Hall, formerly depicted derogatory sculptures of African, Native American, and Asian figures that were rediscovered in a Crimson investigation in 2022.
Aaron M. Lamport ’90 — an architect with the firm Beyer Blinder Belle who worked on the Adams renewal project — said that the sculptures were “surgically taken out” and replaced by new pillars. The fireplace now features laurel and oak leaves, acorns, and the Massachusetts state flower.
The old sculpture has been effectively erased from the House. Neither the new fireplace nor the Adams House website acknowledges the former pillars or their complex history.
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Lamport said he believed the old pillars were given to a Harvard museum collection. But Faculty of Arts and Sciences spokesperson James M. Chisholm wrote in a statement that the pillars will not be preserved, instead given to a local arts organization to be used for materials.
“We intend to donate the pillars to a local arts organization and allow them to repurpose the materials for their art programming,” Chisholm wrote.
Chisholm did not comment on where the pillars were currently located, and did not name the organization to which the pillars will be sent.
Lamport is not the only one who thought the pillars would be preserved. Former Adams House Faculty Dean John G. “Sean” Palfrey ’67 said that he worked with multiple University committees that ultimately decided to preserve the original pillars.
“It’s a complex history of race and whatever, so they have not disposed of them, but hopefully they will be available to historians to see what history wanted to pose it and now what we're doing,” Palfrey said. “I actually was very pleased with that resolution.”
Chisholm declined to comment on the internal processes leading to the pillars’ removal.
Adams Faculty Deans Salmaan Keshavjee and Mercedes C. “Mercy” Becerra ’91 did not respond to a request for an interview about the decision.
When Adams House alumni returned to campus this weekend to see the new renovations, many who were undergraduates during the time of The Crimson’s investigation said they were curious to see what the house had done with the fireplace.
Liam H. De Monaco ’24 lived in the A entryway of Westmorly Hall while the pillars were uncovered. De Monaco said he was glad that the house decided to remove the carvings.
“We were always like, ‘Ugh, that fireplace,’” De Monaco said. “I think they got rid of it, though, which is good.”
“It seems for the best,” De Monaco said.
—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.
—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.
