Architecture Scoped! Harvard's Underground Railroad Stop

And you thought there was nothing beneath your feet but miles of forbidden tunnels and Larry Summers’ secret lair. Not if you’re standing in Warren House, which once served as the Cambridge stop on the Underground Railroad.

Warren House­, with its tasteful Big Bird-yellow exterior, features a curious musty smell that suits the home of the Celtic Studies and Folklore and Mythology departments. It also boasts a period bathroom, complete with its own pull-chain toilet.

But the house’s real piece of history is its trapdoor, which leads to a small compartment big enough for a few escaped slaves to hide. Though the door is hidden under a bench today, the worn notch used to pry open the hinged section of floor still works.

Warren House is unknown to all but a small handful of Harvard students who’ve endeavored to do something crazy like learn a Celtic language (see the Welsh dictionary against the back wall: Volume III is M through Rhywyr). But that doesn’t mean the circa 1833 piece of architecture must remain obscure. Stroll right in, as FM did—just don’t try to use the antique toilet.