Despite Concerns About Renovations, Parties Go On in Old Quincy

Despite concerns that the setup of newly renovated Old Quincy, with its many single and double bedrooms without private common rooms, would prevent residents from successfully hosting parties in their rooms, students still managed to socialize this past weekend.

The building, now renamed Stone Hall, comprises a mixture of singles and doubles with shared cluster common rooms, and suites with private common rooms. During last spring’s housing lottery, rising juniors and seniors generally shirked Old Quincy, citing among their reasons for doing so the perception that the common spaces in the dorm would not allow students to host parties.

But students living in Stone Hall said that residents were able to successfully host gatherings the first weekend back.

Adam O. Brodheim ’16, who lives in a suite with three doubles and a private common room, said he and his roommates hosted a party Saturday night for freshmen in his former entryway.

“It’s a nice-sized common room for a party,” Brodheim said. “We’re very happy with it.”

Herby R. Raymond ’16, who co-hosted the party with Brodheim in his own two-bedroom suite, said that on Saturday his private common room managed to fit up to 40 people at once.

Other Stone Hall residents reported hearing multiple people hosting gatherings throughout the weekend. Abel Deandreis Colina ’16 described the number of parties as “noticeable.”

Students who occupy the single and double bedrooms without private common rooms said that while they generally liked their rooms, the setup was not ideal for hosting parties in traditional Harvard style.

“Doubles and singles are not big enough for parties,” said Tony Khikmatov ’16, a Stone Hall resident. “The common rooms not in suites are small.”

Yasmin Issari ’16, who lives in a double bedroom in Stone Hall without a private common room, called Stone Hall a “beautiful building” and praised its common spaces, but spoke of the rooms themselves with less enthusiasm.

“When I think of how awesome Quincy is, I don’t think of my room,” Issari said.

Stone Hall is the first completed product of House Renewal, Harvard’s ambitious, more than $1 billion plan to eventually renovate all 12 upperclassman Houses. Administrators have called Old Quincy a “test project” for the House Renewal process.

Leverett’s McKinlock Hall is currently undergoing construction and is slated for completion by next fall. Construction on Dunster, which will be the first full House to undergo renovation, will start in 2014.

—Staff writer Laya Anasu can be reached at laya.anasu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @LayaAnasu.

—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.