Quad Updated with Renovations

The losers in last spring’s Quad housing lottery may be the true winners.

Pforzheimer’s Jordan Halls, long considered the worst housing on campus, now sports central air conditioning, floor-to-ceiling windows, hardwood floors and kitchenettes after a summer long top-to-bottom renovation.

“God bless the lottery,” said David Velez ’05 as he ran from room-to-room in his new suite in Jordan North yesterday.

Velez said the first time he entered his future home, he was appalled.

Now, he said, “I’m overwhelmed. This beats Holworthy to death.”

Assistant Dean of the College Thomas A. Dingman ’67 called the old Jordan Halls the “dog of the housing system” and said Wolbach Hall, also renovated in similar fashion this summer, was so dilapidated it had to be redone.

The Jordan construction was only one part of more than five million dollars worth of changes to the Quad over the summer, including the renovation of the three Quad dining halls, Jordan and Wolbach Halls and the redesign and landscaping of the shuttle drive.

The Quad dining halls now have marble countertops, newly-painted walls and enhanced lighting. With these renovations, the College is now three-quarters of the way through with its plans to renovate all the dining halls.

The construction, which included workers working two shifts to complete everything within the thirteen week summer, was completed just in time for move-in—although the Quad’s former grass lawn is still covered with construction vehicles and piles of dirt.

Pforzheimer Superintendant Jim F. Gallivan said the grass currently covered by gravel should be restored by the end of September.

“There was a very ambitious construction schedule this summer,” Dingman said. “It kind of knocked people out... The miraculous thing is people can move in today.”

At some points during the summer, Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis ’68 doubted whether the construction could be completed in time for fall move-in.

“In July you could look right through the Jordans—there was nothing left but the floors and the girders holding them up,” Lewis wroten in an e-mail. “It really is an astonishing achievement, as anyone who has even tried to get a contractor to put in a kitchen in a three-month period could attest.”

Like Jordan Halls, Wolbach also received a complete structural and cosmetic overhaul—now sporting new thermostats, spotless crimson-colored doors, and halls floored with gray slate tile.

Wolbach is also now connected to Pforzheimer by an enclosed hallway.

Twenty-nine more students will reside in Jordan this year, according to Dingman.

Dunster, Eliot, Kirkland and Mather Houses also underwent minor renovations to their plumbing and electrical systems, Dingman said.

The Eliot House grille, which was destroyed in a fire last year, was also renovated to comply with updated fire codes.

—Staff writer Anne K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.