Fifteen Minutes: Master of the House: FM peeks inside the luxe living spaces of Harvard's house masters

Perched on the top floor of New Quincy, the Quincy House master's two-floor apartment was named one of Boston's top five apartments by Boston Magazine. With three bedrooms and four baths in the main apartment, and a four-bedroom, two-bathroom residence assistant quarter, the rooms are large and spacious. But the interior dulls in comparison to the Boston and Cambridge skyline that lies just outside. Elegant living is not the big selling point for the pad; the Quincy House residence simply has what others do not: an immense roof garden with exquisite views of Boston and the Charles. The masters share the wealth with the students a few times a year when they open their garden to House cocktail parties at sunset. One of the hosts, the master's dog Quincy, has his own spectacular vista--a closed in porch just for him.

Adams House students are spoiled with luxurious rooms and a beautiful House. But it's the masters who are really pampered. The Adams House masters' residence, Apthorp House, stands in the Adams courtyard as one of the most historic buildings in Cambridge. Built in 1761, it has been the home of a pre-Revolutionary anglophile, a merchant, imprisoned British troops and even Harvard students. Over the summer, the University decided it was time to renovate the residence for the first time in over 65 years. After stripping off the Chinese tea wallpaper, the university modernized the nine-bedroom, eight-bathroom colonial house. "While we want to make it attractive and beautiful for guests, we want the house to be primarily for the students," says Sean Palfrey, first-year master of Adams. The family room, for the extended Adams House family, holds a welcoming wooden table for weekly dinner talks with members of the senior common room. In addition to ping-pong and pool tables and a TV room, the basement contains a theater prop shop stocked with tools and open to students. Palfrey's favorite parts of the house are the intricate closets, packed with shelves and delicate woodwork, and the gorgeous and gigantic kitchen. But the house's best-kept secret is in the third-floor bedroom--Teddy Roosevelt's crib.

From the street, the Mather House master's residence appears as a windowless brick fortress. But inside, enormous rooms, vaulted ceilings and incredible square footage turn the citadel into a castle. While most castles are stone-cold, this one has heated floors. Although interior brick and concrete walls present a formidable obstacle to home decorating, the masters have risen to the occasion. "The architecture challenges us to make it human and warm," explains Sandra Naddaff, Mather House master for seven years. Colorful furniture, like a pair of camel-back blue couches and a massive painting of the Taj Mahal at sunset by a Harvard grad, as well as other artwork courtesy of the Fogg, gives the gargantuan rooms a classical character. In addition to seven-and-a-half baths, and four large bedrooms, an atrium connecting the dining room to the living room houses large trees and exotic plants. Although Naddaff admits that Mather lacks some of the grandiosity of other houses, she would never exchange her domicile. "There is always a room that is sun-filled," she says. "At 8 in the morning, the back rooms are brilliant with sunlight. That's not an experience you have a lot in the Northeast."