Quadrangle (Harvard) - History and Nomenclature

History and Nomenclature

The Quad began as housing for (female) Radcliffe College students in 1901; male students first moved in around 1970. The Quad became fully coresidential in 1972.

For much of its history, its dorms were called "Annex housing", after the "Harvard Annex", Radcliffe's original name, but at some point it came to be called the "Radcliffe Quadrangle". Around 2002, three years after the dissolution of Radcliffe as an undergraduate institution, the name was changed to The Quadrangle. Signs were placed on all four Quad street corners (as part of the Silken Renovation of 2002) emblazoned only with the Harvard shield and the words "The Quadrangle: Harvard University". Additionally, the name "The Radcliffe Quad" was changed to "The Quadrangle" in Harvard's maps.

For more on Radcliffe's shifting role in the University, see Radcliffe College.