#west quad

Wilder House // West Quad by Mohona Chowdhury ‘17, Wilder VP

Welcome to Wilder House, the best house on the quad (in my completely biased opinion of course). Wilder is on the west side of the quad, residing in the slightly detached mini- quad with our lovely twin, Comstock. Our house holds 82 residents and the notorious Barbie Wilder. We have our own dining hall which is only open for dinner and serves Asian fusion. Yum!

Even though quad houses are on the larger side, we have an extremely strong house community. You can find Wilderites in our living room (fireplace and grand piano included), our incredible sunroom, or our parlor at all hours of the day and night. The house has 57 singles, which means that some first years and most, if not all, sophomores and above have singles. This is a great perk of living on the quad, since most of the quad houses are comprised of mostly singles. But, this doesn’t dampen the Wilder love that the house shares. We covet our house traditions and close knit community. Wilder House Council and ResLife is dedicated to making sure all residents feel happy, safe, and included in the house community. The house council and members of the house are there for anything from homework help to curing homesickness. Additionally, our house parties (“Gossip Girl” and “Middle School Dance” were our last two themes), class bonding adventures, and every house event in between displays Wilderites’ commitment to the house and to each other. Wilder also has an amazing relationship with our fellow quad houses. In fact, just last semester, Wilder married Cushing House in what was probably the wedding of the century. The incredible dining staff made a real wedding cake, our illustrious HR presided over the ceremony, and many quad residents, residential life staff, and others from all over campus came to celebrate with us. Wilder has been a great home during my time at Smith College. We can’t wait to meet all future Wilderites, and we hope we get to meet y'all real soon!

Gardiner House // West Quad by Isabella Casini ’17 & Azhar Gulaid ‘18

Gardiner House has an active house community with tons of traditions that strengthen that community. Every Wednesday, the house president (HP) prepares Hump Day Cookies, which is looked forward to just as much as Study Circles which usually happen midweek – during the winter the HP brings down candy and there is hot chocolate and whipped cream to either aid or distract you from your studies. On Fridays, Gardiner loves their afternoon tea. Last year, they hosted an “Edna Tea,” for their housekeeper, Edna, where they presented her with a Gardiner house sweatshirt (Gardiner has some of the best apparel on campus – sweatshirts, sweatpants, underwear, they got you covered). Gardiner’s HR also hosted a dancing tea, where she taught the house Nigerian dance moves!

Gardiner participates in the common tradition of big sib/little sib, where new house members are matched with an older housemate to be their buddy, their spirit guide, their apple picking partner. Big sibs leave their little sibs anonymous gifts outside their door every night for a week (like five days of Christmas!) until they reveal themselves at the end of the week.

Another favorite house tradition is Floor Wars, essentially a mini-Olympics where each floor is a team. Each spring, they participate in field day events on the quad – like soccer played while walking like a crab, a banana eating contest, foot fencing, and shot putting socks.

Gardiner doesn’t have a dining hall, so its residents eat most of its meals in King/Scales, where there is a designated Gardiner table. When the table gets full, they sing their house chant, and the HP makes a speech.

Hey there! Congratz on committing to Smith! That’s so exciting and we can’t wait to have you here! To break it down for you:

East Quad (King, Scales, Gardiner, Jordan, Emerson, & Cushing) - East Quad is perhaps the rowdiest part of campus. Generally, most parties are here and the houses tend to be the loudest and most social. There are a lot of singles in East Quad (King and Scales are all singles) and the houses are all around 80 people.

West Quad (Gardiner, Morrow, Wilson, Comstock, & Wilder) - Similar to East Quad but perhaps *slightly* less rowdy. This area of campus is farthest from the rest of campus but closest to the Friedman Apartments. Wilson is the biggest house on campus with over 100 people, and the rest of the houses are home to about 80 people. I have a lot of friends who live in West Quad and it’s a fun time!

Green Street (Tyler, Morris, Lawrence, Washburn, Hubbard, & Chapin) - Green Street is often seen as the antithesis to the quad. It’s the most quiet area of campus and is closest to the academic buildings. Hubbard and Chapin both have grab-and-go lunch on weekdays. All of the Green St. houses house about 70 residents, except Washburn which houses 43. Green Street is going to be the most affected by the renovation of Neilson library (Washburn will actually temporarily be shut down and its residents are moving to Parsons House on Upper Elm until the construction is done).

Lower Elm (Albright, Baldwin, Chase, & Duckett) - Similarly to Green Street, Lower Elm is a pretty quiet area of campus. It’s the closest to downtown Northampton (literally less than a 5 minute walk) and has some of the smallest houses on campus as well as housing for Ada Comstock scholars. It’s home to the one substance free house on campus (Chase) and is the closest to Dawes, the gluten-free dining hall. Also, Baldwin is one of the few houses on campus with suites.

Upper Elm (Northrop, Gillett, Lamont, Talbot, Capen, & Parsons) - From what I can tell, Upper Elm houses have some of the closest house communities on campus. Upper Elm is not as social as the Quad but not as quiet as Green St. It’s also home to the Capen Gardens and the vegan/vegetarian dining hall (Northrop/Gillett). Like the Quad, it’s a purely residential area of campus, but is closer to the rest of campus. All the houses are around 70-80 people.

Center Campus (Cutter, Ziskind, Haven/Wesley, Park, Sessions, Tenney, & Hopkins) - Center Campus has a pretty wide range of houses. Cutter and Ziskind are the only two houses with air conditioning. Sessions is the oldest house on campus (and is rumored to be haunted!). Tenney and Hopkins are the two co-ops on campus (they aren’t open to first years though). All center campus houses are like they sound - central. They’re close to the Campus Center, the Quad, and aren’t far from the academic buildings or downtown.

Hope this helps!

Hello! East Quad and West Quad are differentiated just by the placement of the houses. East Quad consists of Cushing, Emerson, Jordan, King, and Scales. West Quad consists of Comstock, Gardiner, Morrow, Wilder, and Wilson. I live in Wilson House! I would say that the quad houses are somewhat similar in that they tend to be louder than other houses on campus, but otherwise each house has its own personality. I’m not sure the exact date housing forms get sent out, but it should be in the near future so keep an eye out for it! Good luck, and welcome to Smith (and maybe the quad)!

Hi! A lot of students have questions about housing, so you’re not alone! One of the unique things about Smith is the housing system is the how the houses are all different, and this means that all of the rooms are different. Most rooms have a closet per person, but some will have on large closet to be shared between two. If you have your room assignment, I would recommend checking the floor plan and seeing what the closet situation is like! You can find them here on the Res Life website!

Comstock House by Emma Mooney ’16, Comstock House President

“We rock your mom, we rock your dad, ‘cause Comstock girls are really bad!”

Comstock’s loud and lively cheer is just one of many things to love about this wild, wonderful, and outgoing house. Comstock was built in 1928, along with its twin and neighbor, Wilder, and the rest is history! Comstock is a larger house – it’s home away from home for 80 residents – but that doesn’t stop it from having a close-knit core community. We throw the first party of the fall semester, the Comstock Beach Bash, and keep it rockin’ all year long. We’re most often found (sporting Comstock House apparel, naturally) in our living room, be it during Sunday tea, a movie night, or an impromptu midweek study session. Traditions like Big Sib/Little Sib, Mountain Day apple picking, and Winter and Spring Weekends help strengthen our bonds as a house and make living in Comstock fun. A dining hall (we serve Asian-fusion dinner Sunday through Thursday) helps connect us to the other Quad houses (we have an awesome relationship with the rest of the Quad!) and other residents on campus. We also have a kitchenette where many Comstockers cook and bake. Need a little alone time? No problem! Most of Comstock’s residents enjoy spacious single rooms, which are accessible to everyone: Comstock is one of the houses on campus with an elevator. Stop on by sometime – and make sure you say hello to Gloria, our friendly ghost. We can’t wait to meet you! XO

(photos courtesy of Emma)