Massachusetts Hall

Massachusetts Hall stands next to a gate from Harvard Square into Harvard Yard.

NPS Photo / Kate Hanson Plass

Quick Facts

Location:

Old Harvard Yard, Cambridge, MA

Significance:

Oldest building at Harvard College

Designation:

National Historic Landmark, National Register, Old Harvard Yard National Register District

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

Harvard University

Originally constructed in 1720, Massachusetts Hall is the oldest building still standing on Harvard’s campus. In the more than three hundred years since it was built, Massachusetts Hall has been used for a variety of purposes, including as an army barrack during the Revolutionary War. From 1775 to 1776, approximately 640 members of the Continental Army stayed in the building. Today, it serves as a student dormitory and administrative office building.

In a letter from Harvard College to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a record is provided of “damages done to the Colledges by the Army,” including a listing of twenty-seven missing “brass knoblocks for chamber doors'' and sixty “box locks for studies,” among several other things. Ultimately, the Commonwealth reimbursed the College for £417, which corresponds to about $50,000 as of 2018.