Quadrangle (Harvard)

The Radcliffe Quadrangle at Harvard University, formerly the residential campus of Radcliffe College, is part of Harvard's undergraduate campus, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Generally just called the Quad, it is a traditional college quad slightly removed from the main part of campus. It should not be confused with Radcliffe Yard or with Harvard Yard — where most classes are conducted.

The term "the Quad" can refer to the rectangular green field bounded by Cabot and Pforzheimer Houses, or it can refer to the entire section of campus bounded by Garden, Linnaean, Walker, and Shepard Streets, plus the Jordans, which are east of Walker Street. This larger area consists of the Quad green itself as well as Hilles, which formerly contained the Quad Library, and all of Pforzheimer, Cabot, and Currier Houses, including the Cabot Masters' Residence and the Jordans.

Currier and Hilles are separated from the rest of the Quad by a landscaped walk and paved road, a private way used mainly by campus shuttlebuses, that runs north-south through the Quad.

Other adjacent portions of campus, such as the Botanic Gardens, Kittredge, the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center (Q-RAC), and the Observatory, are often also grouped as part of the Quad.

Residents of the three Quad Houses are called Quadlings (after the Quadlings of the Oz books); they tend to be extremely loyal to their Houses and to each other as an outgrowth of their shared relative separation from the main campus.

All nine other Houses (called River Houses for their proximity to the Charles River), all freshman dorms, and almost all undergraduate classrooms and department offices are located in the main part of campus surrounding Harvard Square, which is located about half a mile from the Quad, and which is often called the River by Harvard students. Although not all the houses are equidistant from Harvard Yard, shuttles run to the Quad and the more distant river houses to transport students to class.

...
Wikipedia