Architecture
Designed by the firm of Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott and constructed in 1930 for $3,620,000, the House was named for the prominent Lowell family, closely identified with Harvard since John Lowell graduated in 1721. The busts of President Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1909–1933) and poet James Russell Lowell, are featured in the main courtyard. In the Dining Hall are portraits of President Lowell and his wife; his sister, poet Amy Lowell; his brother. astronomer Percival Lowell; and his grandfather John Amory Lowell.
Prior to the 1996 transition to randomized House assignments, Lowell's central location, picturesque courtyard, elegant dining hall, and charming traditions made it a popular housing choice.
The Lowell House arms are those of the Lowell family, blazoned: Shield: sable, a dexter hand couped at the wrist grasping three darts, one in pale and two in saltire, all in argent. Crest: a stag's head cabossed, between the attires a pheon azure. Motto: Occasionem Cognosce. (In more prosaic terms: A shield with black field displaying a right hand cut off at the wrist and grasping three arrows, one vertical and two crossed diagonally, in silver. Above, a male deer's head mounted behind the ear, and between its antlers a barbed, broad arrowhead in blue. The motto means "Recognize the opportunity.") The house colors are blue and white.
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