Lowell House - The Lowell House Bells

The Lowell House Bells

For three-quarters of a century, the pride of Lowell House had been its authentic Russian zvon— one of the few complete sets of pre-revolutionary Russian bells surviving anywhere — hanging in the House's signature bell tower. Eighteen bells were bought in Russia around 1930 by Thomas Whittemore with the financial aid of millionaire Chicago plumbing industrialist Charles R. Crane — who reportedly paid merely their value as scrap — just as they were to be melted down by Soviet authorities. Crane donated them to Harvard in 1930 just as plans for Lowell House were nearing completion.

Like those seen today on Dunster and Eliot Houses, Lowell's tower was originally meant to be a clock-tower — Lowell's in particular is reminiscent of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, although it was actually modeled after a Dutch church. With word of Crane's gift, the planned tower was changed to the blue-capped bell tower seen today. (One of the eighteen bells did not harmonize with the others; it was hung in the Harvard Business School's Baker Library.)

The bells originally hung in Moscow's Danilov Monastery (now the seat of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church) and were installed with the help, at first, of musician Konstantin Konstantinovich Saradzhev, and Vsevolod Andronoff, a former resident of the monastery They range in weight from 22 pounds (10 kg) to 26,700 pounds (12,100 kg, and known to Lowell House students as "Mother Earth"). The bells are consecrated, and are of great significance to the Russian Orthodox Church, in the liturgy of which bells play an important role.

At Lowell, the bells were usually rung on Sundays at 1pm by resident Klappermeisters. After the annual Harvard-Yale football game, Harvard's score would sometimes be proclaimed on the Mother Earth, with Yale's score tolled on the Bell of Pestilence, Famine, and Despair.

With the reopening of the Danilov Monastery, it was suggested that the bells be returned to their original home. At Harvard's June 2008 Commencement they sounded for the last time at Lowell House, after which the bell tower was partially dismantled so that the bells could be withdrawn. In their place were hung newly cast near-replica bells obtained with the financial assistance of the Link of Times Foundation, created by Russian industrialist Victor Vekselberg.

The now-departed bells may still be heard on the Lowell House Virtual Bell Tower. The new bells can be heard every Sunday from 1-1:30pm, and visitors are welcome to visit the tower.