Small but modern rooms, a reputation for having more students with high marks than are to be found elsewhere, and the same central kitchen food that feeds all Houses but Adams and Dunster might be called the chief characteristics of Lowell.

When the House was in its blueprint stages, the late President Lowell sat down with University architects Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbot, told them he wanted the windows built in the pattern they now occupy, and he left the hapless four to fit the rooms to the window design. This accounts for Lowell's small, irregular rooms.

With the decline in tutorial, Lowell's reputation for housing students who consistently get "A's" comes only because Master Elliott Perkins '23, lecturer in History, picks high rank men for the House.

Housemaster's Influence

The Housemaster's influence is also felt in a number of other Lowell traditions, such as the Monday night formal high tables and the annual Christmas dinner, featured by the lighting of the Yule log. Master Perkins almost invariably forgets to open the flue.

Lowell House is a place where the student can either throw himself into House activities or be left alone as he prefers.

There is a top-notch record collection, and the library is entirely satisfactory. For those who don't like walking, Lowell boasts a convenient central location.

Its Russian bells, or zvon, are a delight to lovers of carillon music. Back in 1931, a Russian expert was sent along with the bells to aid in their intallation. A suspicious man, he was continually afraid that his food was being poisoned. After a minor illness he was finally shipped back to the U.S.S.R. when a Stillman nurse discovered him drinking a bottle of ink for breakfast.