In 1897, Harvard University purchased a Greek Revival-styled building on the corner of Holmes Place and Massachusetts Ave. for use by the law school. Built in 1838, the wood-framed building was once the private residence of Omen Southworth Keith, who attended Harvard Law School in 1831 and 1832.

The university renamed the building Gannett House in memory of Reverend Caleb Gannett (1745–1818), a 1783 graduate and longtime tutor and steward of Harvard College.

Today Gannett House is Harvard Law School’s oldest surviving building.

A white house with shutter and tall white columns and a car parked in front.
The Omen Keith House ca. 1908 was purchased by Harvard University in 1897 and initially used for student housing. Credit: Cambridge Historical Commission, Paul Flynn Collection
Watertcolor painting of four two story houses in a row.
The land where Gannett House now stands is depicted in this 1781 watercolor drawing of the original Holmes Place houses. The leftmost house was once occupied by John Hastings, brother of Harvard College Steward Jonathan Hastings Jr. This is the lot on which the building now known as Gannett House was built. The neighboring house (second house from the left in the painting) was Rev. Caleb Gannett’s family home. Credit: Harvard University Archives

The building is located near the site where 1,200 Continental Army troops gathered on June 16, 1775, before marching to fight in the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill.  A small granite monument, erected in 1897, and still standing today, bears this inscription: “Here assembled on the night of June 16, 1775, 1200 Continental troops under the command of Colonel Prescott. After prayer by [Harvard’s 11th president and congregational minister Samuel] Langdon, they marched to Bunker Hill.”

A sterograph image of a stone on grassy area at Harvard Law School that says this is where 1,200 Continental Army troops gathered on June 16, 1775, before marching to fight in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
A granite marker in front of buildings on campus with text about the Continental Army
(Left) A 1901 stereograph image near Gannett House that shows a small granite monument commemorating the location of a gathering of Continental Army troops before they marched to fight in the Revolutionary War Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. (Right) The monument, erected in 1897, still stands today.

Gannett House originally faced south towards Harvard Square. In 1938, the house was rotated 90 degrees to the east in anticipation of a proposed mall extending to Oxford Street, but the mall was never built.

A black and white photo of a white house with four columns near a grassy lawn.
A white building with columns on a campus
A detail from a 1934 map of a section of Harvard Law School campus. Gannett House, indicated on this map in yellow, was turned in 1938 to face the interior of the Harvard Law School campus.Gannett House, indicated on this map in yellow, was turned in 1938 to face the interior of the Harvard Law School campus.
This 1931 photo and 1903 map depict Gannett House in its original location at the corner of Holmes Place and Massachusetts Avenue. In 1938 Gannett House, was turned to face the interior of the Harvard Law School campus, as shown in this current photo and maps that follow.
a white building with columns on a winter day
Gannett House, winter 1949. Credit: Harvard Law School Catalog 1949-50

From 1906 to 1923, Gannett House served as student housing. Students rented rooms for $125 to $250 a year. A fireplace was included in each room, although students were expected to carry their own firewood. A cold-water tap in the basement was available at no extra charge. 

The 1907 Harvard Law catalogue boasted that the Gannett House “is particularly easy of access to students at the law school. It is but two or three minutes’ walk from the Gymnasium, the College Yard, and the dining halls.”

Floor plan of a house
Architectural plans of the first and second floors, circa 1907.

In 1925, after the first and second floors were remodeled, the building housed the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, the Board of Student Advisers, the Harvard Law Review, and the secretary of the law school. Other groups with offices in the building over the years include the Harvard Defenders (from 1949-1970) and the Law School Forum.

Two buildings connected by a wooden passageway.
A white building with columns next to a brick building.
Two buildings, a white house with columns next to a 4 story brick building with windows
During WWII, Gannett House (white house) and Hemenway Gymnasium (brick building) were used by Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory (HUSL) for work related to the development of sonar technology.

During World War II, Gannett House and nearby Hemenway Gymnasium were used by the Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory (HUSL), under contract to the National Defense Research Committee. As wartime requirements reduced the number of students in residence at the law school, these buildings were among those identified at Harvard University as ideal locations for work related to the development of sonar technology.

By July 1943, administrative offices for the HUSL were located in Gannett and connected by a covered elevated passageway for ease of access to Hemenway, which had been modified to house the rapidly expanding activities of the HUSL. The work ended in January of 1946.

On an early evening a white campus building with columns is pictured next to a red brick building
Gannett House is steps away from Hemenway Gym. Credit: Brooks Kraft 2016

In 2013, Gannett House underwent a major transformation. The interior spaces were updated to accommodate an elevator, central air, heating systems, a reconfigured electrical system, and redesigned office space on the first and second floors. The building’s staircase, an historic feature original to the structure, was preserved.

Gannett now houses the Harvard Law Review, a nationally renowned student-run organization which publishes a leading journal of legal scholarship.

2016: Gannett House, once home to the Legal Aid Bureau and now to the Harvard Law Review, was also once moved—in 1938, it was rotated 90 degrees.
A man sits on a black chair in a room near a window and some bookshelves with law books
A view from the top of a winding staircase towards two people talking in Gannett House on Harvard Law School campus
(Left to Right) Gannett House is home to the Harvard Law Review; A member of the Harvard Law Review studies in the building’s library; The building’s original staircase remains today.
An exterior view of a while building with black shutters and a column in the fall.
Gannett House in the fall. Credit: Brooks Kraft, 2013.

Then & Now: Gannett House was compiled by Linda Grant, Harvard Law School Communications Office. Special thanks to Mik Hamilton, digital archive assistant, Harvard Law School Communications Office, and Lesley Schoenfeld, public services & visual collections administrator, Historical & Special Collections for research and editorial assistance.