Harvard Yard

Coordinates: 42°22′28″N 71°07′02″W / 42.37447°N 71.11719°W / 42.37447; -71.11719

Harvard Yard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a grassy area of 22.4 acres (9.1 ha) enclosed by fences with twenty-seven gates. It is the oldest part of the Harvard University campus, its historic center, and its modern crossroads.

Bounded principally by Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge Street, Broadway, and Quincy Street, it contains most of the freshman dormitories; Harvard's most important libraries; Memorial Church; several classroom and departmental buildings; and the offices of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Dean of Harvard College, and President of Harvard University. Harvard Square is adjacent.

The center of the Yard—a wide grassy area bounded by Widener Library, Memorial Church, University Hall, and Sever Hall known as Tercentenary Theatre—​​is the site of annual commencement exercises and other convocations.

The western third of Harvard Yard, which opens onto Peabody Street (often mistaken for nearby Massachusetts Avenue) at Johnston Gate, is known as the Old Yard, and around it cluster most of the freshman dormitories. Among these is Massachusetts Hall, which, having been constructed in 1720, is the oldest still-standing building on Harvard's campus and one of the two oldest academic buildings in the United States. The lower floors of Massachusetts Hall house the offices of the President of Harvard University.