Johnston Gate - Harvard's Front Door

Photo: Greger Ravik, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)

A stop on Harvard Yard and Cambridge, a free self-guided tour.

This tall gate of brick and wrought iron is the ceremonial front door of Harvard Yard. It was built in 1889 with a gift of about $10,000 from Samuel Johnston, class of 1855, and designed by McKim, Mead and White, the New York firm behind many Gilded Age landmarks. It was the first of the many gates that now ring the Yard, and its Georgian Revival style set the tone for the fence and gates that followed.

As you face the Yard, the brick building on your left is Harvard Hall. Its predecessor held the college library, which burned in 1764. Of the roughly 400 books John Harvard left the college, only one survived, traditionally because a student had borrowed it and not yet returned it.

You may hear a student superstition that walking out through this gate before you graduate means you never will. Many students do avoid it until Commencement, but treat it as folklore, not a rule.

Getting here: Cross Massachusetts Avenue to the Yard side and walk north along the brick wall for about two minutes; the tall gate between two brick buildings is Johnston Gate.

Did you know?: At Commencement, the sheriffs of Middlesex and Suffolk Counties traditionally ride into the Yard on horseback through Johnston Gate.

Photo op: From the sidewalk outside, frame the gate's ironwork with Harvard Hall and Massachusetts Hall standing on either side.

More on Wikipedia: Gates of Harvard Yard · McKim, Mead & White · Harvard Hall

Johnston Gate - Harvard's Front Door

Stops on this tour