Hover House

In the late 1970s, Smith College opened a second cooperative housing option named Hover House. Soon after, the house gained a reputation for being a “lesbian house.” Many leaders in the Lesbian Alliance lived in Hover House and many of the Lesbian Alliance parties and events took place at Hover. Though never exclusively or officially lesbian, the house was clearly majority lesbian and held an important place in the lesbian community of Smith while it was open. Oral histories with students of the time remember the sexual energy of parties and wrestling matches the residents would hold in the living room. ¹ In 1984, Smith College announced that it was closing the co-op, citing “inadequate interest in cooperative housing” despite residents’ claims that there were waiting lists for the house. ² Many in the Smith community saw the administrations’ closing of Hover house as an attempt to quiet the influence and visibility of lesbians on campus, an issue that had already caused media attention that the President, Jill Kerr-Conway, was forced to address. In protest, students spoke to the media, wrote editorials in the Smith Newspaper, and led a sit-in in the president’s office in College Hall. ³ Despite student protests, the house was closed, renamed Parsons Annex, and students had to find housing in other locations. The history of Hover House remains an important chapter of Smith’s LGBT History.

The yearbook photos of Hover House from 1982-1984 display the character of its residents. In the 1982 page, the text reads “Mohechtest du geme nach oben gehen und meine GraFiken sehen?” in German. In English, this translates to “Would you like to go upstairs and see my graphics? However, “Ficken” which is capitalized in “GraFiken” means “fuck,” providing a double entendre for the caption. The props in the second image display the silliness of the residents and their willingness to be controversial. The quotes on the final image in 1984 display the perceptions of the house, the pride the students took in their reputation, and their perceptions of themselves, “Hover House: a legend in its own time.”