The walls of 1228½ Main Street—better known as Swimmer House—are buried in artifacts and artwork that showcase the house’s decade-plus history.
“We’ve just kind of accumulated a lot of random stuff over the years,” said Morgan Horton ‘11.
This year, Horton shares the house with Cyrus Mistry ‘11 and Ross Noecker ‘11, and all three are captains on the swim team.
The house draws most but not all of its residents from the team, but choosing who lives here, said Mistry, “depends on who wants to live here.”
Horton agreed, and noted, “Living here was suggested to us our first year [by upperclassmen swimmers]. [But] it’s our goal to make this a space not just for swimmers.”
Together, Horton, Mistry and Noecker uphold Swimmer House’s more than decade-old reputation, while mixing tradition with novelty. The house’s decor captures its past—a yellow light that used to start races now hangs in the kitchen doorway and is employed as a strobe at parties. There is also a collage featuring photos of each year’s swim team.
Despite all of its treasure, the current residents have also tried to tidy up the house.
“My first move was to throw away the ten-year-old Playboy in the bathroom,” Horton said.
Mistry agreed that some measure of change was due.
“Last year’s tenants were sort of just shambly people,” Mistry said. “They lost their damage deposit in a month.”
Fans of the house’s traditions need not worry, however. Swimmer House’s “shambly” past lives on within its spaces, such as the rumble room and the attic.
“Hypothetically if we were to have a party, and hypothetically if two people were to hook up, we provide the rumble room,” Horton said, commenting on the multifunctional nature of her bedroom’s walk-in closet, which is adorned with a “Champion” banner and a picture of the Joker. “It gives a new meaning to ‘Trapped in the Closet.’”
Swimmer House’s attic has historically been considered its pièce de résistance, a role it still plays today.
“When I was considering living in Swimmer House, I thought of the attic, ‘cause this place is the bomb,” Mistry said.
Swimmer House’s vast attic is, like the rest of the house, lined with memorabilia and decorated in festive lights. They often show movies or host dance parties there.
This year, according to Horton, the house is in possession of the best speakers on campus.
In regards to traditions of the house this year, Horton and Mistry said “Wednesdays,” to one another a few times, then burst out laughing.
“On Wednesday nights we all sleep naked,” Mistry said. “So far it’s been quite successful.”
Horton added, “but we don’t sleep together!”
Other traditions of the house include a ban on “Tunak Tunak Tun” at parties, because of a past occasion when excessive dancing nearly destroyed the house.
“Things got kind of wild,” Mistry said. “The foundation was cracking, and we thought we were going to fall through a hole in the floor.”
The house managed to survive and Swimmer House plans to continue bringing together the swim team and the campus at large for years of amusement to come.
