Notice the 22.4-acre grassy expanse that has grown since Harvard College's first parcel was purchased in 1637. This is a grassy expanse of 22.4 acres that grew over the centuries around Harvard College’s first parcel of land, purchased in 1637. Around you are most of the freshman dormitories and Harvard’s most important libraries, with Memorial Church nearby and classrooms and departmental buildings tucked into the quadrants.
The offices of senior university officials, including the president of Harvard University, look out over this open space, and the familiar John Harvard statue stands within the Yard. The perimeter fencing you see is principally iron with some stretches of brick, and the fence is punctuated by twenty-seven gates. At the heart of the Yard is Tercentenary Theatre, a wide grassy area bounded by Widener Library, Memorial Church, University Hall, and Sever Hall; it is the site of annual commencement exercises and other convocations.
To the west, the Yard opens onto Peabody Street at Johnston Gate and abuts the central green. Notice the iron and brick fence, its twenty-seven gates, the bordering streets—Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge Street, Broadway, and Quincy Street—and the Tercentenary Theatre at the center.