By Eva Swanson ’25
If you weren’t a member of the Choate community and came for a visit to the School, you might start to wonder whether the students here speak a different language. “Is there a SoHo in Wallingford?” “What’s a Lanphy?”
Many buildings on campus have been given nicknames used exclusively by the Choate community, each one with its own rich history spanning decades.
Bernhard House, a.k.a. “SoHo,” and Tenney House (just “Tenney”)
Before “Tenney House” became the dorm’s official name in 2008, it was referred to as “North House” as a counterpart to its neighboring building “South House.” The new name was formally adopted to acknowledge the gift of Mrs. Rebecca Tenney Agnew, a member of Rosemary Hall’s Class of 1927, who also helped create the design plan for the building.
As for South House, the donor requested their name not be revealed or acknowledged until later. During this time, students referred to the dorm as “SoHo,” short for South House, until the official name was revealed.
On June 4, 2012, the building was officially named for Arnold and Janet Bernhard, parents to Jean Buttner, a member of Rosemary Hall’s Class of 1953.
By this time, however, students and faculty had grown accustomed to calling the dorm “SoHo,” and from then on, the nickname has stuck around. Even though the official name of Bernhard House is widely in use now, students adore the name “SoHo” and persist with its use today. Resident Tashi Bista ’26 said, “Personally, I like the nickname because it’s cute and short.”
Resident Kristie Lu ’26 also added, “I like the name SoHo be-cause I’m from New York, and it reminds me of SoHo, New York.”
Cameron & Edward Lanphier Center For Math And Computer Science, a.k.a. “Lanphy”
Named after Cameron and Edward Lanphier ’74, Lanphier Center is known across campus as “Lanphy.” However, since its opening on February 9, 2015, the nickname has been hotly debated.
In a 2015 edition of The Choate News, students voted on the nickname for Lanphier Center. In first place, with nearly 30 percent of the total votes was “The Cel,” standing for Cameron & Edward Lanphier. In second place was “Lanphy,” holding 15.3 percent of the votes. In third place with 14.4 percent of the votes was “Macs,” an abbreviation of Math and Computer Science. Though students voted for other names, such as “Cel-C,” “Math 2.0,” and “LanCen,” only “Lanphy” reigns victorious today.
Controversy continues with the spelling of “Lanphy,” with its variants being “Lanphie,” “Lanphi,” and even “Lanfy.”
Pratt House, a.k.a. “The Health Center”
For many, Pratt House is synonymous with all things health and counseling-related. Yet, this was not always the case. From the 1890s to the 1910s, the School’s infirmary was in Sub Rosa, which is currently a faculty house. Sub Rosa was nicknamed “Snug Harbor,” “Mother House,” or most plainly, “Infirmary.”
In 1928, the Archbold Infirmary was established as the largest school infirmary in the United States. Archbold accommodated Choate’s sick population for nearly 70 years. However, in 1997, the infirmary moved from Archbold to Pratt, where it got the nickname “The Health Center.”
The nicknames of Choate buildings are an intangible piece of history that can be passed down to generations of students. “I think it’s fun the way it is; I think it adds that charm to the school,” Micole Makau ’24 said. “I don’t think I’d change that.” Whether the current nicknames will continue to live on for decades, only time will tell.
