https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harvard_Square_Hopkins_Map_1873.jpg
The map above shows Harvard Square in 1873, a period of growing prosperity nearly a decade after the end of the Civil War. Almost all vacant lots were occupied as the University's growing population converged with the proliferation of student-oriented businesses such as restaurants, tailors, billiard halls, and retailers. Harvard University's changing identity and evolution have undoubtedly shaped Harvard Square and the local community. Both the map above and below illustrate the plethora of small businesses that have provided goods and services to the students, faculty, and visitors of the university. The dynamics of the student population throughout the years have dictated the make-up of the businesses present in the square. Many Harvard affiliated individuals both as renters and property owners have contributed to the growing price of rents and the consequent difficulties for small businesses to sustain operations. Harvard's international reach has drastically changed the composition of businesses in the square as property values have increased. An article in the Harvard Crimson covered a story on how the A.D. club, a social club established in 1836, raised rents in 1999 for their tenant Briggs & Briggs, a small business that had been a tenant for over a century. The replacement of Adidas and later TD Bank reflects the noticeable dwindling of small businesses and the transition to large corporations who can afford the expensive rents and recognize the marketing opportunities of a location so close to the university.
https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/72352/map-of-harvard-sq-area-cambridge-domino
Not only did the university significantly impact the composition of businesses throughout Harvard Square, but the students and faculty of Harvard physically gave form to the built environment of the area as architects and urban planners. Albert H. Blevins (1898), William H. Mowell (1899) and Edward T.P. Graham (1900) designed numerous apartment buildings, houses, churches, and schools in the local community. Henry R. Shepley (1910) became a partner in Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch & Abbott in 1924 and worked on Harvard’s River House commissions in the 1930s. While dean of the Graduate School of Design, Josep Lluis Sert served as chairman of the Cambridge Planning board during the 1950s.
https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/72352/map-of-harvard-sq-area-cambridge-domino
Building Old Cambridge Book
Sert designed the Holyoke Center, now known as the Smith Campus Center, which lies at the heart of Harvard Square.
https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/72352/map-of-harvard-sq-area-cambridge-domino
The Science Center was also designed by Josep Lluis Sert, who continued with his modernist footprint in the area, adding a very different style to compliment the Georgian vernacular.
https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/72352/map-of-harvard-sq-area-cambridge-domino
Building Old Cambridge Book
Sever Hall was designed in the late 1870s by Harvard College student Henry Hobson Richardson, who graduated prior to the introduction of architecture to the university curriculum. The intricate ornamentation and subtle monumentality of the structure still in use today is a testament to the skill of Richardson, whose work in Cambridge and around the country influenced the buildings in and around Harvard Square. The pursuits of Harvard students and faculty tangibly influenced Harvard Square in the years preceding the introduction of architecture classes by Charles Eliot Norton in 1874. With the establishment of the GSD, Harvard affiliated architects such as Sert further contributed to the physical development of the square and beyond as he initiated the world's first degree on urban design.
The recent Board of Zoning Appeal agenda reveals the numerous commercial and residential alterations that are being submitted for approval. There appears to be a trend in expanding vertically and adding dormers/windows to many residential properties. In addition to their public hearings on demolition review and landmark designation, the Cambridge Historical Commission discusses alterations to specific properties similar to the BZA but with more specific parameters regarding stylistic features. The Historical Commission recently deliberated over the altering of a brick wall and fence as well as the replacement of a street sign for a business.
The Planning Board’s planning study on Cambridge Street appeared almost as a microcosm of the broader goals and values of the various organizations of Cambridge. The issues of supporting small businesses, addressing housing supply, public space, and sustainable development were very clearly addressed in the collaborative effort to optimize Cambridge St. A fur sales ban was a topic in the city council agenda very relevant to the discussion on sustainable development. In my exploration of the agendas of the various meetings, these underlying themes are implicit in the deliberation procedures and rulings.
Sources:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/4/2/gentlemens-agreement/
Maycock and Sullivan's Building Old Cambridge
https://cambridgema.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=cambridgema_234775721c3b12fcdfa0585bb1e2a296.pdf&view=1
http://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=14&ID=3716&Inline=True
https://www.cambridgema.gov/CDD/Calendar/-/media/Files/CDD/ZoningDevel/OtherProjects/101122_cambridgeststudy.pdf
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