Each year, the Cambridge Historical Commission honors projects that have made outstanding contributions to the preservation of the city’s historic character and built environment. The 2026 Preservation Awards will recognize individuals and organizations for projects completed within the last year. The awards will be announced and presented at a ceremony in late May or early June 2026.
2025 Preservation Award winner St. Augustine’s African Orthodox Church, 137 Allston Street (1886). Using Community Preservation Act funds paired with fundraising efforts, the congregation was able to secure a beautiful restoration of this important building, allowing this church to take on a new and vibrant life in Cambridgeport.
Seven project categories are eligible for Preservation Awards: restoration, rehabilitation, adaptive use, neighborhood conservation, landscape preservation, archaeology, and education. The award-winning projects will be selected based on the following:
historical and architectural significance of the preserved property;
exceptional quality of the project;
extent to which the project contributed to the preservation of the property; and
impact of the project on the preservation of the city’s historic resources.
2025 Preservation Award winner 5-7 Irving Terrace (1888). Five condominium owners enthusiastically restored original clapboards, shingles, and woodwork, bringing the building back to like-new condition.
To nominate a project, including your own, please submit a completed nomination form and supporting documentation by Noon on Friday, March 13, 2026 to:
Cambridge Historical Commission 831 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139
We at the CHC were saddened to hear of the passing of a Cambridge icon, Frances Antupit, long-time proprietor of the landmark establishment Koby-Antupit Photography Studios. In her studio, Frances photographed architects, politicians, scientists, and activists, as well as local students, couples, and children.
Frances Antupit in the Boylston/JFK St studio, ca. 1960s. Koby-Antupit Portrait Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission
Frances V. Antupit was born October 5, 1934, and raised in West Hartford, CT. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1957. Although Frances took only one photography course, she and a friend would sneak into the school’s darkroom after hours to develop film and make prints. Looking back, Frances laughed at her work from that time–mostly odd compositions of doorways and objects–calling it the “Ashcan School of Photography.”
Paul Koby Studio business card. Koby-Antupit Portrait Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission
Frances soon moved to Boston, intending to pursue a graphic design career, but quickly discovered few positions available. She was interviewed by a Copley Square art director who noticed her eye for photography and suggested she apprentice to an established photographer. In the yellow pages, Frances found an ad for Paul Koby’s studio in Harvard Square. Koby initially dismissed her, but Frances soon convinced him of her abilities, and she began her training in lighting skills, darkroom techniques, and retouching.
View of Paul Koby Photography studio, above the Wursthaus in Harvard Square. Cambridge Historical Commission
Koby left the Boston area in the 1970s. In 1978, despite no formal business training, Frances decided to purchase the business. Along with the studio, Antupit inherited a large collection of Koby’s negatives and prints.
Chris Jennings by Frances Antupit, 1991. Koby-Antupit Portrait Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission
Unknown couple by Francis Antupit, date unknown. Koby-Antupit Portrait Collection, Cambridge Historical Commission
In 1997, Cambridge Savings Bank bought the building that housed Antupit’s studio, and all tenants were given notice to vacate. Frances later opened a new studio but despite her reputation as a creative photographer, the new location proved difficult for returning customers and walk-ins alike. Antupit began afresh in neighboring Belmont before finally retiring. In 2006, Frances donated her collection of photography materials to the CHC. The Koby-Antupit Portrait Collection contains photographic materials taken by and relating to Frances and her work in the studio and material created by Koby.
A year after his family purchased the easternmost acres of the former Coolidge farm in West Cambridge, Edward Waldo Forbes built an enormous Georgian Revival mansion on the lot in 1911. An early convert to Modernism, Forbes, an art historian and Director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, allowed his daughter Rosamund and her husband, William Bowers, to build Cambridge’s first International Style house on the grounds in 1935. The introduction of this new design paved the way for M.I.T. physicist Francis Bitter and his wife, the singer Ratan Devī, to commission architect Carl Koch to design a modern house for the couple at the foot of the hill in 1946.
The House
Photograph by Ezra Stoller. Architectural Record (January 1949)
Carl Koch’s design for this house was praised by his contemporaries. Following its completion, the house was written up in two journals, Architectural Record (105:76-83 January 1949) and House & Garden (94:6;127-129 December 1948). The author of the article in Architectural Record described the well-conceived plan, “So in this house we have the straightforward, thoughtful planning that reflects and serves the owners’ individual needs and desires–convenient, cheerful, efficient, informal–but with its own welcome dignity.”
Coomarasumay, Ananda, Mrs. (Ratan Devī), 1917 May 8, by Arnold Genthe. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Francis Bitter, ca. 1935, photographer unknown. MIT Museum.
The Bitter House was built as a modern, one-story, single-family house by Koch and his associate Frederic L. Day. The building was composed of cladding of vertical, tongue and groove fir boards on the living room wing. The bedroom wing, positioned for privacy opposite a garden “Plaza” from the living and service wing, was constructed of concrete block and not sided with another material. The entrance door opened into the glass-enclosed garden plaza which was designed around a sculpture by Francis Bitter’s father, Karl Bitter.
Photograph by Ezra Stoller. Architectural Record (January 1949)
On one side of the plaza was the living and service wing, which housed the living room, dining room, kitchen, and basement study. The living room was acoustically designed to accompany Mrs. Bitter’s love of music. Indoor living space continued to the outside with two patios, one off the dining room and the other off the garden plaza. The kitchen was designed for efficiency and included pass-throughs to the dining room and service entrance for the easy delivery of packages. The large, hooded fireplace was the focal point of the living and dining rooms.
Photograph by Ezra Stoller. Architectural Record (January 1949)
On the opposite side of the plaza was the bedroom wing. The master bedroom was designed as a suite with a large dressing area. The guest bedroom had a fold-out bed built into the slope of the linen closet in the hallway.
Unlike some of his later efforts in prefabricated housing components, this design is completely tailor-made to meet the needs of the Bitters: a physicist and a professional musician. Mr. Bitter was an expert in magnetic physics. Under her stage name Ratan Devī, Mrs. Bitter was a performer of Hindu songs and poems and recorded Indian music. Koch considered both of their vocations when designing the residence at 44 Gerry’s Landing. Koch designed the basement as Mr. Bitter’s laboratory and study with plenty of natural light provided by the sloping site on which the house was built. The living room was acoustically designed to enhance the piano music of Mrs. Bitter.
Photograph by Ezra Stoller. Architectural Record (January 1949)
Koch paid careful attention to the smallest details of the house–from the acoustics in the living room to the linen closet to the delivery panel in the kitchen wall. Koch employed the use of twentieth century materials such as linoleum and corrugated Transite in his design.
Development of the Site
Detail of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, March 1950 (Vol. 2) with 44 Gerry’s Landing Road circled in blue. Library of Congress
The Brown and Nichols boys’ school was originally located on Garden Street. Although the school purchased fields at the base of Coolidge Hill in 1910-12 to use as athletic fields, its classes were not held on the lower campus until late in the 1940s. Brown and Nichols School gradually moved all its classrooms to the Gerry’s Landing campus between 1948 and 1963. The modern residences on the Forbes estate were soon acquired by the school and the Bitter House was converted for use as an art studio.
The Bitter House at 44 Gerry’s Landing Rd, photographed by R. Cheek in January 1969
Higher taxes, fewer domestic employees, and increased density after World War II affected the scale and efficiency of the designs for post-war construction. New technologies in building materials and construction quickly made their way to the private sphere after being developed by the military during the war. Carl Koch’s design intent for 44 Gerry’s Landing Road was a product of the new materials and design ideas of the post-war period. It was built in the same year as Koch’s more famous Snake Hill Houses in neighboring Belmont.
The Bitter House at 44 Gerry’s Landing Rd, photographed by R. Cheek in January 1969
An application to demolish the house at 44 Gerry’s Landing Road was received by the Cambridge Historical Commission on November 6, 1996, and the final application was made on November 26. The applicant, Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School, was notified of an initial determination of significance and a public hearing was scheduled for December 4. Although the Bitter House was found to be significant in part as an example of post-war architecture and in great part due to its relationship to the internationally significant architect, Carl Koch, the building was demolished in 1997. At the time of demolition, the intentionally limited exterior detailing of the modern residence was primarily intact with no evident additions or major remodeling.
The African-American community in Cambridge has a long, rich, and fruitful history. The roots of this community, much like the rest of the United States, are in the institution of slavery, which brought Black people from Africa and the Caribbean to New England soon after the Puritans settled. The small Black population of Cambridge became free in 1783, when the Supreme Court of Massachusetts decided to end legal chattel slavery in the state. This measure, combined with the general movement of southern Black people to the North in the 19th century and the attractive integrated school system, brought many Black families to Cambridge, expanding the African-American community. Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century, Cambridge saw a great variety of prominent African-American activists, officials, and leaders. Coming from all over America, these figures have contributed to the growth and empowerment of the Black communities in Cambridge, the United States, and even the entire world.
Cover of African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000)
We at the Cambridge Historical Commission invite you to explore the inspiring and unique stories of twenty of Cambridge’s most important Black leaders through our informational booklet, African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000), an accompanying text to our African American History Trail.
Selections from African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000), featuring entries of Pauline Hopkins and Harriet A. Jacobs.
Here, you’ll meet figures like Maria Louise Baldwin, headmaster of the Agassiz Grammar School in Cambridge and the first African American to hold such a position in the North. You’ll also learn about William Wells Brown, an escaped slave who became the first African American novelist, and Alberta V. Scott, the first African American graduate of Radcliffe College. With the aid of this guide, you can hear about and visit the locations where these abolitionists, authors, educators, and office holders lived, worked, and expanded their lives in Cambridge from 1840 to 1940. The guide contains the complete text of each historical marker, a map with key, and a brief history of African Americans in Cambridge.
Select pages from African American Heritage Trail, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2000) showing locations associated with featured historical figures.
Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the architecture lover, history enthusiast, urban development aficionado, or anyone who simply loves Cambridge? We’ve got you covered!
Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development (2016)
Our latest publication, Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development (2016), is a must-have. This beautifully illustrated volume uncovers the story of the neighborhood that grew around Newtowne—founded as the capital of Massachusetts Bay in 1630—and Harvard College, established in 1636. Authors Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan trace Cambridge’s evolution of Old Cambridge as quaint village into suburban community and vibrant hub where academic and civic life intertwine.
Abbott Building, 1–7 Kennedy Street (1909, Newhall & Blevins, architects). The upper floors were designed for professional offices. Photo ca. 1910.
Packed with rare historic photographs never before published, Building Old Cambridge offers a comprehensive look at the city’s offers a rich exploration of the city’s architecture, development, and history—a reference you’ll treasure for years to come.
On June 11, 1970, community members led by future city councillor Saundra Graham (with bullhorn) invaded Harvard’s 319th commencement to protest the university’s intrusion into the Riverside neighborhood.
To order your copy of Building Old Cambridge, click here or email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov. If you’re in a rush and would like to pick up a copy in person, we have several in stock at our office at 831 Mass Ave in Central Square. If you’re lucky, one or both authors may be around to sign it!
Cambridge, Massachusetts, possesses photographic documentation that is probably unparalleled for a city of its size. In 1980, The Photo Search Project, a community-sponsored effort led by the Cambridge Historical Commission, unearthed thousands of photographs in archives, attics, and family albums. A curated selection of these images, dating from the 1840’s to 1946, appears in our publication, A Photographic History of Cambridge (1984).
Cover of A Photographic History of Cambridge (1984)
Within its pages, we see the exterior and the interior of a workers’ cottage as it appeared in 1860. We meet two of the founding members of the Cambridge Sewing Circle and the survivors of Company C, Third Regiment, who marched off to the Civil War in 1861. We are invited to a noontime English class for immigrants at a local factory in the early 1900s, and to a Polish wedding in 1913. Harnessmakers’, carriagesmiths’, and soapmakers’ portraits recall occupations of the past.
Coffee Counter at J.A. Holmes & Company, 638 Mass Ave, ca. 1904-1910
With a forward by renowned historian Oscar Handlin, introduction by CHC Executive Director Charles M. Sullivan, and text by historical experts, this publication provides not only an invaluable record of Cambridge’s history but a review of a century of developments in popular photography as well.
Magazine Beach, south end of Magazine St, 1906
Researchers, historians, photography enthusiasts, and those curious about the city’s rich ethnic, occupational, and architectural heritage will appreciate the diversity of subject, scene, and neighborhood beyond the well-known historic landmarks of our city.
J. Bouchard Provisions, 86-88 Harvey Street, corner Montgomery, ca. 1910
To obtain your own copy of A Photographic History of Cambridge for only $12.50, stop by our office at 831 Mass Ave, or email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov. A limited number of hard cover copies are also available for $20!
Softcover and hardcover versions of A Photographic History of Cambridge (1984)
Selecting appropriate exterior paint colors for historic buildings can be one of the most daunting decisions a building owner can face—especially when balancing personal taste with architectural integrity and regulatory standards. Our publication Painting Historic Exteriors: Colors, Application, and Regulation offers a clear, authoritative framework for maintaining the character and integrity of historic residential architecture.
🎨 This comprehensive guide provides:
• Expert recommendations for selecting historically appropriate paint colors by architectural style • Practical advice on paint application and maintenance for long-term preservation • Insight into regulatory considerations within historic districts • Case studies from Cambridge showcasing exemplary restorations
🏠 This informative publication is designed for:
• Architects, contractors, and homeowners involved in restoration work • Local historic district commissioners • Preservation planning staff and municipal officials • Historical societies and house museum staff
341 Columbia St., 1886 Green with tan trim and moss green accents
Painting season begins in late spring, so now is the perfect time to get a head start on planning your next paint project. Order your copy of Painting Historic Exteriors for just $10 by clicking here or stop by our office at 831 Mass Ave in Central Square.
113 Brattle St., 1887 Deep red with taupe trim and deep olive green shutters All colors mixed in commercially available paints to match original colors found through paint analysis
If you’d rather leave it to the professionals, the Cambridge Historical Commission offers paint consultations for buildings in Cambridge and beyond. For questions, email our office at histcomm@cambridgema.gov.
Do you live in a Cambridge home built before 1930? This is for you.
The Queen Anne house at 314 Harvard Street: the asbestos siding was removed in about 1975 and the exterior restored to its original appearance. Only the false timberwork in the gable ends had been destroyed and required replacement.
Cambridge boasts a rich tradition of residential architecture, distinct from Boston and its neighboring towns. Its unique social history—as county seat, university hub, Boston suburb, and cultural melting pot—has produced a remarkable variety of houses. From masterpieces by renowned American architects to vernacular designs crafted by local carpenters, the city’s neighborhoods still reflect the creativity and individuality of generations of Cambridge builders, contractors, and architects.
Cover of Maintaining Your Old House in Cambridge (1988)
To help preserve this heritage, the Cambridge Historical Commission published Maintaining Your Old House in Cambridge in 1988. This comprehensive guide, written by experts in the field, equips homeowners and tenants with the knowledge to protect both the structural soundness and visual character of their homes.
Diagram of typical roof and cornice construction
The text and accompanying illustrations offer clear, practical advice on repairs and upkeep that honor a house’s stylistic integrity. Topics range from fences, siding, and gutters to chimneys, contractor selection, and more. Illustrated throughout, the book remains an invaluable resource for anyone caring for an older home.
Door design variations
And if you ever need additional guidance, the Cambridge Historical Commission is available to provide technical assistance on rehabilitation and restoration projects—ensuring that your home continues to embody the city’s architectural legacy.
To obtain your own copy of Maintaining Your Old House in Cambridge for just $10, click here, stop by our office at 831 Mass Ave, or email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov.
Our publication All in the Same Boat: Twentieth-Century Stories of East Cambridge, Cambridge, Massachusetts is a collection of more than 125 oral histories that explore the tightly knit neighborhood of East Cambridge from the perspective of its residents.
Anna Scolles’ birthday, ca. 1949
Manuel Rogers, Sr., behind the soda fountain at the Paradise Spa, 352 Cambridge St, 1931
The book, illustrated with historic and family photographs, offers a vivid picture of the diverse cultures that coexisted in East Cambridge during the 20th century and examines the social, economic, and political changes in this rapidly evolving neighborhood.
Day of Portugal Parade, June 1990
To hear stories of those who lived, grew up in, immigrated to, and built their lives in East Cambridge, stop by our office or click here and obtain your own copy of this rich oral history book! For more information, email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov.
Cover of All in the Same Boat: Twentieth-Century Stories of East Cambridge, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2005)
Our publication Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts is the product of a four-year effort to record the experiences of more than 125 Cambridge veterans and home front participants. These recollections are told by soldiers in combat, nurses in hospitals in Europe and the Pacific, women who worked at the Charlestown Navy Yard and other defense industries, and servicemen’s families who waited for loved ones to come home. Five POWs, a Holocaust survivor, and an Italian Jewish refugee tell stories of uncommon courage and determination to persevere and survive in extraordinary circumstances. A narrative of the war in the European and Pacific Theaters accompanies the oral histories, and more than 250 photographs, some from the National Archives and FDR Library, are included as well.
Cover of Common Cause, Uncommon Courage: World War II and the Home Front in Cambridge, Massachusetts (2009)
The following passage comes from the section “Prisoners of War (POWs)” where Private First Class Armando DeVito shares his experience during the Battle of the Bulge:
“When we went out of the Ardennes, we had hardly any equipment left, and we were waiting for air support, which we didn’t get. We were in this gully with German Tiger tanks all around us, and we didn’t have much ammunition left. We were trying to dig in to keep low. All we had were rifles—no heavy equipment. We were all facedown. We didn’t dare move, because they were all around us.”
To learn the conclusion of DeVito’s harrowing journey and hear about the efforts of many other Cantabrigians during this conflict, stop by our office or click here and obtain your own copy of this rich oral history book! For more information, email us at histcomm@cambridgema.gov.
Page from POW Francis Cunningham’s record of Red Cross parcel received, ca. 1944
