Today we are highlighting the building at 3 Bigelow Street, originally 5 Bigelow, located opposite Cambridge City Hall (and our next door neighbor here at the CHC).
Built in 1869 for William B. Craft, a commission merchant in Boston, 3 Bigelow was one of the first homes built on Bigelow Street, formerly Beacon, which was laid out the previous year. The three-story mansard was an early example of the pavilion style, and the wood exterior was rusticated to imitate ashlar (finely dressed stone) masonry. Later remodeling of the porch would significantly alter the coherence of the facade.
In 1877, Craft sold the house to D.U. Chamberlin, who in turn sold it to Judge Henry J. Wells of Arlington, later a Massachusetts Representative and Senator. Wells and his family lived at 5 Bigelow until 1913. Wells’ daughter, Henrietta Wells Livermore, helped to lead a revitalized suffrage movement in the State of New York in 1910, and founded the Women’s National Republican Club in 1921.
In 1929, 5 Bigelow resident Dr. Eugene McCarthy petitioned the City to designate his entire house as part of a business zone, in order for him to lease it to a funeral home. Four neighbors objected to this, stating that “Bigelow Street is already used as a garage by nearly all of city hall,” and that the funeral home business would only make traffic worse. (Cambridge Chronicle, 4/12/1929) McCarthy’s lawyer argued that the “quiet and dignity” of a properly run funeral home would benefit the neighborhood, and assured neighbors that no embalming would be done in the building.
Later that year, Andrews Funeral Home opened at 5 Bigelow Street. The owner, Joseph G. Andrews, also lived at the house with his family. In 1930, Andrews died suddenly, and his son Paul Andrews took over the business. The Cambridge Chronicle wrote of Andrews: “His equipment, modern home, the dignity and beauty of his services given to those who are bereaved, have given him an enviable place in the undertaking business.” (2/6/1936)
By the 1950s, 5 Bigelow had been converted into the Bigelow Nursing Home, and in 1965, Dr. Charles Brusch (of Brusch Medical Center next door at 831 Mass Ave) filed a petition to turn the building into seven apartment units. In the 1980s, the building was owned by the Maryknoll Fathers/Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, which also owned 831 Mass Ave.
In 1987, the City of Cambridge purchased 5 Bigelow and, through an arrangement with the YWCA, opened Bigelow House, a short-term emergency shelter and transitional housing for families and young adults. The building became 3 Bigelow either shortly before or during this time, and the office building next door, built in 1940, became 5 Bigelow.
In 2017, after it was determined that 3 Bigelow would need extensive renovations, the family shelter moved, and today 3 Bigelow remains unoccupied.
Sources:
Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge, Volume 2: Mid Cambridge, 1971.
Cambridge Chronicle, Cambridge Public Library’s Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection.
