CDASH, the digital version of the Cambridge Historical Commission’s architectural survey, documents the built environment of the city through newspaper clippings, articles, photographs, atlas details, ephemera, correspondence, and much more. The CDASH user interface has been upgraded for enhanced use on your mobile device as well as an improved desktop experience. One useful feature lets you explore buildings and historical resources near your current location.
Experience history in the field: 📍 On your GPS-enabled device, tap the Find My Location cross hatch (𖦏) and allow the site location permissions to zoom to your location on the map. 🗺️ The blue location marker then dynamically traces your point of view and orientation on any of the antique or contemporary base maps available in the Layers menu. 🕵️♀️ Tap a marker, and you’re ready to delve into Cambridge history on location!
Unearth bygone landscapes, peruse the history of your house, and examine the evolution of our streets, all from your phone. Visit https://cdash.cambridgema.gov/ to learn more and start exploring today.
In April 2023, a devastating fire enveloped the Faith Lutheran Church at 311 Broadway. Unfortunately, the damage was so severe that the building was later demolished. Congregation members are currently determining how they will carry a little of the old church forward.
Faith Lutheran Church at 311 Broadway as photographed by CHC staff on April 10, 2023
After their formation in Cambridge in 1892, the Swedish Evangelical Lutherans began plans for a new church to house their congregation. Previously, worship and meetings took place at several temporary spaces, including St. George’s Hall on Mass Ave, Raymond Hall, and the East End Union Hall. Although unrest and failed plans to acquire property plagued the congregation for several years, fundraising was underway. Finally, in 1906, the property at 313 Broadway—a 12-room house on a large lot—was purchased. In 1907, architects Newhall and Blevins presented plans for a church in the “old Gothic” style to be built there with a modified design later accepted by the church’s building committee. The cornerstone was laid on December 20, 1908, and the building was dedicated in 1909. The original house at 313 was demolished in 1930.
Faith Lutheran Church at 311 Broadway as photographed by CHC staff on November 12, 1969
The church’s building style evoked a simplified, Scandinavian version of early German medieval work, with an emphasis on the “westwerk” of the Ottoman period. These forms and modest surface treatment are typical of smaller churches throughout Sweden and Denmark. The steeple was central, set in a projecting block and serving as the center of the forward transept. Two small towers flanked an entry porch in front of this massive tower. Furnishing the church was a true community effort: the pulpit, altar and altar rail were constructed by the Swedish workers of Irving & Casson Co. with materials donated by the company; the altar mural was the work and gift of Carl G.T. Olson, a member; the rugs were donated by John A. Hedin, furniture store; and four chandeliers were donated by the employees of Union Glass Company.
Rendering of the proposed new church building, courtesy SMMA Architects
As part of their rebuilding efforts, congregation members have produced a video highlighting the history of the church and their future plans. View that video here: Faith After the Fire: Building a Space for Grace.
The 2½-story Gothic Revival house that first stood at 64 Highland Street, situated across the street from the Highland Street Reservoir, was constructed in 1860 for owner Charles Coffin Little, co-founder of the publishing firm Little, Brown and Company.
64 Highland Street photographed by Bertram Adams on March 13, 1963. CHC collections.
The most romantic of the picturesque styles and the one that first attracted American architects and builders was the Gothic Revival. The style first appeared in the United States in churches and was not widely adopted for houses until well into the 19th century as prospective owners looked to a romanticized past for design inspiration.
64 Highland Street photographed by Ed James in April 1949. CHC collections.
While the Greek Revival style was much more popular due to American desires to separate from British-influenced types, a few commissions were inspired by British Gothic buildings. The Gothic Revival style in America was advanced by architects Alexander Jackson Davis and Andrew Jackson Downing, authors of influential house plan books, which promoted appropriate designs for rural settings. Houses in this style are often designed with complex and irregular shapes and forms fitting well into the natural landscape.
64 Highland Street photographed by Roger Gilman. Date unknown. CHC collections.
In 1863, Little sold the handsome house to Professor Charles Franklin Dunbar, a historian and the first Chair of Political Economy at Harvard. Dunbar was Dean of Harvard College from 1876 to 1882 and Dean of the reorganized Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1890 to 1895. Professor Dunbar died in his home on January 29, 1900. The house was then owned by his son William H. Dunbar, who died in the house in August 1935 at age 72.
Katherine Copeland Dunbar (Mrs. William H. Dunbar) on Highland Street with the Highland Street Reservoir at left. Source: Charles W. Eliot II.
64 Highland St was set to be sold the following spring. Newspaper clippings note a wide array of tenants at the property in the following decades until it was purchased by Alan and Claire Steinert in the early 1960s. Finding the house too large and outdated for their tastes, the couple demolished the building to make way for a new modern residence to be designed by architect F.F. Bruck.
Check out yesterday’s Modern Monday post to learn more about the house that replaced this Gothic Revival building and still stands on the lot today.
In the early 1960s, architect Ferdinand Friedrich (Frederick) Adrian Bruck, known professionally as F.F. Bruck, was commissioned by Alan and Claire Steinert to design a new residence in the Reservoir Hill area of West Cambridge. Bruck was a Harvard GSD graduate who studied under Walter Gropius, a pioneer of modernist architecture.
64 Highland Street photographed by CHC staff in 1968
Bruck later apprenticed at the engineering firm of Stone & Webster, designing power plants, dams, and similar structures. Following his graduation, Bruck taught at the GSD part time as an Associate Professor, a position he held from 1952-1963. Concurrently, he was hired by The Architects Collaborative (TAC) under Gropius and assisted in designs with the firm as well as accepting independent commissions under his company, F. Frederick Bruck, Architect and Associates.
64 Highland Street photographed by CHC staff in 1968
At the time of Bruck’s commission, Alan, a member of the Steinert Piano family, and his wife Claire were in their sixties. When they purchased the former Charles C. Little House on Highland St, they decided it was too large and dated for their tastes. The large Gothic Revival house was demolished and Bruck was tasked with designing a one-story modern home to allow the couple to age in place, display their art collection, and accommodate social gatherings.
64 Highland Street photographed by CHC staff in 1967
The couple insisted on incorporating the latest technologies, including central air conditioning, radiant heating, and low voltage lighting to illuminate their artworks. The design was featured in the 1965 edition of Architectural Record’s annual Record Houses publication, highlighting the best residential project designs of the past year.
64 Highland Street photographed by CHC staff in 1968
Describing the construction of the house, Bruck noted that “the house is wood frame with dark brick veneer. Brick was chosen to blend with the substantial character of the surrounding houses, to reduce maintenance, and because it is a material which could meet the sloping terrain. Wood frame was chosen for economy and to facilitate construction during the winter months.” The building remains one of the best examples of 1960s residential designs in Cambridge.
Are you looking to become more involved in your neighborhood? Cambridge City Manager, Yi-An Huang, is seeking to fill vacancies for members and alternate members for the following Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) Commissions: Avon Hill, Half Crown-Marsh, and Mid Cambridge. Homeowners and renters alike are welcome!
A mansard style single family residence at 41 Gibson St, situated within the Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District
What is a Neighborhood Conservation District?
Neighborhood Conservation Districts were established by city ordinance in 1983. Conservation district designation recognizes a distinctive physical environment that reflects the architectural, cultural, political, economic, or social history of the city. NCDs foster wider public knowledge and appreciation of such neighborhoods. Designation encourages the conservation and maintenance of these areas so that the city may be a more attractive and desirable place in which to live and work.
Ware Hall, an historic residential apartment building at 383 Harvard St, situated within the Mid Cambridge Neighborhood Conservation District
Each NCD commission includes five members and three alternates. Most members must reside in the respective district; renters, as well as homeowners, are encouraged to apply.
More information is available through the following links:
The volunteer commissions meet monthly and are supported by the professional staff of the Cambridge Historical Commission. Applicants should have knowledge and concern for improvement, conservation, and enhancement of the district. The composition of each Commission shall represent the diversity of the designated neighborhood in terms of age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, and property ownership or tenancy.
Who Should Apply?
Individuals interested in being considered should apply through the city’s online application system at https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/Board/Vacant and select the respective commission. A cover letter and resumé or summary of applicable experience can be submitted during the online application process.
Questions?
If you have questions about the application process or need assistance, please contact the City Manager’s Office at 617.349.4300 or boardsandcommissions@cambridgema.gov.
Detail of Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (Philadelphia : G.W. Bromley & Co., 1894) showing the location of 91-93 Windsor St.
This is the story of an ordinary house that was demolished. For 59 of the 105 years that this house stood at 91-93 Windsor Street on the corner of School Street, it was owned and lived in by Richard Beckett and/or his descendants. His is an interesting immigrant story…but let’s start at the beginning:
The land on which 91-93 Windsor Street was built in 1836 was originally part of the estate of Spencer Phipps (1635-1757), who was Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief “in and over his Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New-England” from 1732 to his death in 1757.
In 1793, Andrew Boardman IV (1745-1817) (later known as Bordman) inherited a portion of the Phipps estate upon the death of his mother, Sarah Phipps. In 1801, he and others laid out Windsor Street through his estate. This was followed in 1803 by surveying building lots in the area west of Windsor St and south Harvard St. (Andrew Bordman also donated the land for the school named after him, located on the opposite corner of School and Windsor Streets. The name of the street was originally spelled “Winsor;” it was not until around 1841 that the spelling changed to Windsor.)
View of the Boardman School building (built 1868) at 105 Windsor Street as photographed by Richard CHeek in July 1968. Cambridge Historical Commission photo.
Subsequently, Josiah Wellington Cook (1805-1891) acquired the land, and in 1836 built this house. Meant as an investment rental property, it was a simple vernacular wood frame double house, with two front doors centered, and a side gable roof with slight returning eves. At the time of its construction, the house was in a working-class neighborhood.
Josiah Cook was in the grocery business until he was elected a director and secretary of the Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company, later becoming president. (The Cambridge Mutual Fire Insurance Company building, built in 1888, still stands in Central Square on the corner of Mass Ave and Inman St.) Cook was a member of the Cambridge Anti-Slavery Society, served as Deputy Sheriff, City Marshall, Assessor of Cambridge, and was a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex County. He is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery, in Lot #2050 Honeysuckle Path.
The Cambridge Chronicle April 1, 1847
Cook owned the building at 91-93 Windsor St until at least 1847. By 1852, it was owned by Charles Hancock, a carpenter who was later partner in the Hancock & Greeley Company, lumber dealers and carpenters. Hancock later dissolved his relationship with Greeley and by 1879 was in the real estate and insurance business, providing “special attention…to collecting rents and the care of Real Estate.” (The Cambridge Chronicle September 10, 1881)
In 1873, the double house was owned by Daniel Gregory Stone, a box-maker who died in 1876 at the age of 55. His wife, Lucy A. (Parker) Stone, was the administrator for her husband’s estate. Following Lucy’s death in 1882, Richard Beckett purchased the property from George A. Parker for $1400 (George’s relation to Lucy A. Parker is unclear). Beckett’s life is interesting as it exemplifies the classic entrepreneurial immigrant success story.
Richard Beckett was born in Tyrone County Ireland in 1833. He was just 18 when he emigrated to the U. S. in 1851. In 1853, he married Ann McClean (1830 Ire. – 1891 Cambridge). Just six years later in 1857 at the age of 24, he became a naturalized citizen and bought his first property at the corner of Eliot Street and Brighton Ave (now called JFK Street) near Harvard Square. Beckett is listed on the deed as a “laborer.” He and his family lived there from 1875-1877. The building was originally a schoolhouse on Garden Street, subsequently moved to Eliot St. Beckett built a brick foundation and added a second story with a French roof.
Detail: Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts (G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1873) showing the location of Richard Beckett’s property near Harvard Square
Beckett worked at the Cambridge Gas Co. for 40 years – rising to the rank of “supervisory foreman” by 1880. Just nine years after arriving in the U. S., the census of 1860 lists Beckett’s worth as $1000, and by 1870 it was $2800. By 1886, he owned a total of four adjoining buildings along Brighton Ave.
Detail: Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (G.M. Hopkins & Co., 1886) showing the location of Richard Beckett’s property near Harvard Square
Beckett’s next purchase, in 1875, was a brick townhouse at 11 Broadway. Moving in with his family in 1878, he lived there until his wife’s death and his own, both occurring in 1891. In addition to working for the gas company, the City Directory of 1885 listed Beckett as a purveyor of “liquors, Wines, Etc.”
11 Broadway storefront at center as photographed on December 10, 1899. These buildings were razed in 1935. Cambridge Historical Commission photo.
Detail of Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (Philadelphia : G.W. Bromley & Co., 1894) showing Richard Beckett’s property at 11 Broadway
At his death, Beckett’s three properties (28 Boylston, 11 Broadway, and 91-93 Windsor St) were bequeathed to his heirs. His daughter Annie Maria (1859-1936) lived at 91-93 for 30 years, from 1916 until her death in 1936. In 1879, she married cabinet maker James Edwin Stewart Sr. (1862 Canada -1910 Worcester, MA). Edwin emigrated from New Brunswick, Canada in 1872 and petitioned for citizenship in 1888. The couple lived at Annie’s father’s property at 11 Broadway, where the Stewarts raised their four daughters and two boys until James’s Stewart’s Sr. death in 1910. Both are buried in the Cambridge Cemetery.
Portrait of Anne Maria “Annie” (Beckett) Stewart via FindAGrave. Photo added by David M. Carrig.
Portrait of James Edwin Stewart via Ancestry. Photo uploaded by user cw_cook.
James Stewart appears in an amusing anecdote in The Cambridge Chronicle (January 14, 1905) about the thousands of households permitted to raise chickens in Cambridge. He was listed as having 12 chickens on his property at 11 Broadway.
James Stewart died in 1910 and was only 48 years old at the time. His death may have occurred under tragic circumstances, as it was recorded at the state hospital in Worcester, known as the Worcester Asylum for the mentally ill. Their eldest son was by that time out of the house, but Annie was left to raise the remaining children on her own.
Two years after her husband’s death in 1912, a notice ran in The Cambridge Tribune advertising a public auction of the “Stewart Estate,” comprised of the three properties owned by Richard Beckett. The lots were referred to as the Stewart Estate because they had been passed down to Anna Marie Stewart, daughter of Richard Beckett. In the notice, 91-93 Windsor St is described as a “Double frame dwelling with small barn in rear, about 3,274 feet of land; Assessed Valuation, $3,000.”
The Cambridge Chronicle April 27, 1912
The 1920 Census shows Annie carried a mortgage on 91-93 Windsor; by 1930 she owned it free and clear. Annie’s daughter Ruth lived in the building from 1914-1915, and again after her marriage to Herbert E. Adams, a Chauffer, from 1928-1941.
Others who had lived at #91 included: 1904-1912: Joseph and Helen Marsh. Joseph was foundryman/mechanic 1910: Charles E. Kelley, building mover 1913: Edward A. Gorvina, Driver 1918-21: Mrs. Helen Blanche
Occupants at #93 next door included: 1905 -1906: John W. Green, Tailor 1907 -1911: Mrs. Margaret Gunning, groceries 1911 – 1917: Bernard T. Phelan, Teamster and Mrs. Isabella Phelan, Grocer 1913: Charles H. Burns, Clerk and William J. Burns, laborer 1913: Mr. John C. Phelan, clerk, and Mrs. C. Shaughnessy, Baker 1915-1916: Edward L. Powers, Clerk 1918 -1920: Frank (a driver) and Hattie Fleet 1921: Thomas S. Graney, Laborer, and his wife Sarah. 1925-: Paterson, John (a painter) and Agnes Paterson, along with George K. Paterson, a coremaker 1930: Arthur Villemaire, Chauffer
The Final Act
In 1941, Annie Stewart’s heirs sold the property to Paul Rudak, who razed it, and built a new store on the property. In 1950, Paul Gauthier opened “Paul’s Grocery” on the corner. In 1979, the Gauthier family bought the property, and it became the famed Newtowne Variety until it closed in 2016.
The Cambridge Chronicle March 16, 1950
David Gauthier, Burt Gauthier, and John Gauthier, pictured left to right, are the three brothers who ran Newtowne Variety in The Port. Photo courtesy of Wicked Local
In 2004, the Cambridge Historical Commission awarded the Newtowne Variety store a Certificate of Merit “for their contribution to the streetscape and respectful treatment of historic aspects of the building.” After the Newtowne Variety store closed, the property was purchased by “Windsor Ninety Three LLC” and later occupied for a short time by cafe Brew on the Grid. By 2025, the property sold again to Windsor Units LLC for $1,270,000. As of December 2025, 93 Windsor Street is an empty storefront.
Then…and now…
Today’s post was written by Kathleen M. Fox
Sources Ancestry.com Bunting, Bainbridge and Robert Nylander Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge: Old Cambridge (1973). Cambridge City Directories Cambridge Historical Commission Cambridge Public Library’s Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection Hail, Christopher. Buildings and Architects of Cambridge Library of Congress Paige Lucius R. History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1877, with a Genealogical Register Boston 1877, H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton Middlesex South Registry of Deeds Wikitree
Building 20 – MIT – from blimp – Aug. 1945. Courtesy MIT Museum.
MIT’s Building 20 was built at 18 Vassar Street in 1943 as part of the war effort to improve existing radar capabilities. In 1940, the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) appointed the president of MIT, Karl T. Compton, to head up special research projects to advance the development of what turned out to be “micro-wave” radar. Given the size of the project, Compton quickly realized MIT needed a new building to accommodate the task at hand—hence: Building 20. The administration and business affairs of the work done there were handled by MIT, but its funding and research agenda were determined by the NDRC.
Building 20 was erected in only six months. Since war-time steel production was limited to use for armaments, the building was constructed of wood and built like a three-story barracks. It had five wings: the “B” wing was parallel to Vassar Street, while the A, C, D and E wings extended perpendicularly towards the central MIT campus. The roof was flat, the shingles were asbestos (a product not yet firmly considered toxic), and the windows were stacked hoppers. Because it was considered a temporary building, Building 20 was also built without the need to adhere to some of the usual building constraints of the time, like prevailing fire codes. After the war, the MIT Acoustics Lab was attached to the C wing. At the time of its demolition in 1998, Building 20 and its additions had a combined floor area of approximately 222,000 square feet.
The main event when the building was completed was housing the “Radiation Laboratory” or “Rad Lab,” a somewhat vague name intentionally chosen to conceal its true operations: developing microwave radar to improve the accuracy of bombing. Once this new technology was ready for action, the urgency of this need caused the Rad Lab to start manually building “blind bombing sets” in Building 20 until industrial manufactures could gear up to produce them in large quantities.
Radio Frequency (Group 53), MIT Radiation Laboratory. Image courtesy Jewish Women’s Archive via Wikimedia Commons.
Other inventions included “… airborne bombing radars, shipboard search radars, harbor and coastal defense radars, gun-laying radars, ground-controlled approach radars for aircraft blind landing, interrogate-friend-or-foe beacon systems, and the long-range navigation (LORAN) system. Some of the most critical contributions of the Radiation Laboratory were the microwave early-warning (MEW) radars, which effectively nullified the V-1 threat to London, and air-to-surface vessel (ASV) radars, which turned the tide on the U-boat threat.” (MIT Radiation Laboratory)
According to TheCambridge Chronicle (August 16, 1945) the real purpose of Building 20 was made public just a half hour after Truman announced the surrender of Japan:
In 1998, the year the building was to be demolished, The New York Times ran an article called “Last Rites for a ‘Plywood Palace’ That Was a Rock of Science,” which stated that the building was home “for almost 4,000 researchers in 20 disciplines. At one time, more than 20 percent of the physicists in the United States (including nine Nobel Prize winners) had worked in that building.”
What made Building 20 such a hotbed of creative innovation?
It all had to do with what biologist Stuart Kauffman [not at MIT] called “the adjacent possible.” His description of the term perfectly describes Building 20: “…its physical and social environment continually expanded the realm of what was thinkable and doable. Its open, makeshift design and its mix of disciplines made it easier for researchers to stumble upon the next possible thing that hadn’t yet been imagined. The proximity of minds from different domains allowed ideas to leap boundaries and merge into novel possibilities, showing that innovation is less a flash of genius and more a product of evolving connections in the right conditions.”
Those who worked in Building 20 agreed:
“It turned out to be absolutely perfect for research…you can knock down a wall, you can punch out a ceiling, and you could get space. In academics, space is everything.” (Morris Halle, Professor of Linguistics in “A Building with Soul” by Alex Beam, The Boston Globe, June 29, 1988).
Interior image of Building 20. Courtesy MIT Museum.
“Life in Building 20 was homey with a family-like atmosphere. Any excuse would serve for having a party. People ignored the shabbiness and dirt because the atmosphere encouraged creativity and the exchange of ideas.” (RLE Undercurrents, Vol. 9, no. 2, Fall 1997)
“People got together and shared ideas without worrying who you were.”
“It was so informal nobody considered rank or previous training.”
“…it was so easy to build experiments there – pull wires, bolt things to walls, come and go at any hour.”
Among those working in the building during the war years were:
Jerome Wiesner: worked on microwave radar, later at Los Alamos National Laboratory, later chairman of President Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), and later President of MIT
Amar Bose: his invention of improved loudspeakers led to the founding of the Bose company
Leo Beranek: an acoustical engineer, who went on to found Bolt, Beranek & Newman
After WWII some programs closed down, opening up space for other projects. While scientific research continued, over time a myriad of “non science” programs like linguistics, history, arts, music, and student affairs also occupied space in the building, further adding to its quirky allure. The list below is far from inclusive but serves to convey the range of programs that shared the space.
Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. In 1976, Morris Halle and Noam Chomsky, pioneers in linguistics research, together founded the MIT Linguistics program
Jerome Lettvin, cognitive scientist and Professor of Electrical and Bioengineering and Communications Physiology
MIT Dean of Humanities Office
History of Science and Technology Program, including Elting Morrison, historian of technology, and founder of the Science, Technology, and Society program
Anthropology section of the Humanities Department
Music Department
MIT Electronic Research Society (MITRE)
Research Lab of Electronics Photography: Harold “Doc” Edgerton who developed stroboscopic, stop-action photography, including the famous milk drop “Considered one of the most important photographs of all time.”
Center for Materials Research in Anthropology & Ethnology
Center for Environmental Health Sciences
The Denouement of Building 20
Building 20 finally reached the end of the road in 1998. Having outlived its original planned lifespan by decades, by any standard Building 20 was a ramshackle place. The Cambridge Historical Commission initially advocated for giving the building protected status. However, after hearings on the subject, the Commission, noting the comprehensive history of the building maintained by MIT and the fact that it no longer could support “modern science and engineering,” gave MIT permission to raze the building.
The frame for the photo above was made with wood of floorboards from Building 20. The name carved into the bottom of the frame, Parker & Stearns, was a lumber company in Johnson, VT and is presumed to have provided lumber for the building’s construction.
The MIT Building 20 Time Capsule is located the Stata Center, part of an exhibit dedicated to Building 20 and the Rad Lab. The capsule is to be opened in 2053, 55 years after Building 20 was demolished. Perched on top of the box holding the time capsule is another relic from the war research: a SCR-615B Radar Antenna.
Designers and builders of the Building 20 Time Capsule (left to right): Tanisha Lloyd, Sonia Tulyani, and their UROP supervisor, Professor J. Francis Reinties, 1999. Courtesy MIT Museum.
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 Edward & Julia Joyce three-family, 95 Fayerweather Street (1910). In 1991, this building was redeveloped by Homeowner’s Rehab as limited equity condos for moderate-income homeowners. After a few decades the building began to deteriorate. Just-A-Start came in with a home improvement program and utilized Community Preservation Act funds from the Cambridge Historical Commission’s grant program as well as their own assistance to redevelop and restore this house.
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 First Baptist Church, now Central Square Church, 5 Magazine Street (1881). For many years the building suffered from an inability to address deferred maintenance issues. For this project, masonry was restored, clock faces were repaired, and the bell deck has been sealed and reroofed. Now the church continues to be a landmark of Central Square.
Before and after images of Central Square Church roof repairs
Before and after images of Central Square Church masonry repairs
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
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.
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!
