Georgian Revival - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

It is hard to name an architecture style more identifiable with Harvard than the Georgian style. The oldest extant buildings in Harvard Yard include Massachusetts Hall (1720), the Wadsworth House (1726) and Holden Chapel (1744), just some of a larger group of Georgian buildings constructed before the American Revolution. The Georgian style is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, George III, and George IV—who reigned in continuous succession from 1714 to 1830. It is in this time that Harvard, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, created its now iconic architectural identity. By the 19th century, other buildings in various styles were designed in the Yard, from University Hall (1815) in the Federal style, to Matthews Hall (1872) a Victorian Gothic dormitory, to Sever Hall (1880) one of the greatest examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in the world; Harvard would later return to the Colonial-era Georgian style. Two great and lesser-known examples are Lionel Hall and Mower Hall.

1930 Bromley map showing recently completed Lionel and Mower Halls enclosing the two small quadrangles.

Current aerial of Lionel (yellow) and Mower (blue) Halls, facing west. Holden Chapel at center.

Abbott Lawrence Lowell, Harvard University President (1909-1933) is responsible for the wide-scale revival of the Georgian style at Harvard through his massive building programs for the Harvard River Houses, dormitories in the Yard, and the new President’s House. Two of the smallest being Lionel Hall and Mower Hall.

Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 4.27.04 PM — Circa 1925 image of Mower (left) and Lionel (right) Halls during construction from Peabody Street. Courtesy of Harvard Property Information Resource Center.

Screen Shot 2020-04-15 at 1.21.57 PM — Plans of Lionel Hall (identical to Mower Hall) published in Architectural Forum, Dec. 1925.

Lionel and Mower Halls were built in 1925 in the Georgian Revival style and sited to frame the Holden Chapel and enclose the western edge of the Yard. Appropriately nicknamed “The Holden Twins”, the two dormitory buildings were designed by the firm of Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch, and Abbott, who went on to design many later buildings for Harvard, including the River Houses (both the Georgian style and later Modern Houses). Both Lionel and Mower Halls were funded by a building campaign by President Lowell to expand the university and house additional students. They are constructed of red brick with stone trim. Both buildings are near-identical and rise 2 1/2 stories into a gambrel roof. Symmetrical facades and stone entries with fluted pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals over rusticated stone complete the Georgian Revival motif.

46838104 — Lionel Hall quadrangle facade. Photo by Ralph Lieberman (2012).

46838107 — Lionel Hall entry detail. Photo by Ralph Lieberman (2012).

Lionel Hall is named after Lionel de Jersey Harvard (class of 1915), an English descendent of John Harvard who was killed in World War I in France. Lionel was the first known relative of John Harvard to attend his namesake’s University. He descended from Thomas Harvard (1609–1637), brother of Harvard University founder John Harvard (1607–1638), who had died childless. Lionel Harvard in 1918 served as Commander of Number One Company, in the British Army and died from mortar fire in March of 1918, during the German Spring Offensive, leaving behind a widow and infant son.

LioneldeJerseyHarvard_InUniformStanding — Undated photo of Lionel de Jersey Harvard, Creative Commons.

Mower Hall is named in honor of Thomas G. Mower, by a gift valued over $18,000 from Miss Sarah E. Mower as a memorial to her late father. Thomas Gardner Mower (1790-1853) graduated from Harvard College in 1810 and immediately began to study medicine, later enlisting in the army as a surgeon in the War of 1812. After the war, Mower settled in New York and became a head Surgeon and examiner for the US Army until his death.

While these two modest dormitories do not stand out for their size nor architectural grandeur among the iconic buildings in Harvard Yard, they together showcase how proper design, massing and siting can truly enhance the character of an area without diminishing the significance of nearby buildings.

6 Plympton Street – Grolier Poetry Book Shop

in the window display is a tribute to the owner, Ifeanyi Menkiti, who passed away in June. (CHC)

Founded in 1927 by Adrian Gambet and Gordon Cairnie, Grolier Poetry Book Shop is the oldest continuously run poetry shop in the country. Located on the corner of Mass Ave and Plympton Street, the Georgian Revival building was constructed in 1902 as an exclusive dormitory, known as Hamden Hall, with retail on the bottom floor. The building was remodeled in 1917 for apartments.

The book shop initially stocked mainly private press books, some poetry, and a sampling of avant-garde literature. Poets frequented the 404-square foot spot over the years including Charles Olson, Anais Nin, Seamus Heaney, Frank Bidart, Robert Pinsky, and David Ferry.

Solano’s dog, Pumpkin, outside the book shop. (photo undated)

In 1976, then owner Louisa Solano developed the Grolier as an exclusive showcase for poetry. According to an article in The Paris Review, Solano had first stepped into the store at the age of fifteen and knew she wanted to own a store like that one day. She stocked around 15,000 current poetry volumes with an emphasis on small press publications. That same year saw the co-sponsorship of the Grolier Poetry Prize with the Blacksmith House Poetry Reading Series. She also introduced the concept of autograph/reading parties. As the audiences increased, the poets moved from inside the store to the stairs. A formal reading series soon developed. In 1986 the Intercollegiate Undergraduate Poetry Reading Series was established. Eleven colleges were represented. For the duration of her ownership, the Ellen La Forge Memorial Poetry Foundation assumed the funding of these activities and the sole responsibility of the Prize. In 1987, Solano received the Women’s National Book Association Award as one of 70 Who Have Made A Difference.

Portrait of Solano and Pumpkin by Elsa Dorfman. (Wikimedia)

In April 2006 Ms. Solano sold the Grolier Book Shop to Ifeanyi Menkiti, poet and professor of philosophy at Wellesley College. Although the store was in dire financial straits, Menkiti said “…it was a labor of love. It was something that needed to be done to keep a historic place from going under” (The Paris Review, Feb. 2013). In 2008, the corner of Plympton Street and Bow Street was dedicated as Louisa Solano Square.

Menkiti sitting in the book shop. (boston.com)

Mr. Menkiti passed away in June 2019. In an interview with the Harvard Crimson newspaper in 2017, Menkiti considered the appeal of poetry, “After 9/11, people didn’t ask to read a book of history, or a novel—they wanted to read a book of poems,” Menkiti says. “In a time of happiness or discomfort, people seem to fall back on poetry. What is it about poetry that has this hold on us, that allows it to be a source of solace, grief, and celebration?”

Sources

Tag: Georgian Revival

Historic Buildings: Lionel Hall and Mower Hall at Harvard

National Book Lover’s Day

6 Plympton Street – Grolier Poetry Book Shop