history - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

The Dogs of Mount Auburn Cemetery

Posted on October 20, 2020October 20, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Mount Auburn Cemetery, the first rural cemetery in the United States, is credited as the beginning of the American public parks and gardens movement. Dedicated in 1831 and marked with classical monuments in a rolling landscaped terrain, Mount Auburn Cemetery marked a distinct break with Colonial-era burying grounds and church-affiliated graveyards. The appearance of this type of landscape coincides with the rising popularity of the term “cemetery,” derived from the Greek word for “a sleeping place,” instead of graveyard. The cemetery, shared by Cambridge and Watertown, has evolved greatly in its nearly 200 years but remains one of the most picturesque landscapes in the country.

*General view of Mount Auburn Cemetery with monuments, gravestones, and rolling topography.*

When strolling Mount Auburn Cemetery, some monuments and funerary art stand out more than others. Attentive visitors may notice numerous sculptures of dogs that seem to watch over their owner’s graves; a contrast to the fact that dogs, living or deceased, are not allowed onto the cemetery’s grounds. These types of sculpture are known as psychopomps whose primary function is to escort souls to the afterlife. Historically, dogs have symbolized guidance, protection, loyalty, and unconditional love, all important roles for a psychopomp.

Here, we will give a brief history of some of the dogs found in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Perkins Monument Dog

The Perkins Family Tomb, on Central Avenue at Mount Auburn Cemetery, is guarded by this marble dog. The monument commemorates Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764-1854), “the Merchant Prince” of the China trade. In 1843 Perkins visited the Italian studio of Horatio Greenough (1805-1852), considered America’s first professional sculptor and one of the first to receive a national commission, and commissioned him to carve Perkins’s Newfoundland dog in Florentine marble. The dog seems to have been installed at the family tomb at Mount Auburn a year later. As a young man Thomas Perkins was a slave trader in Haiti, a maritime fur trader who transported furs from the American Northwest for trade in China, and then a major smuggler of Turkish opium into China. Perkins invested in textiles and granite quarries. Among his many philanthropic works, he gave his Boston residence to the Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, which was renamed the Perkins School for the Blind in his honor. Today, however, we can contextualize the multiple layers of Perkins’s life story, including an examination of how he acquired his wealth. Perkins was originally interred at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston; he was removed to the family tomb at Mount Auburn in 1914.

Harnden English Mastiff

Further along Central Avenue, this English mastiff is sheltered from the elements by a Neoclassical monument. This marble watchdog remains in excellent condition, his gaze as vigilant as ever and the sharpness of his claws and loose skin folds still remarkably intact. William Frederick Harnden (1812-1845) was the founder of Harnden and Company, one of the first independent express shipping companies in the United States. Harnden died of consumption (tuberculosis) in January 1845 and was buried next to his 10-month-old daughter, Sarah, who had died three years prior. In 1866 the Express Companies of America erected this monument in Harnden’s memory, replacing his original, plainer marker. The corporation hired Boston sculptor Thomas A. Carew to carve the English mastiff as a symbol of fidelity and security on the journey into the afterlife.

Wingate Whippet

Located on Olive Path, this sculpture of a whippet is a small decorative element at the rear of the Wingate family plot. The dog lies in a crate-like enclosure, measuring 32″ wide x 16″ high x 18″ deep, which was originally made of glass and bronze and has since been replaced with plexiglass that has become somewhat opaque. The sculpture, which dates to 1866, includes a base inscribed “Their Favorite.” This diminutive whippet protects the graves of Abbott P. and William A. Wingate, Jr. (“Willie”), both of whom died in 1865 at ages 20 and 18, respectively (it is believed that they died in the Civil War). Sculptor Martin Milmore is best known for two prominent local memorials to the Civil War dead: the gigantic Sphinx (1873) facing the Bigelow Chapel at Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Boston Common (1877).

Richardson Dog

On Oak Avenue at Mount Auburn, the Richardson Dog serves as a psychopomp to William Taylor Richardson, Jr. (1846-1864), an infantryman in the Massachusetts 33rd Regiment during the Civil War. It is unclear in which battle Richardson died, but over the course of the war his regiment lost 104 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 77 enlisted men by disease. Young Richardson was was only 18 years old when he was laid to rest at Mount Auburn Cemetery. His parents commissioned Alexander McDonald, who operated a monument works on Mt. Auburn Street, to carve the dog for his grave.

Francis Calley Gray English Setter

Tucked away on Hemlock Path, you will find this mournful English Setter resting atop a granite slab. The memorial marks the tomb of Francis Calley Gray (1790-1856), who served as private secretary to John Quincy Adams and later became a philanthropist, legislator, art collector, and one of the earliest proprietors of the Mount Auburn Cemetery. His vast collection of early engravings and prints made him America’s first great print collector. In 1837 Gray visited Rome, where he met Joseph Gott (1786-1860), a sculptor who specialized in life-like animal and human sculptures; Gray soon commissioned Gott to carve an English Setter in marble. The sculpture was originally intended for placement at Mount Auburn in an unknown location. However, in 1849 Gray gave the sculpture to his friend and fellow art collector William Appleton. Following Gray’s death in December 1856, Appleton had the dog placed on Gray’s grave at Mount Auburn. The setter appears to be in grief, with its head resting on its front leg and eyes open.

Mary Prentiss Saunders Dog

On Larch Avenue in Mount Auburn Cemetery, the smallest of all the funerary psychopomps can be found in the Saunders Family Plot. The dog serves as a guide to little Mary Prentiss Saunders (1843-1849), who died at just 6 years old. Mary was the daughter of William Saunders and Mary Prentiss; she was their first child, born two years after they married. As a wedding gift, William’s father, a housewright, built the couple a stunning Greek Revival house on Massachusetts Avenue. The house was later moved to Prentiss Street and is now known as the Mary Prentiss Inn.

Torn Down Tuesday: Viscol Manufacturing Co., 200 First Street

Posted on June 23, 2020June 18, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Located at the intersection of Binney and First Streets in East Cambridge, a man named Adolph Sommer lived and died for his business. Adolph Sommer, born and educated as a chemist in Germany, later worked as a druggist in California, where he first studied and then taught at UC Berkeley. There he discovered the formula from which he afterwards made his principal product, Viscol. By about 1890, he removed to Cambridge, and opened a small wooden factory building in the rapidly developing industrial area of East Cambridge. The history of “Viscol” as a trademark began by Adolph Sommer in 1889, as “leather-grease”. Sommer was at the time a resident of California, and the product to which the mark was applied was a liquid preparation made principally from vegetable or animal oils and chloride or sulphur. There is evidence that this preparation was being advertised in California as early as 1891 for sale in cans as “Viscol dressing” for softening, waterproofing and preserving boots, shoes, harness, belting, etc.

Viscol Co. P1010883 — Viscol can, CHC Objects Collection.

Viscol Co. P1010877 — Viscol box and can, CHC Objects Collection.

Sommer was actively engaged in the operation and development of the Viscol business in Cambridge and during this period of over 40 years, the product was advertised nationwide under the “Viscol” mark in shoe and leather journals and in Montgomery Ward catalogs. Sales during the period were made in small cans to merchandising outlets for retail distribution, and in 5-gallon cans and 50-gallon drums to tanneries for use in processing leather. Sommer oversaw the expansion of the company which coincided with the need for more manufacturing space and employees. The complex consisted of three buildings along First Street.

1930 Atlas map showing extent of Viscol Mfy in blue.

Viscol_Co_001 — Undated flyer depicting multiple uses of Artgum, an artificial rubber developed by Viscol Company. Original located in CHC Ephemera Collection.

Viscol_Co_002 — Undated flyer depicting multiple uses of Artgum, an artificial rubber developed by Viscol Company. Original located in CHC Ephemera Collection.Enter a caption

In Cambridge, Adolph lived alone, had no social relations, worked an unusual number of hours everyday, never took a vacation nor allowed his employees to take any, permitted no conversation or cooperation among his employees, and even lived in the manufacturing plant. He was known as being industrious, alert, keen, strong willed and stubborn; yet, he was kind to his employees when they got into financial difficulties, and many worked for him for decades. In 1922, when seventy-one years old, Sommer married a widow of fifty-one, Emmeline Harnden, who had worked in the factory for more than twenty years. At the time of their marriage, Sommer was actively looking for someone to take over his business and generated a written contract with his new wife that upon his death, the company and all holdings would go to his legal heirs, which apart from his widow, were two children of a deceased sister in Germany.

First Street 200 — 200 First Street, built for Adolph Sommer and Viscol Manufacturing Co. Building constructed in 1904, razed in 1986. Photo taken 1970, CHC Survey Photo.

First Street 185 — 185 First Street, built for Adolph Sommer and Viscol Manufacturing Co. Building constructed in 1913, razed in 1986. Photo taken 1970, CHC Survey Photo.

On October 1933, 82-year-old Sommer and his plant superintendent, Hans Bloomberg, picked up over $1,000 from the Lechmere Bank on Cambridge Street before driving back to the factory to pay the workers. Upon arriving to the factory, five robbers with pistols trapped the car and demanded the money. One man pointed a gun at the face of Sommer, who was sitting in the driver seat of his vehicle. When he saw the pistol, 82-year-old Sommer is said to have swung the door open and lunged at the robbers gathering his pistol from his pocket. Upon lunging he was shot three times and died, but not before shooting one of the thieves, who got into a get-away car and fled over the Prison Point Bridge to Charlestown.

Article — Boston Daily Globe clipping from October 21, 1933 detailing crime scene.

Capture — Boston Daily Globe clipping from October 21, 1933 depicting Mr. Adolph Sommer.

There were few leads besides the witnesses, one of which identified the gunman to Cambridge Police as James Deshler. It was soon after unveiled to the public that Edward Galvin of 22 Lambert Street, was the witness who placed Deshler as the gunman. Within a week of the arrest, three men attacked Galvin in a parking lot, seemingly as retribution and were never identified. Two men were eventually imprisoned for the robbery and murder of Mr. Sommer, James Deshler and Marshall “Hickey” Bowles. After the death of Sommers, the company and properties were sold in 1936 to the Stamford Rubber Supply Company, a Connecticut corporation located at Stamford, Connecticut, which operated the business as one of its own departments until January 1937, later selling again. The complex was used for other industrial and storage uses until they were razed in the mid 1980s.

National Get Caught Reading Month – New Library Holdings

Posted on May 17, 2020August 17, 2020 by Brittany F.

Here at the CHC we are constantly updating our library holdings and our researcher resources. Since the beginning of last year, we’ve added 196 new entries to our database! We aim to accrue the most complete collection of resources on Cambridge and its history that we possibly can. Scroll down to learn about our latest and newest offerings. They may inspire you to Get Caught Reading this month. All of the books listed here were published in 2019.

1-overview — The front covers of some of the books we chose

Maria Baldwin’s worlds: A story of Black New England and the fight for racial justice by Kathleen Weiler

Written by a local Tuft’s professor, this nonfiction biography recounts the life of Maria Baldwin (1856-1922), an African American educator in Cambridge and Boston. After growing up in Cambridge, Baldwin had to seek out employment in Maryland before returning to Cambridge where she gained a position at the Agassiz school. In 1889 she was promoted to principal of the school, making her the first female African American principle in Massachusetts. Some of her other major contributions included her efforts within many civic and educational organizations in the Boston area, including the literary Omar Khayyam Circle, the Women’s Era Club, the Cantabrigia Club, and the Boston Literary and Historical Association– but those are just to name a few. Weiler’s book offers insight into the challenges Baldwin faced and how she was able to surmount racialized barriers and achieve significant feats in both her professional and personal life.

maps — Here are some of our favorite plates from *The Atlas:* Plate 13. Boston in 1800; Plate 17. Literary Boston, 1837-1891; Plate 27. Streetcar Suburbs, 1870-1900; Plate 32. Sports and Recreation, 1895-1903.

The atlas of Boston history edited by Nancy S. Seasholes

A pictorial and textual work, this book contains 57 spreads of Boston’s landscape throughout its history. Detailing the evolution of the terrain over time, this resource shows the trajectory of change in one convenient resource. Containing both this geographic topic as well as explanations of the visualized history, readers can gather a well-rounded overview of Boston’s history. However, this work is not just about the physical changes of the city over time. As stated on the book’s official page, it contains “a wide range of topics including Boston’s physical and economic development, changing demography, and social and cultural life.”

Splendid Epworth: How a chapel in Old Cambridge became a pillar of liberal New England methodism by Lane Lambert

Check this book out to learn about the history of Harvard Square’s Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church. The first on this subject matter, the book chronicles the church’s congregation from its creation in 1868 as the North Avenue Methodist Society as well as the built environment of the church’s location at 1555 Mass Ave. If you visit us to reference this book, you can read about notable members and pastors, including pastor Daniel C. Whitsett (active 1958-1963) and pastor Edward L. Mark (active 1964-1996). Lane Lambert offers a unique perspective as both the author and a church member of this book.

2-genealogy — *Genealogical extract of the record books of the Charles River Baptist Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts renamed in 1895 the Emmanuel Baptist Church*

Genealogical extract of the record books of the Charles River Baptist Church of Cambridge, Massachusetts renamed in 1895 the Emmanuel Baptist Church by Glenn Berry

This publication is a great source for anyone seeking to do local genealogical research! It covers the church’s baptisms from 1876 to 1955. Currently the Cambridgeport Baptist Church after it was purchased in 1982, this church was once located at 459 Putnam Ave.

The colonial records of Kings Chapel 1686-1776 edited by James B. Bell and James E. Mooney

We pulled the book blurb from the University of Virginia Press to give you an idea as to what this book is about:

“The story of the origins of the first Anglican congregation established in Boston and New England, Kings Chapel, is significantly shaped by the gradually emerging imperial policies of the government of Charles II during the late seventeenth century. It is a transatlantic account influenced largely by two forces, one in London, driven by the members of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and the other in Boston, driven by a handful of merchants with active and productive commercial ties with London and Bristol trading firms. Extending the Church of England to Puritan Boston after the revocation in 1684 of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s first charter and the creation of the province as a royal jurisdiction was received reluctantly by the town’s residents, who considered it a novel, abrupt, and unwanted political and ecclesiastical act. This was not merely the extension of a religious group from the Old World to the New, for the Church of England was granted great political and cultural authority through the laws of England’s unwritten constitution.”

Bonus! The book’s seller on Amazon does not deliver to the United States so this is your chance to read the book easily.

The arts and crafts houses of Massachusetts: A style rediscovered by Heli Meltsner

Do you like architecture and local buildings? Then you’ll love this new addition to our library. A great resource on this 20^th century aesthetics movement in our state, this book highlights local places you may have walked by without even realizing it. Additionally, as the book’s official site states, “it is also the first book to explore the use of this cutting-edge style in designing buildings for estate servants, transit workers, and renters—groups that historically lacked access to professionally designed homes.” Written by a local resident who has been the curator of the Cambridge Historical Society as well as a contributor to various planning and preservation efforts, this book is a fantastic read.

Sources consulted:

“The Arts & Crafts Houses of Massachusetts.” Bauhan Publishing. May 22, 2019. http://www.bauhanpublishing.com/the-arts-crafts-houses-of-massachusetts/

“The Atlas of Boston History.” The University of Chicago Press Books. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo39508817.html

“Harvard-Epworth Church releases book on church history.” Wicked Local. December 3, 2019. https://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/news/20191203/harvard-epworth-church-releases-book-on-church-history

“The Records of Kings Chapel, Boston.” The University of Virginia Press. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5425

University of Massachusetts Press. “Maria Baldwin’s Worlds.” University of Massachusetts Amherst. Accessed March 6, 2020. https://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/maria-baldwins-worlds

Torn Down Tuesday: Willard Phillips House and Barn, 58 Linnaean Street

Posted on November 19, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The Willard Phillips House formerly at 58 Linnaean Street was constructed in 1841 in the then fashionable Gothic Revival architectural style. Willard Phillips was born in 1784 in Bridgewater, MA and graduated Harvard University in 1810. After graduating, Phillips studied law and by 1826, was a member of the legislature and during this time, he was an editor of multiple law review journals which were distributed all over the country. By 1839, he was made judge of probate for Suffolk County and built his home shortly after in Cambridge. He retired from legal practice in 1845 to become the president of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he remained until 1865 when he retired.

Circa 1930 image of the Willard Phillips House (58 Linnaean Street) courtesy of HOLLIS Images.

After his death, the property remained in the Phillips family who rented the home to Professor John Trowbridge, who was the Director of the Jefferson Physical Laboratory at Harvard. By 1900, 58 Linnaean Street, land which extended from Linnaean Street to Shepard Street and all buildings thereon were conveyed to Radcliffe College, who also purchased the land of Dr. Bemis next door to develop what is known now as the Radcliffe Quad.

The Phillips House became known as the Trowbridge House, a dormitory for students at Radcliffe while the larger brick dormitories along Shepard Street were being constructed. As the Radcliffe Quad developed into the 1920s, open space became a challenge, and many wood-frame dwellings and outbuildings were demolished or moved. The Phillips House eventually was razed in 1951 for Holmes Hall, a wing of Moors Hall.

Detail of Phillips House and barn at rear, undated photo in CHC Archives.

The original Gothic style barn as part of the Phillips estate was moved in 1926 to the rear of 61 Garden Street and redesigned by Mary Almy, a Radcliffe Graduate and principal architect of the firm of Howe, Manning & Almy which was started in 1900 by Lois Lilley Howe. Radcliffe hired the firm to convert the former barn structure into a field house for athletics on the Radcliffe Quad.

Photograph of Phillips Estate barn at second location behind 61 Garden Street. Image part of MIT Special Collections. Circa 1926.

Location of former Phillips estate barn after renovation to Radcliffe Field House behind 61 Garden Street (Edmands House, dormitory). 1950s Sanborn Map.

The Field House was redesigned in the Colonial Revival style and was nearly indistinguishable from the former barn besides the bargeboards at the side gable of the roof which were retained to showcase the history of the structure.

1968 Photo of Radcliffe Field House taken by CHC.

Ca. 1930s view of Radcliffe Field House, courtesy of HOLLIS Images.

Plans and documents which are in the Howe, Manning & Almy Special Collection at the MIT Special Archives showcase the drawings and floor plans of the space even down to the large wooden beam at the mantle on the interior which reads “In Memory of Rosamond Claire Esty 1925”. Ms. Esty, 22, was a recent Radcliffe graduate who was swept from a ledge in Rockport by rogue waves in and despite her brothers attempts to save her, died in the surf.

1930s interior of Radcliffe Field House and carved wooden mantle reading “In Memory of Rosamond Claire Esty 1925”.

Photo of Radcliffe Field House proposed front elevation, original at MIT Libraries.

The Field House was a success and saw heavy use until the 1960s when the building became known by the College as a “necking hangout”. Radcliffe allowed its female students to study in the Field House with a male companion until midnight by requiring students to sign out a key held at nearby Holmes Hall; this made the Field House the only building at Radcliffe legally available to Radcliffe students and their dates every night. Articles explained that the key was often signed out under assumed names and would go missing and unauthorized duplicates later would proliferate through the Quad.

Radcliffe and Harvard Students posing at recently completed Radcliffe Field House, ca. 1930. Image courtesy of HOLLIS Images.

The Field House was razed by 1970 for the construction of the Currier House.

Torn Down Tuesday: The Shoe and Leather Exposition Building

Posted on September 24, 2019May 13, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

In 1907, shoe and leather interests in Boston and Cambridge, began to envision a trade exhibition building for the marketing and sale of goods made in the area. Led by Oran McCormick, the group canvassed the two cities, looking for prime real estate on which to construct a venue worthy of the world’s first Shoe and Leather Exposition. McCormick purchased land from property owners along the under-developed Charles River Road (now Memorial Drive). At the time of the sale, Cambridge restricted heights of buildings along the river. Fearing that the deal would fall through and the building and its revenue would be lost to Boston, the Board of Aldermen called a special meeting with the Common Council and removed the restriction, and permitted the exposition building for construction.

Memorial Dr 100_Construction — Shoe and Leather Expo Building during construction. CHC Archives photo from Chamber of Commerce.

Plans for the development — already in the works — were drawn by Edward T. P. Graham, a prominent local architect best known for his many Roman Catholic church designs in and around Cambridge. The white building was constructed of wood, concrete and steel, measured 500 feet long and was Classical Revival in the grandest sense, evoking memories of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Memorial Drive 100_Exterior1 — Shoe and Leather Expo Building, circa 1909. CHC Archives photo from Chamber of Commerce.

Memorial Drive 100_Exterior — Shoe and Leather Expo Building. CHC Archives photo from Chamber of Commerce.

The building featured five domes: a large central dome to represent America capped with an American flag, and four smaller ones to represent Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe with respective labeled flags. The main dome measured 125 feet from the ground floor. Under the large dome, a circular theater, an entirely new concept for exhibition buildings, with seating for upwards of 3,000 people on the upper tier anchored the two exhibition wings. A round bandstand on the ground floor was arranged for a large band, which performed every hour while the fair was open.

Memorial Drive 100_Interior dome_Cambridge Room CPL — 1909 photo of interior showing performance arena under central dome, courtesy of Cambridge Public Library-Cambridge Room.

Two interior corridors ran the length of the building and were lined with mahogany and glass display cases that were electrically lit to display exhibitor’s leather shoes and goods. Flanking the exhibits, 6’x14′ sample rooms showcased the finest products, and dealers staffed pop-up shops and fittings for patrons where they could be measured and order directly from the companies.

Memorial Drive 100_Interior booths_Cambridge Room CPL — 1909 photo of interior showing displays and sample rooms, courtesy of Cambridge Public Library-Cambridge Room.

On the ground floor at one end, a 10,000 square foot working exhibit served as a functioning shoe factory and was sponsored by the United Shoe Machinery Company, which educated visitors on every step in the manufacture of leather shoes from assembling of materials to the finishing shine.

Balconies on the building’s upper level overlooked the displays on the ground floor as well and housed displays for retailers’ exhibits which showed local and international dealers just what styles are in demand in other parts of the country, the displays were organized by state. A promenade on the roof of the building encircled the entirety of the structure and offered views of landmark buildings in Cambridge and Boston, as well as a front-row seat to the booming industrial development along the Charles River and nearby Kendall Square.

Memorial Dr 100_Roof dome detail — Shoe and Leather Expo Building central dome, before 1920. CHC Archives Photo from Chamber of Commerce.

The World’s First Shoe and Leather Exposition was held the entire month of July 1909 and an estimated 30,000 visitors attended the opening night. Attendance later dwindled due to the closing of the Harvard Bridge for repairs coupled with limited places to stay in Cambridge. By the end of the month, fair organizers were over $150,000 in debt. They failed to recruit other industries for trade shows and the building’s future was uncertain. The group, which had feared bankruptcy and demolition of the building were saved when Frederic Fisk, the man who initially owned the land, and his business parner William S. Youngman purchased the complex for redevelopment.

Memorial Drive 100_Interior dome group posing_Cambridge Room CPL — Circa 1910 photo of interior, courtesy of Cambridge Public Library-Cambridge Room.

Half of the building was leased to the J. Frank Cutter Automobile Company. Mr. Cutter had been in the carriage and automobile business for about 25 years. His company was one of the most active builders of limousines and landaulet car bodies as well as automobile tops and slip covers. The other half of the building was occupied by the Velie Motor Vehicle Co.’s Boston factory branch.

Memorial Dr 100_Interior stairs — Shoe and Leather Expo Building interior, circa 1948. CHC Archives Photo from Chamber of Commerce.

Memorial Dr 100_Under dome — Shoe and Leather Expo Building, circa 1948. CHC Archives Photo from Chamber of Commerce.

Memorial Dr 100_East Elevation — Shoe and Leather Expo Building. CHC Archives Photo from Chamber of Commerce.

The building, with its large central dome, suffered from deferred maintenance and seemed small and inadequate compared to the Great Dome at MIT’s new campus next door. The Shoe and Leather exposition building was demolished in phases beginning in the 1920s before the site was completely cleared in 1948 for the Eastgate Apartments at 100 Memorial Drive.

Memorial Drive 100_Fire Damage_1940s (2) — Shoe and Leather Expo Building, circa 1948 photo. CHC Archives Photo from Chamber of Commerce.

1916 Sanborn Map of 100 Memorial Dr.

1947 Aerial view of 100 Memorial Dr.

Historic Building Highlight: St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, 239 Harvard Street

Posted on July 19, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Located at 239 Harvard Street in The Port neighborhood, the St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church (originally the Harvard Street Methodist Episcopal Church) has stood since before the American Civil War and has been a neighborhood landmark ever since.

239 Harvard Street, photo taken 07-2019.

Its story began when group of Methodists first congregated in 1835 with the hopes of gathering funds for their own place of worship. In 1843, a wooden structure was dedicated on the present site. The building was enlarged in 1851, only to be destroyed by fire in 1857. A second church was then built by Boston architect Harvey Graves. Suffering the same fate as the first, the wooden church burned to the ground three years later. Undeterred and learning their lesson, the church then hired Graves again to design a “fire-proof brick structure”. The cornerstone was laid in 1861 and the building was dedicated in 1862, this was the last church built in Cambridge before the Civil War.

Harvard St 239_1873 Hopkins — 1873 Atlas map showing church location.

Harvard St 239_Stereograph with Steeple — Circa 1870s lantern-slide showing original church design.

The handsome brick church was built with the symmetrical, volumetric treatment of a Greek temple with the architectural details of Romanesque and Gothic treatments. The front walls project outward at the middle to form an entrance tower, which is divided by brick string courses into a deeply recessed entrance. Above, the church had a massive bell-tower with large clocks on all four sides. The tower was capped with a tasteful dome standing approximately 130 feet above the street.

Side view postcard image. Postcard part of CHC Postcard Collection.

Colorized postcard image. Postcard part of CHC Postcard Collection.

By 1910, the tower was turning heads not for its beauty, but as it would sway back and forth with the wind, all above nearby playgrounds and pedestrians below. In 1914, the trustees of the church decided that the best thing to do would be to take the steeple down. The removal of the steeple necessitated the removal of the old clock, that for so many years kept the people in that section of the city posted on the time of day, as it was the only public clock within sight of homes in that vicinity. The tower that for just over 50 years and had rung out notes of joy on holidays such as Christmas and the Fourth of July and on other days, slow and solemn tones as with the death of Lincoln, was demolished.

Harvard St 239_1970 — 1970 photo of church taken as part of CHC Architectural Survey.

In 1941, the Harvard Street Methodist Church merged with Epworth Methodist, forming the Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church, which is located at 1555 Mass. Ave. That same year, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, formerly located at 211 Columbia Street, moved in. According to the “Historical Sketch of St. Bartholomew’s Protestant Episcopal Church of Cambridge”, prepared for the WPA Survey of State and Local Historical Records in 1936.

[The Church] “organized by the St. Andrew’s Association, an original group of seventeen Negroes who resented the segregation of Negro children in the Sunday School classes at St. Peter’s Church. Under the leadership of Mr. John S. Brown, the association held weekly meetings in the homes of various members for three months prior to the organization of the church. After the matter of segregation had been brought to the attention of Bishop Lawrence (William), who did not favor a separate church for negroes, he suggested that Mr. Brown and his people share worship with a small congregation of white people who were then worshipping at St. Bartholomew’s on Columbia Street. A group of forty negro worshippers marched into the church one Sunday morning, coming back every week with more and more members. The Bishop then advised turning the church over to the negro congregation with a white rector as a pastor. The members informed the Bishop that they desired a leader of their own race to represent them. In 1908, Rev. George Alexander McGuire, a native of Antigua, became the first settled pastor of the congregation”.

Harvard St 239_Postcard Interior Chancel005

The church is still home to St. Bartholomew’s and it is an active congregation.

Sources:

Cambridge Chronicle Archives.

Historical Sketch of St. Bartholomew’s Protestant Episcopal Church of Cambridge

Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge, Volume 3: Cambridgeport, 1971.

Modern Monday: Pusey Library at Harvard University

Posted on June 10, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Exterior image_Architectural Record_09-1976_Edward Jacoby Photographer — 1976 image included in Architectural Record 09-1976. Edward Jacoby photographer.

Pusey Library Current_Full view steps_HOLLIS — Pusey Library as seen from Widener Library steps.

The Pusey Library in Harvard Yard was conceived from a 1960 report by Harvard, which outlined the needs for future expansion and growth for the university. The potential for expansion of facilities within Harvard Yard was surveyed between 1968 and 1970 by Hugh Stubbins, who examined the 22-acre area for circulation and the possibility for additional structures. Three years later, Stubbins was commissioned to design a new library in Harvard Yard.

Harvard University: An Inventory for Planning, 1960. Copy in CHC Library.

Pusey Library Current_Full view_HOLLIS — Pusey Library viewed from Harvard Yard.

The new library was to be named after Nathan Pusey, president of Harvard University from 1953-1971. President Pusey oversaw one of the largest building programs in Harvard’s history (second only to President Lowell). In 1957, Pusey announced the start of a program for Harvard College, a $82.5 million effort that raised $20 million more and resulted in three additions to the undergraduate House system: Quincy House (1959), Leverett Towers (1960), and Mather House (1970). During the 1960s, the Program for Harvard Medicine raised $58 million. In April 1965, the Harvard endowment exceeded $1 billion for the first time. Pusey left Harvard in June 1971 to become the second president of New York’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Nathan Pusey_1964 portrait, HOLLIS.jpg — 1964 portrait of President Pusey. Courtesy of Radcliffe College Archives.

Hugh Stubbins believed that an above-ground library would be too constricted in the Yard and he began plans for a subterranean structure. From the beginning, the proposed library was envisioned as an interconnecting link among three existing libraries – Widener, Houghton and Lamont, all within close proximity. Its roof serves as a link as well, with paths and landscaping reinforcing the existing circulation network in the yard. From the exterior, the Pusey Library is a slanting grass-covered embankment only visible from some areas in Harvard Yard. Its roof is a stone-rimmed platform of earth containing a lawn, trees and shrubs.

Floor plate plan of Pusey Library_Arch Record 09-1976 — Plan of Pusey Library.

First Floorplan of Pusey Library_Arch Record 09-1976 — Site plan and level one plan of Pusey Library.

The main entrance to the library is built into the slope of the hill with a broad band of brick paving at the ground level which forms a moat between the berm and the window wall. The moat allows for light to reach the interior on the perimeter walls without completely disrupting the landscape. Alexander Calder’s “The Onion” sculpture marks the main entry to the library.

Pusey Library Current_Entrance art1_HOLLIS — Current view of “The Onion” by Alexander Calder.

Exterior artwork_Architectural Record_09-1976_Edward Jacoby Photographer — 1976 image included in Architectural Record 09-1976. Edward Jacoby photographer.

Construction of Pusey Library. Courtesy of Radcliffe Archives.

At the center, a two-story light well between Houghton and Lamont is apparent seemingly to only those who look for it. Sunk down two floors into the ground, the well is home to a Japanese Maple tree, which just peaks out from its subterranean home providing a clear statement of presence for the library.

Pusey Library Current_courtyard and tree_HOLLIS — Interior sunken courtyard with large maple tree.

Stubbins even designed the interior spaces, using a very 70’s design aesthetic. Nylon carpeting was used throughout except in bookstack areas. Most of the furniture was made of oak, as was the trim work. Walls were covered with a textured vinyl fabric with a flat off-white, non-reflective surface to reduce sound reverberation and create a sense of warmth in the otherwise bunker-like building. The interior spaces have since been modernized to meet current needs for the library.

Interior image1_Architectural Record_09-1976 — Interior design by Hugh Stubbins’ office. Photographed by Edward Jacoby, 1976.

Pusey Library Current_interior hall_Hollis
While underground construction is not needed or desirable in every location, it was brilliantly executed at the Pusey Library. Former Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission and historian, Bainbridge Bunting has said, “No other building has added so much to Harvard Yard yet disturbed its integrity so little”. We could not agree more!

Sources:

Architectural Record. September 1976, pages 97-102.

HOLLIS Images http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvsite32606/catalog

Nathan Marsh Pusey, Biography. Harvard University. https://www.harvard.edu/about-harvard/harvard-glance/history-presidency/nathan-marsh-pusey

Radcliffe Archives, Pusey Hall under construction. Images.

Modern Monday and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Joyce Chen’s Restaurant, 390 Rindge Avenue

Posted on May 20, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Joyce Chen (1917-1994) was born on September 12, 1917 in Beijing, China. Born into a wealthy family, she discovered her passion for cooking at a very early age. Her father, a railroad administrator and city executive, hired a family chef that cooked all of their meals. Chen learned about Chinese cuisine simply by watching their chef and other family members cook in their home kitchen. During the Chinese Communist Revolution, Chen and her family moved to the United States. Along with her husband Thomas Chen and their two children Henry and Helen, the family left Shanghai, China in 1949 and moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

While living near Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she frequently met Chinese students that missed the food they’d grown up with. Chen’s children attended Buckingham School and she would often cook food to be served at school events. Her meals quickly became popular among college students and the families at the Buckingham School. This inspired Chen to open her first restaurant in 1958, called “Joyce Chen Restaurant.” At this restaurant, she served both Chinese and American dishes to encourage customers to try new foods. She often served “buffet-style” meals, to allow customers to try samples of everything. She created a menu with both Chinese and English translations of her food and numbered the menu items for easier communication in her restaurants. This made it easier for customers who spoke different languages to order at her restaurant.

joyce chen 2 — Joyce Chen, image courtesy of Joycechenfoods.com

Concord Ave 617_Joyce Chen foods_ca.1958.jpg — Joyce Chen’s first restaurant at 617 Concord Avenue in Cambridge. Courtesy of Joycechenfoods.com

In 1967, Chen opened her second restaurant called “The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place.” That same year, Chen starred in Joyce Chen Cooks, her own cooking show on PBS that aired worldwide. This twenty-six-episode broadcast was filmed in the same studio as famous chef Julia Child’s show, and the two became good friends. Her business empire expanded, and two larger restaurants were built in the Boston area with an architecturally unique restaurant at 390 Rindge Avenue.

Rindge Ave 390_Joyce Chens Survey Photo004 — Circa 1974 image of Joyce Chen’s Restaurant. Photo from CHC Collections.

The restaurant, believed to have been designed by Allan Ahaknian, was built in 1974 and employed architecture not typical for Cambridge. Partially hidden behind a tall wooden fence to screen noise from the heavily trafficked Rindge Avenue, the structure featured minimal fenestration on the sides but employed large skylights to flood the interior with natural light. The Contemporary/Shed style restaurant was a common stomping ground for residents of Cambridge and beyond. The restaurant was purchased by Just-A-Start and was converted to a child-care facility in 1999. The remainder of the lot was filled with townhomes for moderate-income, first-time homebuyers. In 2005, the structure was demolished for eight additional units of affordable condominium units. As it was not yet 50+ years old, it did not qualify for protection under the Demolition Delay Ordinance.

Rindge Ave 390_Joyce Chens Color Slide003 — Circa 1984 image of Joyce Chen’s Restaurant at 390 Rindge Avenue. Image from CHC Collections.

1978 Aerial Image of 390 Rindge Ave.

2018 Aerial image of 390 Rindge Ave. Note: the building has been demolished and replaced with housing.

While her restaurants are all now closed, the impressions of Joyce Chen’s legacy can be seen in almost every Chinese-American restaurant in the country today and in the enduring popularity of “Peking ravioli.” Also, her cookbooks and branded cooking utensils can be found in kitchens all over the world.

joyce chen cookbook.jpg

Images and some information on Joyce Chen courtesy of joycechenfoods.com

Maud Morgan: Artist, Teacher, Friend

Posted on April 22, 2019May 13, 2020 by Meta Partenheimer

Much of the text from this post was provided by the Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project

Morgan_MFA — “Maude Morgan” photographed by Jamie Cope (1993). Gift of Jamie Cope to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in honor of Maud Morgan

Born in New York City, Maud Cabot graduated from Barnard College in 1926 and traveled to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. She did not begin to paint until she was twenty-four, when she met her future husband, the artist Pat Morgan, in the late 1920s in Paris. In 1929, the couple moved back to New York, where she studied at the Arts Student League.

Following her studies, Morgan worked with Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann and began to exhibit at galleries in New York. In 1938, Morgan had a successful show at the Julian Levy Gallery, known as a haven for Surrealist art as well as experimental film and photography. During the show’s run, paintings by Morgan were sold to the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

MM_whitney — “The Old Mill” by Maud Morgan, ca. 1930-1940. Whitney Museum of American Art, 42.33

In 1940 she and her husband moved to Andover, Mass, where he taught art at Phillips Academy, and she began to teach at the nearby girls’ boarding school, Abbot Academy. The couple had two children. In 1957, Morgan separated from her husband and moved to Boston. A few years later she moved to Cambridge, where she lived and painted for the rest of her life.

CambChron2April1964 — Clipping from the *Cambridge Chronicle*, 2 April 1964, depicting Maud Morgan and her winning painting “Candelabra” from the 20th Annual Spring Exhibition of the Cambridge Arts Association

Morgan continued to exhibit in New York, primarily at the Betty Parsons Gallery, where she was included in joint exhibitions with Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and other notable contemporary artists. Morgan had two retrospective exhibitions, 1967-1968 at the Fitchburg (Massachusetts) Art Museum, and 1977 at the Addison Gallery of American Art.

NautiqueSSX — “Nautique SSX” by Maud Cabot Morgan, 1974. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, gift of Victoria M. Benedict, 1977.168. This screenprint was exhibited in Maud Morgan: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1927-1977, Addison Gallery of American Art

The addition of an artist’s studio at her 3 Howland Street residence was designed by Yugoslav-American architect Alexander Cvijanovic in 1962.

Howland St 3_plan1

Howland St 3_plan2 — Proposed Addition to the Residence of Mrs. Patrick Morgan, 3 Howland Str Cambridge, Mass. Alexander Cvijanovic, Designer. June 12, 1962

Cvijanovic was a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and later became a partner in The Architects Collaborative (TAC) as well as a close associate of Walter Gropius. The studio addition was demolished in 2004.

Howland St 3_survey_img — The artist’s studio at 3 Howland Street in 1965

Howland St 3 Maud Morgan's studio (demolished by new owner) Fred Meyer photo — The artist’s studio at 3 Howland Street ca. 2004

Cvijanovic’s wife, Maria, remembers that her husband very much enjoyed working on the project, after which the couple and Morgan became life-long friends. Following the commission of her studio, Morgan gifted the couple one of her paintings–a piece that still hangs in their home today.

Alex_C — Alexander Cvijanovic in his apartment in front of the two pictures of the Amberg “glass cathedral.” This building was the last planned together by Walter Gropius and Cvijanovic, his partner. Photo: Peter Geiger (*Mittelbayerische*, 2016)

In 1970, after her divorce was final, Morgan spent six months in Africa. She returned to Cambridge and lectured on art at Harvard and MIT and taught at Lesley College’s Institute for the Arts and Human Development.

SS35559_35559_38038503 — “Green Hazard” by Maud Morgan (ca. late twentieth century). Lawrence University Wriston Art Center Galleries Collections

According to Morgan’s Getty record, the artist was known as “Boston’s modernist doyenne,” leaving a legacy spanning 80 years worth of skilled and complex works “from abstracts to still lifes and self-portraits as well as collages.”‘

light_img — Still from “Light Coming Through” (1980). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejtD-8r94Ls

In 1980 a film about Morgan’s art, “Light Coming Through,” by Nancy V. Raine (Producer/Co-Director) and Richard Leacock (Co-Director/Cinematographer) was released. The film premiered on October 21 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and was later shown at MoMA in New York and the Place Pompidou in Paris.

AAA-AAA_mcinrobe — Maud Cabot Morgan, ca. 1950 / unidentified photographer. Robert G. McIntyre papers, 1903-1957. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

In her eighties and nineties, she continued painting, displaying continuing creativity. She received an Honor Award in 1987 from the Women’s Caucus for Art. Since 1993 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which holds a number of her significant paintings, has awarded the Maud Morgan prize yearly to a mid-career woman artist from Massachusetts.

AAA-AAA_ceelrobe_19691 — Maud Morgan with self portrait, ca. 1990 / unidentified photographer. Robert and Jonatha Ceely papers regarding Maud Morgan, 1976-2000. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

In 1995, at the age of ninety-two, she published an autobiography, Maud’s Journey: A Life From Art. She died four years later in Cambridge and was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery. An art museum and gallery, Maud Morgan Arts, has been constructed in her honor.

MM_VAC — Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center, located behind the Agassiz Baldwin Community Center at 20 Sacramento Street. Photograph © 2010, John Horner.

Sources:

Maud (Cabot) Morgan – Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project
Die Spurensuche führte bis nach Boston
Union List of Artist’s Names – Maud Morgan

Modern Monday: Harvard Science Center

Posted on April 8, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

The Harvard Undergraduate Science Center at 1 Oxford Street, is a pre-cast concrete behemoth designed by Josep Lluís Sert (1902-1983) the Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design at the time.

Science Center_2019 — Staff photo of Harvard Science Center (1 Oxford Street) April 2019.

Designed in 1970 and completed just two years later, the Brutalist structure integrates its siting along the three major streets in which it is framed: Kirkland, Oxford and Cambridge Streets and is a visual link between Harvard Yard and the North Yard. The design terraces upward from the pedestrian mall overpass at Cambridge Street to limit the massing and shifts the bulk of the structure back (north) with just a more pedestrian-scaled section fronting the mall. A central spine runs down the building which visually serves as an upwards staircase and terminates at a nine-story tower. Science Center Model_Radcliffe Archives_1970 Science Center Model aerial_Radcliffe Archives_1970

Science Center under construction_Harvard Archives 1971
Approximately two-fifths of the cost of the $25 Million building centered around the two un-adorned concrete towers on the western and eastern walls of the Science Center. The non-descript boxes are water-cooling towers intended to service not only the Center itself, but all buildings in the North Yard. The towers are connected by a massive pump room in the basement. The tarantula-like steel girders seemingly creep over the lecture hall area and serve to support the roof of the auditorium.

Science Center exterior_Radcliffe Archives_1970s

Science Center aerial_Radcliffe Archives_1973

Science Center Interior 1st floor_Radcliffe Archives_1973

Science Center Interior 1st floor_Harvard Archives_2011

It is believed that Sert took inspiration for the design from his former mentor, Le Corbusier, who designed the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard just ten years prior. The Science Center was influenced by an unbuilt project, The Palace of the Soviets, designed for Russia by Le Corbusier in 1931 and worked on by Sert as a young architect. The current Science Center borrows the steel girder and cable vocabulary from the unbuilt Palace of the Soviets along with the use of pre-cast concrete panels to somewhat pay homage to his mentor. Sert loved the use of concrete as an “honest and muscular material that could be molded into any shape” and liked to set splashes of bright color against its textured grey – “like a parade of elephants and parrots”.

LeCorbusier’s Model of the Palace of the Soviets (unbuilt)

Aerial of the Palace of the Soviets (unbuilt)

Harvard later outgrew the Science Center and hired firm Leers-Weinzapfel Associates Architects in 2004 to expand the science village. Three vertical additions of minimal steel-framed glass volumes contrast in materiality from the concrete panel main structure yet echo elements of the initial design. The verticality of the glass panes creates a visual rhythm with the vertical grooves in the older precast concrete panels. At the interior, splashes of color and light flood the spaces and the newly dedicated museum space is visually connected to a light-filled terrace.

Rendering of completed additions by LWA Architects.

Completed additions by LWA Architects.

Interior courtyard with new addition by LWA Architects.