Housing - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

Real Estate Revelations | Introduction

Posted on October 20, 2022October 17, 2022 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

“My previous experience in Cambridge is that it is somewhat like Egypt, in the way that it is subject to various pests, particularly rats. These rats of course, cause a great deal of damage in the house, and the only way to get rid of them is to hire a rat exterminator; if this becomes necessary, through no fault of our own, I expect to deduct the cost of this sort of thing from the rent…”

That was written in 1919, in reference to #225 Brattle St. This account gives a slightly humorous sense of the many demands and expectations of those looking for housing in Cambridge.

Exterior of 225 Brattle St as it appeared in The American Architect, vol. 105, no. 2006 (June 3, 1914)

This post will serve as an introduction to a new series on the many aspects of late 19^th and early 20^th century Cambridge life revealed in the correspondence of William R. Ellis (1846-1903), real estate broker—expectations being one of them. Ellis founded his real estate firm in 1888. He dealt in sales, rentals, mortgages, and insurance. As you see below, he was also a Justice of the Peace.

Dealing primarily with properties in “Old Cambridge” west of Central Square, Ellis’s offices were always in the Harvard Square area: 910 Main Street, (the building that now houses the Hong Kong Restaurant at 1236 Mass. Ave), 440 Harvard Street, and, by 1893, the “Lyceum Building” (demolished in 1924, now the location of the Harvard Coop.) He also kept an office in Boston.

By 1890, Ellis had added “Auctioneer and Notary Public” to his resume. Note that he also maintained a registry of “Student’s Rooms and Boarding Places”:

In 1893, fellow realtor Robert J. Melledge (1855-1917) joined the firm, now called “Ellis & Melledge.” The firm dropped “Mortgages” from their advertising to focus on real estate and Insurance.

*Cambridge Chronicle* September 23, 1893

Above: Exterior of Lyceum Hall in Harvard Square (March 22, 1907). Boston Elevated Railway Collection. Below: detail of Robert J. Melledge and Benjamin P. Ellis advertisements in upper windows.

After the deaths of principals Ellis and Melledge, the firm went through several name changes as its management was taken over by the sons of both men in conjunction with other partners. But the name “Ellis” was always part of the company’s name. Under each of these iterations, the firm was active in Cambridge for over 100 years. In 1994, the Cambridge Historical Commission received a collection of the firm’s business correspondence covering the years primarily between 1893-1936. The collection provides extraordinary insight into the development of Cambridge, and the changing social, cultural, and economic forces at work in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Here’s a portion of another letter from a prospective renter (June 8, 1907):

“Allow me to ask if you have a small house for Sale at a Bargain cheaply on a hill even if it is out aways. I own a large library of about 2000 books & I must move them this Summer. …I wish to rent a small place that I buy & put all my Books in the attic, or one small Room…. I can pay down $250.00 or so & may be $490.00 to $500.00 & the Balance in payments. I own a farm in Oklahoma & whenever my share of Rent falls due I can pay that on my house – if I can get something for $1000 or $1200 – I don’t want anything where negroes live…I prefer Cambridge on account of Harvard University…”

Apart from the eccentricity of the request, this letter also reveals one aspect of the prejudices all too common during this era. Intolerances abounded against othered groups such as Jews, Italians, Catholics, and large families. We’ll revisit such biases in a later post.

Other topics revealed in the correspondence include: expectations for renting houses fully furnished, often counting china, linens and a stable; owners stipulations about to whom they will rent; rental unit complaints (“the tank in the Water Closet has bursted and we are without water…”); the effects of WWI on housing and the post war recession; housing arrangements for Harvard students (boarding houses, tea rooms); health concerns (renting a unit after an occupant suffered from scarlet fever); and the cost of insuring pigeons or Cadillacs. The list goes on!

Let’s close this edition of Real Estate Revelations with a reassuring excerpt from a letter written in 1910 by Harvard physics professor Harry W. Morse. Professor Morse worked at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory, and planned to rent property at #42 Church Street, where he expected to do work in “…experimental electro-chemistry. There will be no work on a large scale and no explosives will be used nor will our stock of chemicals be any more dangerous than that of a drug store…” Whew! Quelle relief.

30-42 Church Street (demolished ca. 1927) was originally built as a stable and was later used as a gymnasium. Photo: detail of 1921 Harvard Square aerial with 32-40 Church St circled. U.S. Army Air Service photo, Harvard University Archives.

Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox

Historic Building Highlight: 3 Bigelow Street

Posted on October 30, 2019May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Today we are highlighting the building at 3 Bigelow Street, originally 5 Bigelow, located opposite Cambridge City Hall (and our next door neighbor here at the CHC).

3 Bigelow Street today. Credit: CHC images.

Built in 1869 for William B. Craft, a commission merchant in Boston, 3 Bigelow was one of the first homes built on Bigelow Street, formerly Beacon, which was laid out the previous year. The three-story mansard was an early example of the pavilion style, and the wood exterior was rusticated to imitate ashlar (finely dressed stone) masonry. Later remodeling of the porch would significantly alter the coherence of the facade.

In 1877, Craft sold the house to D.U. Chamberlin, who in turn sold it to Judge Henry J. Wells of Arlington, later a Massachusetts Representative and Senator. Wells and his family lived at 5 Bigelow until 1913. Wells’ daughter, Henrietta Wells Livermore, helped to lead a revitalized suffrage movement in the State of New York in 1910, and founded the Women’s National Republican Club in 1921.

Henrietta Wells Livermore. Credit: Courtesy of and Copyright Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, ggbain.14915.

In 1929, 5 Bigelow resident Dr. Eugene McCarthy petitioned the City to designate his entire house as part of a business zone, in order for him to lease it to a funeral home. Four neighbors objected to this, stating that “Bigelow Street is already used as a garage by nearly all of city hall,” and that the funeral home business would only make traffic worse. (Cambridge Chronicle, 4/12/1929) McCarthy’s lawyer argued that the “quiet and dignity” of a properly run funeral home would benefit the neighborhood, and assured neighbors that no embalming would be done in the building.

Partial view of 5 Bigelow, right, opposite City Hall. Taken from Mass Ave. Credit: CHC images.

Later that year, Andrews Funeral Home opened at 5 Bigelow Street. The owner, Joseph G. Andrews, also lived at the house with his family. In 1930, Andrews died suddenly, and his son Paul Andrews took over the business. The Cambridge Chronicle wrote of Andrews: “His equipment, modern home, the dignity and beauty of his services given to those who are bereaved, have given him an enviable place in the undertaking business.” (2/6/1936)

Andrews Funeral Home advertisement, Cambridge Chronicle, 2/6/1936

Aerial view of Bigelow and Mass Ave, July 25, 1946. 5 Bigelow is directly opposite City Hall, behind the empty plot following the demolition of 823 Mass Ave in 1944 (Brusch Medical Center would be built there in 1950). Credit: Cambridge Photo Morgue, Digital Commonwealth scan.

By the 1950s, 5 Bigelow had been converted into the Bigelow Nursing Home, and in 1965, Dr. Charles Brusch (of Brusch Medical Center next door at 831 Mass Ave) filed a petition to turn the building into seven apartment units. In the 1980s, the building was owned by the Maryknoll Fathers/Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, which also owned 831 Mass Ave.

5 (later 3) Bigelow Street, circa 1970. Credit: CHC survey files.

In 1987, the City of Cambridge purchased 5 Bigelow and, through an arrangement with the YWCA, opened Bigelow House, a short-term emergency shelter and transitional housing for families and young adults. The building became 3 Bigelow either shortly before or during this time, and the office building next door, built in 1940, became 5 Bigelow.

In 2017, after it was determined that 3 Bigelow would need extensive renovations, the family shelter moved, and today 3 Bigelow remains unoccupied.

Sources:

Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge, Volume 2: Mid Cambridge, 1971.

Cambridge Chronicle, Cambridge Public Library’s Historic Cambridge Newspaper Collection.

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.

Modern Monday: Esplanade Condominiums

Posted on December 17, 2018May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

41300_Esplanade_Condos — The Esplanade from the Charles River. Courtesy of Safdie Architects.

#ModernMonday is featuring the Esplanade Condominiums (1989) at 75-83 Cambridge Parkway in East Cambridge. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie with Safdie Architects, the building could be classified as “structuralism” with its cubist features and grid-like design. The building was the final structure completed in “The Front” which is bounded by Cambridge Parkway and Edwin Land Boulevard.

41300_Esplanade_Condos Entrance night — Edwin Land Boulevard entrance. Courtesy of Safdie Architects.

41300_Esplanade_Condos Entrance — Edwin Land Boulevard façade. Courtesy of Safdie Architects.

The building, which is comprised of 206 units, had to comply with strict urban design guidelines laid out as part of the East Cambridge Urban Design Plan. This plan limited height, required brick as the main material for construction, and required building on the street edge. Given the high water table, the parking for the structure is above-grade, and the design minimizes the impact of the parking base by encasing the riverfront (east) elevation with housing units and a community garden on the parking roof at the fourth floor.

41300_Esplanade exterior — Cambridge Parkway façade, facing north. Courtesy of Safdie Architects.

The structure takes cues from Safdie’s 1967 project, Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada with the repetition of cube projections with terraces and use of public spaces incorporated into the building’s design. In the real estate sales brochure for the building, the building’s form was said to have been inspired by the homes on the cliffs of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Upon its completion, The Esplanade building was known to have the highest value units in the city. The design, coupled with the sweeping views of the river and Boston skyline created a huge draw for investors and homeowners alike.

Thanks to Safdie Architects for the original photographs and floor plans.

The Ellis & Andrews Real Estate Collection

Posted on April 24, 2017May 14, 2020 by cambridgehistoricalcommission

For the past several weeks, our Spring 2017 Simmons archives intern, Chun Yu Tsui, has been working on re-processing the Ellis & Andrews real estate collection. This collection was donated to the CHC in 1994 by Helen Moulton, owner and president of the Ellis & Andrews real estate firm from 1979-1994.

As part of the re-processing project, Chun Yu has reorganized the first two boxes from the collection; mainly, changing a box of real estate correspondence from chronological order to alphabetical order. Since so many of the letters received by Ellis & Melledge (the original company name) mentioned specific streets and addresses for sale, we thought reorganizing the correspondence alphabetically would be much easier for researchers.

In addition to finding out about the history of the oldest real estate firm in Cambridge, researchers might now be interested in finding information on the history of their home or building lots. The reorganization of the real estate correspondence will now allow researchers to search for their street or address by name.

Below, read about the collection and Chun Yu’s experience reprocessing a huge box of correspondence from 1893-1896.

Background on Ellis & Andrews*

Established in 1888, the firm of Ellis & Andrews was Cambridge’s oldest real estate company. First located at 910 Main Street (now Massachusetts Ave.) in Quincy Square, it was founded by William Rogers Ellis as the Ellis Real Estate & Insurance Company. In 1893, Cambridge native Robert Melledge joined the firm, which was renamed Ellis & Melledge, it moved to the Lyceum Building (now the Harvard Cooperative Society). In 1903 William Ellis died and Melledge extended partnership to Ellis’s son, Benjamin Pierce Ellis. Two years later Benjamin left the company to work independently, and in 1913 Melledge moved his firm to its present location in the Brattle Building at 4 Brattle Street, Cambridge. In 1917 Robert Melledge died and Benjamin Ellis returned to succeed his father. In 1920 he joined Cambridge real estate veteran Edward A. Andrews in business and the firm became Ellis & Andrews. Seven years later Edward Bowditch joined the company as an agent; by 1928 he was a co-owner. Edward Andrews died in 1936, and the firm was subsequently renamed Ellis & Bowditch. His son, Dwight Andrews, continued to work as an agent until he was called to duty in World War II. After the war, Dwight Andrews returned and the firm was again called Ellis & Andrews. In 1955, Andrews became sole owner; in 1961 John Norris joined as a partner; and in 1979 Helen Moulton bought the agency and became the president. The agency lost its independent status when it merged with another firm in 1994.

ellisblog1 — This is an example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from a Cambridge resident, Mrs. Charles Goodhue. In the letter, Mrs. Goodhue writes, “I want a house with 8 or 9 sleeping rooms – including servant’s room.”

The Collection*

The Ellis & Andrews Collection contains both business and personal correspondence from c. 1889 to 1986, with the bulk of the material from 1890-1935. These materials are organized in several individual archival boxes, which are then stored in five larger boxes. The collection contains various forms of printed material, including correspondence (business and personal); interviews from local newspapers; real estate advertisements; sales ledgers; a daybook (business transactions); postcards; invoices; and notes on a history of the Ellis-Andrews Insurance Agency.

The files of a personal nature contain correspondence between Edward and Elizabeth Andrews, and information on the estate of Edward Andrews. Biographical information (including obituaries) can be found on William Rogers Ellis, Benjiman P. Ellis, Robert J. Melledge, and Edward A. Andrews. There are also two files on Dwight Andrews which contain a variety of materials, but most of the information is from the 1980s.

ellisblog2 — This is an example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from a Cambridge resident. The resident writes, “I wouldn’t advise being too stiff on prices for rooms. Don’t refuse a reasonable offer from good man.”

ellisblog5 — This example of correspondence to Ellis & Melledge from W.A. Mason & Son shows the scenario of three surveyors measuring distances for engineering work, indicating how the city of Cambridge was developed in the late 19^th century.

Reorganizing the Collection

The “Scope and Content” note in the original finding aid created by Matthew Hall in April 1995, and reformatted by Megan Schwenke in April 2012, only describes one of the small document boxes located in one of the collection’s five huge white storage boxes. Therefore, apart from double-checking the box that was already processed, five weeks ago I as an intern started sorting through another box of documentation and correspondence from the collection, marked “1893-1896”. Those materials were originally sorted by year, but this form of arrangement might not be very helpful for researchers to find the desired documentation, especially for this box containing materials only within such a short period. With the guidance given by my supervisor, I decided to alphabetize the correspondence by address in order to foster easy searching, and then to rearrange the series and update the finding aid accordingly. Unfortunately, I could not finish processing everything in that box before the end of my internship, since that box contains too much documentation, many of it written in illegible or complex handwriting. Yet, this valuable experience really opens my eyes to approaching archival materials in the late 19^th century.

ellisblog3

ellisblog4 — This business postcard shows notes from W.A. Mason & Son, located in Central Square, Cambridge, a civil engineering and surveying company which Ellis & Melledge partnered with in the late 19th-century.

Click the following text to open the Ellis & Andrews Collection finding aid. Please note: this collection is currently being reprocessed, and the finding aid linked here may not be the most recent version. The collection is still open for research, however, so please contact the Archivist for more information.

*The background and collection notes are taken from the collection finding aid.