65 Langdon St photographed by Christopher Hail on March 9, 1985
The Colonial Revival apartment building at 65 Langdon Street was constructed in 1907 as designed by Boston-based architectural firm Newhall & Blevins for owners Stearns & Moore. Lawyer Harry N. Stearns was active in Cambridge politics and a member of the Massachusetts militia. He and his wife Edith Baker Winslow had three children, one of whom was Elizabeth Winslow Stearns. Elizabeth went on to become a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and co-founded Cambridge Camera and Marine in Harvard Square with her partner, Lois M. Bowen. Bowen was a Cambridge photographer and entrepreneur and in 2002 her photograph collection was donated to the Cambridge Historical Commission.
65 Langdon St photographed by Christopher Hail on September 11, 1983
Newhall & Blevins, a partnership of architects Louis C. Newhall (1869–1925) and Albert H. Blevins (1874–1946), designed many notable buildings such as the Inman Square Fire Station (1912) and Cambridge Savings Bank Building (1923) but were only active for four years before they took on the Langdon St project. The apartment building was of wood frame construction and finished in stucco with many interesting features that can still be seen today. The brick chimneys are topped with intricate brick design and terracotta tiles. The entrance is recessed behind a projecting three-sided porch with wooden arches. The second story has applied “balconies” with 1/2 balusters. The door itself is oak with leaded glass, and a wrought iron lantern hangs above.
Detail of entryway at 65 Langdon St photographed by CHC staff
While the building was under construction, it was advertised as containing 12 suites, each with three or four rooms and a bath. Many modern amenities, such as steam heat, fireplace, electric lights, and janitor services, were to be included, with rents at $30-40 per month.
Detail: “Map of the city of Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.” 1854. Henry Francis Walling.
The neighborhood name Strawberry Hill (Area 13) refers to the area between Homer Avenue and Grove Street in Cambridge. Starting off as part of Watertown, conveyed to Belmont (1859), and finally annexed to Cambridge (1880), the story of “Strawberry Hill” is a little complicated. The establishment of this neighborhood navigated varying groups of investors, two different surveyors, changing official street names, and established colloquial names for the area.
Broadly speaking, this western most area of Cambridge was generally known as “Mount Auburn.” Strawberry Hill was originally part of the Bird-Coburn estate in Watertown.
Fun Fact: This was the same Bird family that owned “Bird’s Tavern,” at the junction of Mt Auburn and Belmont Streets (near the current Star Market). In 1758 this 17th century residence became a tavern run by Edward Richardson. In 1795 Jonathan Bird bought the property. During his ownership Bird established Watertown’s first public lending library on the premises. He also ran a music school. By 1830 the town plan of Watertown lists the property as “Wyeth’s Hotel.” The building was demolished around 1892.
Columbian Centinel March 19, 1814
Richardson Tavern. Watertown Free Public Library. Image via Digital Commonwealth
Detail: Plan of Watertown from survey made in June 1830 by by John G. Hales. Watertown Free Public Library. Image via Digital Commonwealth
Development
The advent of the omnibus route to Mount Auburn in 1845 as well as a new stop on the Watertown Branch Railroad made the area ripe for development. The Strawberry Hill residential development came into being when a group of investors hired both surveyors Alexander Wadsworth (1806-1898) in 1847, and John Low in 1848 to map it for two adjacent developments: Wadsworth platted most of Strawberry Hill, while John Low platted an area including “Auburn Place” (now Homer Ave) for house lots.
It is not quite clear why this area was named Strawberry Hill. Strawberries likely had little to do with the selection, although an article in the Cambridge Chronicle from October 9, 1941 made that claim. The name may have derived from Horace Walpole’s renowned estate and gardens in England of the same name. When Walpole sold his estate in 1842, local newspapers published lavish descriptions of the property. During the early to mid-19th century “Strawberry Hill” became a popular name for estates, farms, parks, and hotels across the country. The name evoked a certain elan, a romantic setting in this case complete with a view over Fresh Pond. Developers may have hoped the name would appeal to the middle-class buyers they wanted to attract. Its location across the street from the popular Mount Auburn Cemetery added cache to the neighborhood.
View of Horace Walpole’s villa at Strawberry Hill, as seen from the southeast part of the property. Pen and ink and watercolor by John Buckler, 1831. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
The reason Cambridge wanted to acquire the land was to have more control over the town’s water supply at Fresh Pond, which was threatened by runoff of two other ponds to the west: Cider Mill Pond and Bird’s Pond. More about them later.
Sales
House lots were auctioned:
Boston Courier June 29, 1848
“PERSONS who intend purchasing lots for building in the neighborhood of Boste, are invited to examine the lots on Strawberry Hill, which is bounded by Belmont street on one side, by Fresh Pond on the other, and intersected by avenues 40 feet in width. On the grounds are a large number of forest trees, and grafted fruit trees. It is pleasantly diversified by hill and valley, and the land being of the very best quality gives every opportunity for the cultivation of fruit of all kinds.
The location is unsurpassed, being opposite Mount Auburn, contiguous to Fresh Pond, little more than a mile from Harvard University, with easy communication with the city, the depot of the Watertown Branch Railroad being within four minutes’ walk of the farthest part of the estate, and the passage by the cars being only fifteen to twenty minutes from the depot of the Fitchburg Railroad, in Boston, on Haverhill Street, (which is nearly finished). The Cambridge omnibuses leaving Mount Auburn gate every hour or half hour, renders Strawberry Hill one of the most desirable places of residence for the retired gentleman or the active business man. These lots will be offered at low prices, and for dwellings only, and no artizans [sic] or mechanic’s shops will be allowed erection on the premises….”
To discourage the “hoi-polloi,” deed restrictions required houses be a minimum of two stories on lots not less than 1,000 feet. For the same reason a purchaser had to be a native born American. No businesses were allowed, specifically including soap boiling, tanning, distilling, chandlers, tin men, bleachers, brickmakers and stablers.
Initially sales were slow, in part because of these restrictions and the concomitant financial crisis of 1848. Eventually restrictions were loosened and by the 1860s sales picked up – – only to be stalled again by a subsequent financial crisis in 1873.
Street Names Evolution in the Neighborhood
The 1854 map at the top of this piece shows Cushing and Kirkland streets parallel to one another other. In 1880 Kirkland Street was renamed Holworthy Street to eliminate confusion with the Kirkland Street in Mid Cambridge. It was named after English merchant Sir. Matthew Holworthy (1608-1678), a major contributor to Harvard University, and after whom Holworthy Hall is also named.
Cushing Street was named after John Perkins Cushing (1786-1862), a merchant in the China Trade. At one point Cushing and Holworthy streets were known as “East Village.”
Auburn Place (part of the land John Low surveyed) changed to Homer Ave. in 1899.
Vineyard St. was originally named Vine Street when laid out in 1848.
Prospect Street evolved to become Woodlawn Ave, which was eliminated in 1893 when the City took over the property by eminent domain to extend Huron Ave to Grove Street (over a road that was previously a continuation of Cushing Street veering left at the approach to Fresh Pond). The houses on the street were sold at auction by the City, and buildings were required to be moved within 30 days:
Cambridge Chronicle October 7, 1893
Fun Fact: At least three streets in the vicinity were given Scandinavian names after Harvard professor Eben Horsford’s theory that the Vikings landed in Cambridge. Such streets include Thingvalla Ave, Ericsson Street, and Norumbega Street.
Those Pesky Ponds: Cider Mill Pond and Bird’s Pond
The map below illustrates the proximity of both ponds to the Strawberry Hill Development and Fresh Pond.
Detail: “Atlas of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts : from official records, private plan and actual surveys.” 1886. G. M. Hopkins
The Cambridge Water Department was concerned about seepage from both ponds contaminating the main water source of the City’s water at Fresh Pond. The streams ran through farmland in Belmont carrying vegetable, human, and animal effluvia deposited in both ponds. Neither pond had an outlet. So, while fun for skating in the winter, in the summer the smaller ponds became stagnant, bred mosquitoes, produced a stench, and, through seepage, contaminated Fresh Pond. Debates about how to eliminate the contamination went on for decades. A system of storm drains and connecting sewers eliminated part, but not all, of the problem. Finally, both ponds were drained and filled in.
Fun Fact: The Rifle Range at the Cider Mill Pond
Before the outcry over sewage from the pond began, there was another dust up over the rifle range established in the area. In 1888, the City leased land adjacent to the pond for a military rifle range. Right off the bat there were problems with bullets going astray and hitting houses.
Cambridge Chronicle April 16, 1892
The rifle range was closed in 1894. Later, a murder victim was deposited in the pond:
Cambridge Chronicle April 16, 1936 (excerpt)
By 1970 the pond had been filled in, and zoning was approved for the apartment building called Parkside Place at 700 Huron Avenue.
Birds Pond was also drained, filled in, and in the early 1950’s a subdivision called Corcoran Park was built on the premises for low-income housing. (Back in the day, theaforementioned Professor Horsford also thought that the “amphitheater” at Birds Pond was used by the Vikings.) The housing project was named for John H. Corcoran, Mayor (1942-1945) later City Manager and chairman of the Housing Authority:
Cambridge Chronicle July 9, 1953 (excerpt)
A few well-known residents of Strawberry Hill include Mayor William F. Brooks and Governor Charles F. Hurley
Today
After deed restrictions were loosened, most of the homes built were small, single family worker’s cottages. Many of these homes have been remodeled—in fact, in 2024 you’d be hard put to find a single family home in Strawberry Hill for a less than a million dollars.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen M. Fox
Exterior view of 105 Brattle St, now Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, as it appeared in Gleason’s Pictorial in 1852
History Cambridge, the Somerville Museum, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, Friends of Longfellow House-Washington’s HQ, Boston 1775, Cambridge Historical Commission, and Cambridge Public Library will present free events marking the 250th anniversary of the 1774 Powder Alarm and the start of Massachusetts’s political independence from Britain.
Spark of the Revolution: Reenactment and Historic Fair– Sunday, September 1st, 9:30 am–12:30 pm, Nathan Tufts Park, Broadway and College Ave., Somerville
9:30 am sharp: Reenactment of the events of September 1, 1774, when British soldiers unlocked the Powder House and carried off stores of gunpowder.
Followed by: A living history fair, including docent tours of the Powder House, activity tables, and even a scavenger hunt of the park!
Rebellion along Tory Row: The 1774 Powder Alarm – Monday, September 2nd , 2024, 1:00-4:00 pm at sites along Brattle Street.
News of the British soldiers emptying the Somerville Powder House of its valuable stores burned through the colonies, fueled by rumors of violence and death. Soon, thousands of Patriot militiamen were marching toward Cambridge, reaching the town on September 2, 1774. The events of the day signaled a new political order in Massachusetts and upended the lives of families along Tory Row. All events are free.
1:00–4:00 pm: Family games and activities at Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, 105 Brattle Street
1:45 pm: J. L. Bell, a respected local historian and writer, leads a walking tour of the colonial estates along Brattle Street, starting at Longfellow House–Washington’s HQ.
2:30 pm: Prof. Robert J. Allison, a Professor of History at Suffolk University, explores the political situation in Massachusetts in 1774 at History Cambridge, 159 Brattle Street.
3:30 pm: Michele Gabrielson speaks on Revolutionary printers and 18th-century media literacy at History Cambridge, 159 Brattle Street.
Supported by the Cambridge Historical Commission, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, History Cambridge, and many volunteers.
Want to know more about the characters and events in Massachusetts that led to the Revolution? J.L. Bell’s blog, “Boston 1775”, is the place for you. Bell, the site’s sole proprietor, shares History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution in Massachusetts. Boston 1775: 2024. Bell talks all about it on WBUR. Listen here: https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2024/08/29/powder-alarm-somerville-american-revolution-revolt
“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 19th and early 20th 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.
Cambridge Chronicle March 16, 1889
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”:
Cambridge Chronicle January 11, 1890
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 19th and early 20th 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 hilleven if it is outaways. 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
In honor of National Fire Prevention Week, check out the description below and accompanying images of “Spectacular Fires” that ravaged Cambridge buildings in the 20th century. The account appeared in the January 16, 1969 edition of the Cambridge Chronicle:
Fire at Memorial Hall, Harvard, 1956 (Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection)
Fire at Squire’s meatpacking plant on Gore Street, April 14, 1963 (Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection)
Fire at the Jordan Marsh Warehouse on Commercial Avenue, July 15, 1965 (Cambridge Photo Morgue Collection)
“Firefighters battling a fire from the truck in Kendall Square” [Warren Bros. Construction Co. on Potter Street], May 6, 1966 (Brearly Collection, Boston Public Library Arts Department)
A True Copy of a Plan of the “Summer House Lot” in Cambridge Belonging to Harvard College Made by Alex. Wadsworth, Surveyor. 26 Dec 1842.
In 1849, Daniel Treadwell purchased from Harvard College a section of land from what was then known as the summerhouse lots. Treadwell married Adeline Lincoln of Hingham in 1831 and in 1834 was appointed Rumford Professor and Lecturer on the Application of Science to the Useful Arts at Harvard.
Daniel Treadwell (1791-1872) painted by E. A. Blood (1874), Harvard University Portrait Collection, Bequest of Miss Martha Elizabeth Driver to Harvard University.
Three years later, Professor Treadwell supervised the construction of Gore Hall (now demolished) to house the Harvard Library and devised a method of heating that building.
Gore Hall, ca. 1915
Treadwell was best known as an inventor, first manufacturing wooden screws. He later devised improvements to the printing press and was the first in the United States to produce the a sheet of paper printed by machine rather than by hand.
Page from Memoir of Daniel Treadwell, illustrating Treadwell’s process on improving the printing press.
Treadwell’s travels to England in 1835 may have influenced his choice of the Regency style for his first home, built by William Saunders in 1838. This building still stands, though it was moved from 48 Quincy Street to 21 Kirkland Street, and is now the Harvard Sparks house.
Sparks House (December 1964)
Treadwell sold this house in 1847, and in 1849 hired Saunders again to build the house at 29 Concord Avenue. Treadwell had purchased The following is a selection taken from Susan Maycock and Charles Sullivan’s Building Old Cambridge (2016)
A few houses built in Old Cambridge during the 1830s and ’40s followed a form of the Classical Revival style that was related to the English Regency period of the early 1800s. These flush-boarded houses had cube-like massing, low hip roofs, and broad pilasters without capitals repeated across the facade. The conservative, academic style was found primarily in the Boston area but also occasionally along the Maine coast…The earliest Cambridge example is the house that William Saunders built for Daniel Treadwell in 1838.
29 Concord Ave photographed by D. Bradford Wetherell, Jr. (1953)
Treadwell lived in the house until his death in 1872, and it was then occupied by Judge Horatio G. Parker and later owned by George H. Abbott, who made significant renovations to the property, including a pitch roof, addition of a billiard parlor on the east side and new interior finishes. Various other occupants lived in the house until it was demolished in 1959 to make way for the Continental Terrace apartments. For more information on this new building, check out our Modern Monday post from January 27th!
Sources
Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan, Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and
Development (MIT Press, 2016)
CHC biographical files
CHC survey files
Wyman, Morrill. “Memoirs of Daniel Treadwell.” In Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, XI:334–35. Cambridge, Mass: John Wilson and Son, 1888.
