University Nears Success in Effort To Purchase Possible House Site

Only two houses and a parking lot stand between the University and the acquisition of the probable site for the eighth house. At least one of the property owners has been approached recently by University representatives.

Situated between Dunster and Leverett Houses, the area is bounded by Cowperthwaite, DeWolfe, and Grant Streets. "This is the logical place for Harvard's future expansion," Shepherd Brown '50, agent for the University's property managers, Hunnemann & Co., said last night.

Approximately the same size as Kirkland House, the lot is shaped like Lowell.

It is probably true that other houses in the area will be torn down in the foreseeable future, Brown said, "but as agents for the University we have heard of no definite plans for using the land." Meanwhile the demolition of two private houses within the block, at 17 and 17 1/2 Cowperthwaite Street, has already begun.

Resident Asks $3 per Square Foot

William J. O'Sullivan, owner of a property at 18 Grant Street, said last night that a University representative had approached him within the last few months. "I have all intentions of selling if they pay me my price," he said. His asking price, he said, is "about $3 per foot for approximately 9,000 square feet."

"I don't think the figure is too high," he added, "and I don't think they do."

"The University will pick up anything at a reasonable price in the area," Brown said. Seven houses and several vacant lots on the land are already owned by Harvard, and another building is part of an entailed, and as yet unsettled, estate. In addition, University realtors have contacted residents living between the proposed site and Banks Street, the eastern boundary of the block. Since property owners on the other side of Grant Street maintain that they will refuse to sell under any conditions, any expansion of the site must take place in the direction of Banks Street.

A resident there, Mrs. William Hughes, reported that she was approached early last spring by a Hunneman agent. She quoted him as saying that "Harvard is in no rush, but if you're interested in selling we'd like to buy. In time we'll own all this section."