University Lawyers To Help Armenian Church

In an effort to establish the precedent of whether the University, as a "public charitable organization," is exempt from Cambridge zoning restrictions, Harvard has offered the services of its law firm to the Armenian Holy Trinity Church, the CRIMSON learned yesterday.

The church is facing a local group's court appeal of its permit to build a 57-foot church with a 90-foot steeple at 145 Brattle St. The permit was obtained in spite of a general zoning law restricting the height of buildings in the area to 35 feet, presumably as an exception in a "hardship" case.

The firm of Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge and Rugg will assist Church lawyers in presenting their interpretation of a provision in the State Zoning Enabling Act which prevents local communities from enacting zoning laws limiting religious and educational institutions.

Lawyers expect the case to establish the precedent of whether communities are prohibited from making laws restricting the construction of any building of such an institution, or whether, in addition, they cannot limit its size. The University, bearing in mind its own extensive construction program, supports the broader interpretation of the Act.

Appealing the Licensing Board's decision to grant a permit to the Church to build on the lot adjacent to its parish house at Brattle and Sparks Sts. is a group of nine local residents, including two Harvard professors and one M.I.T. professor.

Would "Dominate Neighborhood"

A spokesman for the group, Arthur K. Solomon, assistant professor of Physiological Chemistry, said yesterday that the proposed church "is out of scale with the neighborhood." He then added, "You might imagine a structure one and one-half times as tall as its neighbors which will dominate the neighborhood by its size. There is a considerable amount of feeling in the neighborhood that its character should not be changed by a single building."

A member of the Fund Raising Committee of the Church reiterated the Church's need for a tall building, stating that "we agreed to cut the capactiy down from 1000 to 800, then from 800 to 600. We just can't have it any smaller."

He complained that "we invited the neighbors to a tea party, they agreed to things at the tea, then at the eleventh hour, when we had the plans set and the contracts signed, they threw a bombshell into the works."

Another member of the neighborhood group, Robert G. Henderson '10, protested that "after we saw the plans at the tea we assumed that they had cleared it with the authorities and that we had no say in the matter. We appealed only after we had found out that it was 22 feet over the legal limit."

Both Henderson and Solomon were distressed with the University's action in the dispute. "Harvard is backing the church with its law firm merely for its own purpose," Henderson said. "The University's position is short-sighteded," Solomon claimed.

The case is now being presented before the Middlesex County Superior Court.