Development Threatens Bank St. Neighborhood

Back when Grace Kaczynski was growing up on nearby Athens St., there was a penny candy store at the corner of her block. During most of the day, horses with carts attached to them stood at both ends of the street so that even one car passing through her quiet Cambridge neighborhood was a novelty.

Meat, Fish and Vegetables

As a child, Kaczynski recalls, the only noise she heard from her house besides playing children was the shrill sound of salesmen peddling meat, fish, and vegetables from pushcart.

"It's hard to describe the rustic quality of Cambridge in those days," says Kaczynski, who moved three years ago back into the 118-year-old house her grandfather purchased just after the Civil War.

Though most residents of the Bank St. neighborhood just off Mt. Auburn St. concede that scenes of horse-drawn carts and children in the street will never return, most say they are fighting to preserve the small town feeling which still characterizes their neighborhood.

There was a time 15 years ago when Harvard andother private real estate developers drasticallyaltered the look of the streets around the BankSt. neighborhood. But since the '60s--when Harvardbuilt Mather House, Peabody Terrace, much ofQuincy House and Leverett Towers--few newstructures have been erected in Kaczynski'sneighborhood. Until now.

Building Boom

In the past year alone, three major buildingprojects have been drawn up which many residentsbelieve will spell the end of theironce-burgeoning community.

This spring Harvard will begin construction ofa 43-unit project at 10 Mt. Auburn St. Theproject, which will include three rent controlunits and 40 apartments for affiliate housing,spurned a year-long battle between the Universityand area residents over the size and appearance ofthe structure.

Across the street, Graham Gund developers areplanning to build a small shopping complex,comparable to the Galeria on JFK St., for theproperty at 17-19 Mt. Auburn St. and 4-6 Arrow St.The real estate firm hopes to build a five-story,through-block arcade with four or five stores onthe ground floor and office space in the upperlevels.

And another major development is expected to beannounced for the DeWolfe St. parking lot nowowned by St. Paul's Church. (see accompanyingstory). The church plans to lease the land toraise money for renovations of the choir school,though negotiations for a leaser have not begun.

As the commercial development of Harvard Squarecontinues to sweep towards the Bank St. area,residents hope to preserve at least part of theneighborhood's charm which has kept themthere--some for more than fifty years.

Fighting Back

In an effort to keep the neighborhood the waythey want it, area residents formed the BankStreet Neighborhood Association last year inresponse to Harvard's proposal to build anotherdormitory at 10 Mt. Auburn St. The group managedto stall Harvard's plans to demolish a 92-year-oldhotel at the site and eventually convinced theUniversity to incorporate the turreted structureinto its overall project.

Some neighborhood residents say they object toany more five-story structures and new commercialoutlets because of increased traffic andcongestion. Area residents, most of whom are thesons and daughters of Irish and German immigrants,want to keep the two-and three-story, wood-framehouses that dominate the area while keeping outtrendy, high-priced boutiques.

Some residents, including English professor andplaywright William Alfred, long for the days ofcorner drug stores and cheap groceries andrestaurants. The Athens St. resident recalls whenVie de France at 1100 Mass. Avenue replaced agrocery store, a Chinese laundry, and aninexpensive Japanese restaurant in one fell swoop.

"For fellas to take girls out on a date itcosts the earth now. It didn't then," says Alfred.As a graduate student in the late 40's, Alfredpaid $7 a week for a room in a boarding housewhere the Quincy House addition now stands.

Many people cite the mixture of people who livein the area as the key to the neighborhood'sappeal. Working-class people, professors,students, and senior citizens all reside in thesmall area of century-old, walk-up homes.

"It's everything Newton isn't," says TedSutton, who has been living on Bank St. for nearlyten years. Sutton says he enjoys the diversity ofpeople around him and the fact that many of hisneighbors were born in the homes in which they nowentertain their grandchildren.

Harvard's Expansion Mode?

But while several developers are trying tobuild in the community and alter its appearance,it is Harvard that neighbors say they fear anddistrust the most. The neighborhood particularlyobjected to the school's 10 Mt. Auburn Streetproject because it was "too Harvard."

"It was more of the same," Phillip Dowds ofBank St. says. "More acquisition, more demolitionof what was here before, and more replacement withHarvard stuff."

"The people in this area will be buried likethey were near Peabody Terrace," says Athens St.resident Brigitte Dinsmore. Born in Ireland,Dinsmore came to the United States in 1964 and hasbeen living in Cambridge for the past 19 years.

Harvard officials admit that the constructionof Peabody Terrace--which was radically differentto the existing area architecture--may have been amistake. Harvard is now trying to work moreclosely with the community, one official says, butresidents are still distrustful of theUniversity's plans.

"There's a residue of bad feeling," says JohnShattuck, Harvard's Vice President for Governmentand Public Affairs.

That bad feeling was evident last summer whenthe Bank Street Neighborhood Association, afterbeing consulted about the 10 Mt. Auburn Streetproject and objecting to it, decided to break offcommunications with Harvard.

"At least Graham Gund is was a person you couldtalk to whereas Harvard Real Estate was a remotebureaucracy that couldn't be trusted," says Dowds,who is a member of the steering committee of theneighborhood association.

Residents fear that Harvard--which owns morethan $1.5 million worth of property in the areaand has destroyed more than 70 homes there in thelast 40 years--will begin several majorconstruction projects, particularly on the emptylot on De Wolfe Street and two vacant parking lotsof Grant Street. Harvard currently owns 48 percentof the land area and 36 percent of the housingunits in the small area bounded by Mt. Auburn,Athens, and Bank Streets and Peabody Terrace,according to some estimates.

"People have long expected that the whole areawill end up looking like Mather House," Dowdssays. "There's a lot talk about this question [ofHarvard's expansion]. And most of it is negative."Look Who's Moving In

A. Parking lot currently owned by St.Paul's Church across the street from Quincy House.Potential uses include a hotel, condominiums,student dormitories, or a mixed-incomeproject.

B. Future site of a small shoppingcomplex between Arrow and Mt. Auburn Streets to bedeveloped by Graham Gund Associates.

C. Affiliate housing project to bestarted this spring by Harvard at 8-10 Mt. AuburnSt. The University has owned the two-parcelproperty for 18 months, but has only recentlyreceived permission from the city to beginconstruction.