Cambridge Residents Oppose Expanding Sheraton Parking

Approximately 75 Cambridge residents came to a meeting at City Hall last night to protest plans to raze three Garden Street houses to make room for an expanded Sheraton Commander Hotel parking lot.

"I'm ready to lie down before bulldozers," said Cambridge Councillor Kathy Born in opposition to plans by Adams Realty Trust to demolish the houses at 22, 24 and 26-28 Garden Street. Representatives of the Cambridge Historical Commission mediated the discussion.

Matthew H. Keefer, an attorney with Peabody and Brown, the law firm representing Adams Realty Trust, said that expanded parking was necessary for the hotel to remain "economically viable." He also suggested a compromise in which only one house would be destroyed.

Any demolition was loudly opposed by the neighbors of the proposed site, who said the houses were historic buildings which should not be destroyed. Neighbors said they feared the onslaught of traffic and noise a parking lot could create.

Robert M. O'Shea '51, who lives near the Sheraton Commander, said he would fight the hotel's plans.

"I'm not a believer in destroying a good pair of 18th-century homes. They're beautiful old relics and an important part of Cambridge society," he said.

The three houses date from before the Civil War.

The Wyeth-Webster house at 22 Garden Street has a particularly gruesome history. Its owner was John White Webster, a Harvard chemistry professor who killed and burned the body of his colleague George Parkman in 1849.

A member of the historical commission said that crowds usually throng outside this house during Webster's long and highly-publicized trial.

Citizen after citizen spoke about the aesthetic importance of neighborhood character and said that they vehemently supported the proposed Arsenal Square extension of the Old Cambridge Historic District, which would mandate the preservation of the buildings on the hotel's proposed site.

"The significance of the buildings makes their preservation necessary," said Cambridge Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55, a nearby resident. "It is not appropriate to tear down these historic houses and put in a parking lot which would not be congenial to the neighborhood."

Many also said they had questions and doubts about the hotel's motives.

"I'm a director of the Bank of Boston. I know the bottom line," said Shanti Fry, a resident of nearby 8 Berkeley Street. "And I don't think seventeen [additional] parking spaces are going to make the hotel much more economically viable."

Another issue raised by the Cambridge Historical Commission was Harvard University's desire to exclude 29 Garden Street from historic designation if the extension plan of Arsenal Square were approved by the City Council.

Arsenal Square is an area north of the Cambridge Common.

After four hours of deliberation, the council passed a motion to honor Harvard's request. It also approved the extension of Arsenal Square in principle, but set a meeting date for next Wednesday to refine the details.