Harvard Square May Be Designated as Historic District

With modern-day retail giants like Abercrombie & Fitch and the Gap fronting today's Harvard Square, it's easy to forget that the tourist-filled shopping district was once the center of New Towne, the oldest planned town in New England.

But Harvard Square, unlike Newbury Street, Beacon Hill and other old quarters of Boston and Cambridge, is not a designated historic district--yet.

The Cambridge City Council will vote on an ordinance to designate Harvard Square as a historic district within the next month.

The move would give the Cambridge Historical Commission jurisdiction to review any proposed changes to exteriors of Harvard Square buildings, though it would not allow the council to regulate the types of businesses operating in the Square.

"Some people feel that it's too late--that Harvard Square has already been overdeveloped," said Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55.

But, Duehay said, many historic buildings that remain in the area could be in jeopardy without an ordinance to protect them.

People are surprised when they hear Harvard Square has not yet been granted historical district status, said Charles M. Sullivan, chair of the Cambridge Historical Commission.

"Most people say they thought it must have been done years ago," Sullivan said. "Threats up to today have been in the periphery of Harvard Square. Now that development takes place in the heart of the Square, it's a different issue."

"Continuous threats" to the Square in 1995 led the city council to ask the Historical Commission to review the situation, Sullivan said.

A recent public hearing of the Cambridge City Ordinance Committee showed overwhelming support for the proposed ordinance, according to the Cambridge Chronicle.

The only criticisms of the proposal have come from the Cambridge's business leaders.

Richard R. Beaty, president of the Harvard Square Business Association, expressed fears that the proposal could increase costs for renovations and regulation on business owners.

In a letter to Sullivan, Beaty wrote that some of the association's members are concerned that a historic district designation is "the wrong planning tool for such a diverse, mixed-use area."

But Sullivan said that protecting the diverse atmosphere of Harvard Square is at the very root of the ordinance.

"We've crafted the ordinance specifically to reflect the commercial vitality of Harvard Square," Sullivan said.

Even if the ordinance is passed, however, it will not effect the changes to the Square that have already taken place and the push toward mainstream commercialization will, in all likelihood, continue.

The Historical Commission has recently approved a steaming bagel, four feet wide, that will hang over the new Finagle-a-Bagel in the Read Block building, over which the Commission already has jurisdiction.

The proposed ordinance is the result of nearly three years of work by a committee that includes members of the Historical Commission, representatives of the business sector, residents, a representative of the University and an advising committee appointed by the city manager.

An initial vote on the ordinance will take place at the Dec. 6 meeting, but the Council will likely hold the final vote at its Dec. 20 meeting. The measure will need the support of six out of nine councillors to pass.