Nomination for Austin Hall

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

PH0016021 No cTm Form 10-300 (July 1969) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY - NOMINATION FORM (Type all entries - complete applicable sections) STATE: Massachusetts COUNTY: Middlesex FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER APR 19 19/2 DATE NAME COMMON: Austin Hall AND/ OR HISTORIC: LOCATION Congressional Distriat 8 STREET AND NUMBER: Harvard University (Harvard Law Schoo1) CITY OR TOWN: Cambridge STATE Massachusetts CODE COUNTY: 025 Middlesex 3.

CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS (Check One) District Site Building Structure Object - Public Private Both Public Acquisition: - In Process Being Considered Occupied Unoccupied Preservation work in progress CODE 017 ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC Yes: Restricted Unrestricted - No PRESENT USE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Agricultural Government Commercial Industrial Educational Military Entertainment Museum Park Private Residence Religious Scientific Transportation - Other (Specify) - Comments 18 1l0 OWNER OF PROPERTY OWNER'S NAME: A 5. President and Fellows of Harvard College STREET AND NUMBER: Massachusetts Hall CITY OR TOWN: Cambridge LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS.

ETC: Middlesex County Registry of Deeds STREET AND NÜMBER: Cambridge and Third Streets CITY OR TOWN: Cambridge RECEIVED 10 RESTS NATIONS STATE: Massachusetts CODEL 0,25 to STATE Massachusetts CODE 025 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE OF SURVEY: DATE OF SURVEY: Inventory of the Historical Assets of Massachusetts - Federal [X State - County DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS: Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET AND NUMBER: Office of the Secretary, State House CITY OR TOWN: STATE: Boston Massachusetts - Local CODE 025 STATE: MasS: COUNTY: Middlesex ENTRY NUMBE APR 19 1972 DATE FOR NPS USE ONLY DESCRIPTION (Check One) Deteriorated Excellent X Good -Fair CONDITION (Check One) - Altered xUnaltered Ruins Moved - Unexposed (Check One) Original Site DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (if known) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

Austin Hall, built 1881-1883, is the second Harvard University building designed by H.H. Richardson. A basic T plan was used in the execution of this structure built to house the law school. The two storey cental mass with triple arched entrance porch and small circular stair tower is flanked by a pair of simpler, single storey wings. Extending behind the central section, a two storey reading room wing forms the base of the T. The entire building is constructed in light and dark colored Iongmeadow sandstone, with the excep- tion of the yellow Ohio sandstone used in the arches surrounding the entrance. The foundation, string course, sills, lintels and cornice are built of the light sandstone while the dark stone is used for the rest of the bearing wall structure. The main facade of the central mass is dominated by the three arches over the recessed entrance porch.

Above it on the second storey level a row of tall narrow windows separated by rectangular stone mullion crosses the facade. A broad lintel and a continuous sill, above and below the second storey windows, runs across the facade and around the building. Below the sill is a wide band of stone laid in a checkerboard pattern. Still further cuts across the top third of the three narrow first storey windows. This course is actually an extension of the continuous sill below the range of Z windows on the left wing. A two storey semi-attached stair tower breaks through the horizontality of the facade just to the right of the entrance arches. Three narrow slit windows follow the progress of the stairs on the first floor of the tower while two rows of smaller windows are situated on the second C storey.

The continuous lintel and sill bordering the large second storey windows continue around the tower. Finally, the hipped roof over the main part of the building is considerably higher than the roofs of the wings. This added height further emphasizes the main blosk of the building in re- lation to the wings. The simplicity of the two side wings contrasts with the more elabørate design of the main facade. Each is smaller and lower and in typical Richard- son manner contains a single strip of windows placed high on the facade, directly beneath the hipped roof. The stone wall on each is uninterrupted from the ground to the sill below this range of windows. The rear facades of these wings repeat the design of the front. The end wall of each wing is dark stone from foundation to cornice, with the exception of a broad checker- 9111'Poard band and a large decorative panel of light stone.

the complexity of its design, the rear of the central mass, which REdEloims the reading room extension, lies somewhere between the main facade and JAN theyWings. The tall second storey windows used on the front appear again all the way around the rear of the central mass, and together with the light NATIstone of the foundation, string course, lintels and cornice, these windows REÇoffer the only other break in the dark ashlar walls. In each of the reentrant angles formed where the reading room projects from the main mass of the byflding, Richardson has introduced a curved wall which articulates the two circular foyers of the main lecture hall. The only change in the exterior of Austin is the recent addition of a small, single storey entrance of copper and glass on the northerly face of the eastern wing at the juaction of the wing and the central mass. U C TIONS NA 1972 TEU

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD (Check One or More as Appropriate) Pre-Columbian! - 16th Century 15th Century 17th Century SPECIFIC DATE(S) (If Applicable and Known) 1881-1883 AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE (Check One or More as Appropriate) Abor iginal Education Prehistoric Engineering Historic Industry Agriculture Invention * Architecture Landscape Art Architecture Commerce Literature Communications Military Conservation Music 18th Century X] 19th Century *] 20th Century Political Religion/Phi- losophy Science Sculpture Social/Human- itarian Theater Transportation - Urban Planning - Other (Specify) STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

Austin Hall was constructed in 1881-1883 to house the Law School of Harvard University. This is the second Harvard building designed by H.H. Richardson, who is generally considered the first great architect to work in a truly American idiom, the style of architecture known as American or taneneraay Richardsonian Romanesque. Richardson is best known for his massive, monu- mental works of stone and brick and for his use of very low arches which rise, in Syrian style, almost from the ground. Although influenced by the Romanesque architecture of Southern France, Richardson's style is a new combination of design elements, widely imitated by his contemporaries and by later architects as well.

Austin Hall is the only stone academic building Richardson ever did and aooordipg to Professor Henry Russe11 Hitchcock "one of Richardson's greatost When he built Austin and Sever Halls, "Richardson repaid his debt to Harvard by constructing the only two buildings in Cambridge worthy to stand with those of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century." The asymmetrical balance achieved in the main facade of Austin Hall is characteristic of much of Richardson's architecture. The building has a strong horizontal emphasis in the long range of second story windows, the broad continuous lintel above them and the continuous sill below (which ex- tends to form the eaves of the two wings). Subtler points of emphasis include the horizontal line formed by the capitals of the entrance arches and the string course that runs across the facade to the left of the arches.

The semi-attached stair tower counter-balances this horizontality; the individual arches over the entrance and the shape of the windows, sepecially those on the second floor, restate the vertical accent of the tower, Finally, the deeply recessed entrance porch draws the eye, keeping the visual center of the facade low and quite close to its geometric center. Interior decoration is also part of the significance of Austin Hall. The Romanesque arches and wainscoting of the first floor and the fireplaces throughout speak for Richardson's competence in interior design and ornamen- The dragons and wild boars' heads carved in the exposed tie beams Nabove the reading room are indicative of interior work closely supervised by Richardson himself.

In describing the fireplace in the same reading room, Professor Hitchcock states that it "has decoration, which in detail of design and execution, represents the highest point of Richardson's achievement in ornament. 1 Henry Russell Hitchcock, The Architecture of H.H.Richardson and His Times ( Cambridge: MIT Press, 1966), p. 232. 2Ib1d, p. 232. 3. Ibid, p.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Hitchcock, Henry Russell. The Architecture Of H.H. Richardson and his Times. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1966. Sutherland, Arthur E. "Harvard Law School's Four Oldest Houses" Cambridge Historical Society Proceedings, Vol. 41. Cambridge: 1967-1969.

10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING A RECTANGLE LOCATING THE PROPERTY CORNER LATITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds LONGITUDE Degrees Minutes Seconds LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COORDINATES DEFINING THE CENTER POINT OF A PROPERTY OF LESS THAN TEN ACRES Degrees LATITUDE Minutes LONGITUDE Seconds Degrees Minutes Seconds NW NE " 42 22 37 71 SE SW APPROXIMATE ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY: less than one acre LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE: CODE COUNTY 07 10 CODE STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE STATE: CODE COUNTY: CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME AND TITLE: Anne R, Wardwell, Survey Director ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission DATE 12/14/71 STREET AND NUMBER: Office of the Secretary, State House CITY OR TOWN: Boston 12.

STATE LIAISON OFFICER CERTIFICA1ION STATE CODE 025 Massachusetts NATIONAL REGISTER VERIFICATION As the designated State Liaison Officer for the Na- tional Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. The recommended level of significance of this nomination is: National State Local * I hereby certify that this property is included in the Nationa1 Register. Rrhert M. Uele hief. Office of Archeolopy and Historic Preservatior Name phaty Narnen HN F.

DAVOREN Date 4/19/22 Title Secretary of the Commonwealth Chairman, Massachusetts Historical Commission Date December 28, 1971 ATTEST: prodfold Keeper of The National Regist Leate Aprel 19/2 GP 0 901.087 = U C IONS Qusten Nall JATE RECBIPI 1/.10/72 VES AONBER DATA PAGE (81119) 1) JPHOTO (S) PHOTO DESCRIPTION (S) MAP (S) MAP DESCRIPTION (S) LOGGED ACKNOWLEDGE 1/11/7 MATIONAL! G NESUBNIE EVLEN e whe satt #t. Richuln?i IRCHEOLOGIST RCITECT Middlesex Mass REGISTER: APR 19 1972 Tech okjls 3-21-72 Oeniyy -*P8 3/3/72 Sailes 3/24/r Ok Manbls 3-27'72 SST. KEEPER ESPER OTEREDITOR 71. 7

4/7/72 3K 3/27/17 DITORIAN PROCESSING, EDITOR ok EDA 4/5/72 ederal Registry Entry 6-6-7z Paged APR 19 1972 Card APR 1 9 1972 CBIENTS: Annual Edition Entry WORKING NUMBER 1,10.72.72 cang #5 Cambridge Austin Hall Mes muabor April 19,1912 m10: Aurter Stel 71:445 Middlesed Cou Front (veutken racade und - UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY PHOTOGRAPH FORM (Type all entries - attach to or enclose with photograph) STATE Massachusetts COUNTY Middlesex FOR NPS USE ONL ENTRY NUMBER APR 1 9 1972 PROPE NAME COMMON: Austin Hall AND/OR HISTORIC: LOCA TION STREET AND NUMBER: Harvard University (Law School) CITY OR TOWN: Aambridge STATE: Massachusetts OZODE COUN T Midalesex PHOTO REFERENCE PHOTO CREDIT: Bradford Paul DATE OF PHOTO: June 1971 NEGAMàssachusetts Historical Commission, State House, Boston, Mass., O1 IDENTIFICATION DESCRIBE VIEW, DIRECTION, ETC.

Front (southern) facade and eastern wing Förm. 10-304 (July 1969) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES PROPERTY MAP FORM (Type all entries - attach to or enclose with map) STATE Massachusetts COUNTY Middlesex FOR NPS USE ONLY ENTRY NUMBER APR 1 9 1972 - U = - NAME COMMON: Austin Hall AND/OR HISTORIC: LOCATION STREET AND NUM BER: Harvard University (Law Schoo1) CITY OR TOWN: Cambridge STATE: Massachusetts MAP REFERENCE SOURCE: U.S.G.S. Boston North, Mass. SCALE: 1: 24,000 DATE: 1956 REQUIREMENTS TO BE INCLUDED ON ALL MAPS 1. Property broundaries where required. 2. North arrow. 3. Latitude and longitude reference. CODE 025 COUNTY: Middlesex 181 19 1LE TIONAL REGISTER Te DATE CODE 017 ..: MYSTIO AUSTIN HALL (Harvard University) U.S.G.S.: Scale: 10 RECEIVED 201972 NATIONA REGIS.

71°07'10" Boston North, Mass., (1956) 1: 24000 MAAL 42°22'37" Jr HS 710000 FEET MYSTIC Yards- LDE V WOODLAWN - CEMETERY Glend {Fénnos Mill laygroung VEW YORK CH 1alden (Br idge RIVER River MIDDLESEX -CO SUFFOLK CÒ 25 -Gasoline Mystic River Brid (Level.io MYSTIC WHARF Boston LITTLE MYSTIC CHAN MEDFORD Inner Playground BOSTON Harbor Gásoline Tand oi CHEI (BOSTON SOUTH) ETEOICA NTION 9: Piling Sg 2'30" 332 BOSTON (CITY HALL) 1.9 MI © INTERIOR- -n 12119 RECÊVED JAT 10 1972 NATIONAL REGISTER ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSA BUSETES Date Entered APR 19 1972 Name Location Austin Hal1 Cambridge Hiddlesex County Also Notified Hon. Edward M. Kennedy Hon. Edvazd W. Brooke Hon. Thonas P. O'Neill, Js. Director, Northeast Region HR NRowland: mm 4/17/72 State Liaiaon Officer Ion, Joha P. X.

Davoren Seczetary of the Conmonveaith Chaiman, Iassachuetts Historical Cosndasion Office of the Secretary State House Boston, Hassachusette 02133 OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT ile wite HARVARD UNIVERSITY Austin Hall H30-PHRS RECEIVED NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASI FICE MASSACHUSETTS HAIL CAMBRAbEEA MASSADrOO SAO2738 June 1, 1972 Dear Mr. Davoren: Thanks so much for your letter informing us that the National Park Service has put Austin Hall on its National Register of Historic Places. We are pleased by this recognition. Although we are grateful for the national notice, we would prefer not to have a bronze plaque attached to Austin Hall and not to apply for the certificate in question. We declined this opportunity in the case of Massachusetts, Sever, University and Memorial Halls and Elmwood, and I believe we should continue this policy.

All these buildings are already being preserved by Harvard not as museums or monuments, but as workaday buildings in regular use for the purposes for which they were originally erected. The old buildings in the College Yard including Massachusetts and Harvard Halls, as well as Hollis and Stoughton Halls, serve today as College dormitories and classrooms just as they did when they were erected in the 18th Century. Where they have been "modernized," moderniza- tion has been carried out with careful consideration for 18th Century style and spirit. We have long since provided these buildings with suitable markers. Massachusetts Hall, for example, has since 1896 borr a bronze plaque indicating its pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary history.

We provide a free guide service which originates either at a guide tent in the College Yard or at the Information Office in Holyoke Center, on Forbes Plaza, just a step across Massachusetts Avenue beyond the point where once stood the original College buildings. These guides, usually specially trained students from the Crimson Key Society, conduct visitors around this whole historic area. We, of course, intend to continue to value these buildings and their historic character. I wish strongly to emphasize that the decision not to apply registration implies no criticism whatsoever of the wonderful work done by the National Park Service in preserving the nation's heritage of historic and natural sites for the appreciation and enjoyment of the public. Ne have cooperated in this praiseworthy endeavor in applying for registration in the case of the Arnold Arboretum.

frage two June 1, 1972 We simply feel that we do not wish our constantly used buildings to become a formal part of the National Registry. We hope you will understand and sympathize with this reluctance on our part. Sincerely, Derek C. Bok Mr. John F. X. Davoren The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Secretary State House Boston, Massachusetts