Nomination for Harvard Square Subway Kiosk

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74) PH0500,381 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM DATA SHEET. FOR NPS USE ONLY RECEIVED JUL 6 1977 JAN 3 0 1975 IDATE ENTERED SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC Harvard Square Subway Kiosk AND/OR COMMON Same LOCATION STREET & NUMBER CIY TOWN STATE Massachusetts Avenue, Corner of Boyiston Street _NOT FOR PUBLICATION Cambridge SEONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT - VICINITY OF 02138 Miadlesex Massachusetts 3 CLASSIFICATION 8995 CATEGORY -DISTRICT _BUILDING(S) XSTRUCTURE _SITE _OBJECT OWNERSHIP XPUBLIC _PRIVATE _BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION _IN PROCESS _BEING CONSIDERED STATUS XOCCUPIED _UNOCCUPIED _WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE -.

YES: RESTRICTED XYES: UNRESTRICTED _NO PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE MUSEUM _COMMERCIAL -PARK EDUCATIONAL -PRIVATE RESIDENCE SENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS GOVERNMENT -SCIENTIFIC _INDUSTRIAL X TRANSPORTATION _MILITARY - OTHER: 4 OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority STREET & NUMBER 45 High Street CITY, TOWN Boston _VICINITY OF 5 LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC. Middlesex County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER STATE Massachusetts, 0 2110 128 Third Street CITY. TOWN STATE Massachusetts, 02141 Cambridge 6 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth DATE DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS CITY. TOWN 1973 _FEDERAL X-STATE _COUNTY _LOCAL Cambridge Historical Commission Massachusetts Historical Commission Cambridge Boston STATE 02139 Mass.

02108 71DESCRIPTION CONDITION _EXCELLENT YGOOD -FAIR DETERIORATED -RUINS CHECK ONE XUNALTERED ALTERED CHECK ONE XORIGINAL SITE _MOVED DATE _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

Ihe Harvard Square Subway Kiosk is located on a traffic island at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle and Boylston Streets in Cambridge, a bustling conmercial center. Because of the use and location of the site, it is often congested, and the Kiosk itself is partially obscured by telephone booths, vending machines and informal newstands. Attributable only to an anonymous Boston elevated streetcar railway engineer, the building is clearly derivative of contemporary industrial design. The dominant element is the broad copper-clad roof composed of cross-axial tunnel vaults. Flat sections filling each corner complete the rectangular plan. The deeply extended eaves reveal wooden soffit and shallow rafters. The two stair- wells to the subway area are enclosed by twin pavilions, one 15' x 15'6" and the other 12' x 15'6".

Both have corner posts of alternating limestone blocks and brick, infilled onthree sides with steel factory sash above low brick walls. The basement is constructed of fine polished granite. Curvilinear iron detail at the entrance and the imaginative profile of the roof are the sole decorative elements of the uncluttered composition.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD PREHISTORIC -1400-1499 -1500-1599 -1600-1699 - 1700-1799 _1800-1899 X1900- _ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _AGRICULTURE XARCHITECTURE ART _COMMERCE _COMMUNICATIONS AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW _COMMUNITY PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE _CONSERVATION -LAW _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE _EDUCATION _MILITARY LENGINEERING _MUSIC _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY _INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT LINVENTION -RELIGION -SCIENCE _SCULPTURE _SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN XTHEATER _TRANSPORTATION _OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES 1928 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT Harvard Square is a center of transportation, cormercial and academic activity, and university and conmunity interaction in Cambridge. The Square is bisected by Massachusetts Avenue, a major commercial thoroughfare flanked by the confines of Harvard Yard on one side and a complex system of small conmercial streets on the other. Harvard Square is the point of intersection between this edge and the major secondary commercial streets in the area. The simple MBTA Kiosk serves as an internationally recognized symbol for the At previous times in history, freestanding structures occupied the site and identified the Square. From 1708-1758 a courthouse stood there, and during the early 19th century a markethouse occupied the same site.

Beyond its traditional role as a focus for Harvard Square, the Kiosk is representative of the acceptance of straightforward industrial design as a legitimate component of modern architecture. The Kiosk is particularly sig- nificant in this regard because of its prominent location in a busy commercial area; most contemporary examples were isolated in industrial and urban fringe areas. A landmark in Harvard Square since 1928, the Kiosk remains a single stable element in an environment of continual change.

The rest of the file

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

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Cambridge Historical Commission, Report Four: O1d Cambridge, Cambridge, 1973.

10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY - .03 acres UTM REFERENCES A1013251489 ZONE EASTING CLILL VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION 14,612.3 2,0,0 NORTHING BL,J ZONE EASTING DLILLL NORTHING 1, L Juelu LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Blaine Mallory & Joseph Orfant, National Register Editor ( Allison Crump, Cambridge Historical Commission) ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission June 13, 1977 STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE 294 Washington Street 617-727-8470 CITY OR TOWN STATE Boston Massachusetts, 02108 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS NATIONAL - STATE- LOCAL As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National 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. STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE abih kud Amadon DATE 6/27/77 Executive Director, Mass. Historical Comm. FOR NPS USE ONLY I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PRORER BIRECFOFOFFI ATTEST: 1 MENOGO M REOST DATE ISTORIC PRESEAVATION RER-OE TATTOHAT BSI DATE /-3d-28 KEEPER OFTHE NATIONAL EGISTER GPO 892-453 NORTH MASSACHUSSETTS ARDEN STREET AVENUE STREET CHURCH BENNETT SIREE STREET UNIVERSITY Harvard Square Kiosk Cambridge, Massachusetts Scale: 1"=200' Source: Cambridge Community Development Department Date: 1971 ELIOT STREET TUNNEL MASS ACHUSETTS N AVENUE STREET JAN 3 0 1978 RECEIVED JUL 6 1977 NATIONAL REGISTER 8 Property Harvard Squase Yulway Keack Mass. Working Number 7.6.

12.1090 TECHNICAY Photos - 2 Canversation w/voseph Ortant:MBTA is extending redline t wants to demolish or alter Kiosk. LBF1,24.78 Franklen Middlesen CONTROL pl OK 2.2.22 Arek| HISTORIAN Xccept- L.Belbe 12/14/77 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN J.Gilmone 11-22-77 Accept TO HAER ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER Not 50 years ald but structuue does posese notable a ss ociative values - Why not HAER Inventory Acceptico an historio d'istuct? What prompted, this ungla ita nomenatian? stresture és of minor signfitanso Kechnologisally-Wh REVIEW UNIT CHIEF 1/28/78 The significane of this Kioste is well articulatal: I)as a accept roval forus of Haward Sg. and (2) as ou mit of the subueB RANCH CHIEF bovich fum. -307 KEEPER /3078 National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 3.7.28 Send-back Re-submit Entered JAN 3 0 1978 INT:2106-74 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WASO No.

7 IT OF NE ARVA A SQUAE RAPID TRANSIT TO ALL POINTS T Harvard Square Subway Kiosk midtlesex County Cambridge, Massachusetts 1977 Charles M. Sullivan Cambridge Historical Commission 57 Inman Street Cambridge, Mass. 02139 Looko t$ Boutneast from above. Harvard Square M.B.T.A. Kiosk View southeast from above Photo: Charles M. Sullivan, 1-77 Cambridge Historical Commission JAN 30 1978 JUL 6 1977. EROPE - ua ii mi910 mdSTEY LTTHDT -nnAl RAPID TRANSIT TO ALL POINTS CAEN Middlesex Co. Harvard Sqüare Subway Kiosk Cambridge, Massachusetts 1977 Charles M. Sullivan Cambridge Historical Commission 57 Inman Street Cambridge, Mass. 02139 Photo #2 532 Looking nórtheast from nead 01 Boylston Street Harvard Square M.B.T.A. Kiosk View northeast from head of Boylston Photo: Charles M.

Sullivan, 1-77 Cambridge Historical Commission JAN 30 1978 JUL 6 1977 PROPERTE OF I NATONL CEGSTER Hetoy fag n Leb saip Morma ande her love Noro ulate tosther subway stopo Parkst staher Bostortea Chas Staetile ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE Date Entered MASSACHUSETTS JAN 3 0 1978 Name Harvard Squaze Subway Klosk Colby Hall Location Cambridge Middlesex County Newton Middlesex County Also Notified Hon. Edward W. Brooke Hon. Bdvard M. Kennedy Hon. Thonas P. O"Ne111, Jx. Hon. Robert F. Drinan Regional Director, North Atlantie Region 880 Mott/js 2/2/78 State Historie Preservation Officer Mrs. E1izabeth R.

Amadon Executive Director, Massachusetts Iiatorical Connisaion 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetta 02108 PH0500381 NATIONAL REGISTER DATA SHEET DNAME as it appears on federal register: 1 county code: Harvard Square Subway Kiosk SLOCATION street & number city | town vicinity of state county JAN 3,0.1978CION.: 17 Massachusetts Ave. and Boylston St. Cambridge MA Middlesex NA VOWNER OPRIVATE OSTATE -MUNICIPAL OCOUNTY OMULTiPLE -FEDERAL (agency name) BADMINISTRATOR: 9) EXISTING SURVEYS CHABS CHAER OONHL (10) FUNDED? OYES -NO IICONGRESS. DISTRICT 8th 12)SOURCE of NOMINATION X STATE OFEDERAL if state who prepared form?

HATTONAL TIGNAL HISTORIC LANDMARK1 ACREAGE -LOCAL -PRIVATE ORGANIZATION CONDITION -déteriorated Daltered Doriginal site 17)features: OSUBSTANTIALLY INTACT-1 Dexcellent Oruins Dunaltered @SUBSTANTIALLY INTACT -2 2OSUBSTANTIALLY INTACT - 3 Omoved QONOT INTACT-O 90 NOT INTACT-O -good Ounexposed Dreconstructed Ounknown EO UNKNOWN-4 QONOT INTACT - O WOUNKNOWN-5 5OUNKNOWN-6 Dfair Ounexcavated Dexcavated 20 NOT APPLICABLE-7 EO NOT APPLICABLE-8 ZONOT APPLICABLE - 9 ACCESS OYES-Restricted DYES-Unrestricted - No Access - Unknown 19) ADAPTIVE USE CYES ONOI SAVED? DYES IS PROPERTY A HISTORIC DISTRICT?

DyesOno AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE : -ENGINEERING-11 - LANDSCAPE ARCH.-15 - POLITICS / GOVT." 21 ORECREATION -28 CLAIMS: explain -ARCHEOLOGY - prehistoric-2 - COMMERCE-6 -ENTERTAINMENT-26 - LAW- 16 first'C - RELIGION- 22 CSETTLEMENT-29] -ARCHEOLOGY-historic-1 - COMMUNICATIONS - 7 -EXPLORATION -12 - LITERATURE - 17 - SCIENCE - 23 -URBAN PLANNING-31 - AGRICULTURE -3 'oldest' O - CONSERVATION - 8 -HEALTH-27 - MILITARY- 18 - SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN-24 -OTHER (SPECIFY) - ARCHITECTURE-4| - ECONOMICS-9 C INDUSTRY- 13 - MUSIC - 19| - SOCIAL / CULTURAL- 30 - ART-5 - EDUCATION-10 - INVENTION - 14 - PHILOSOPHY - 20 TRANSPORTATION - 25 'only' D 3functions WHEN HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT: CURRENTLY: 2) architectural style(s): 2 dates of initial construction: major alterations : historic events: ETHNIC GROUP ASSOCIATION garchitect: amaster builder: engineer: -landscape architect / garden designer: 3) interior decorator: artist: artisan: builder/contractor: NAMES give role & date PERSONAL: EVENTS: INSTITUTIONAL: NATIONAL REGISTER WRITE-UP reviewers initials.

.date. IIF ADDITIONAL SPACE NEEDED, NUMBER & PUT ON REVERSE