BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
PORM B - BUILDING IASSACEUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 30 BOYLSTON STREET; BOSTON, MA 02116 MÃY 19 Cambridge USGS Map #15 Cambridge, Mass. Iowa Cambridge MRA Address 12-16 Ouincy Street Historic Name Dana-Palmer House PHOTO: (3x3" or 3x5", black & white) staple to left side of form Photo aumber SKETCH MAP Show property's location ia relation to nearest cross stieets and/or geographical features. Indicate all buildings betwees investoried property and searest intessection. Indicate north. Use: Present residential Date Original DESCRIPTION: 1822 residential Source deed research StyleFederal/Greek Revival Architect Exterior wall fabric - wood Oucbuildings_ None Major alterations (with dates). Moved Yes Date 1947 Approx. acreage less than one acre Setting on the lawn between the Harvard Union and the Harvard Faculty Club. Recorded by T.Alduino Organization_Cambridge Historical Comm.
Date December 1985 UTM: 19/325860/ 4693150 USGS Quad: Boston South (Staple additional sbeecs bere) INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Cambridge, Mass. Mid-Cambridge Cambridge MRA Dana-Palmer House Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. Architectural Significance The Dana-Palmer House is a Federal style, hipped roof structure with an added Greek Revival porch. Details include a continuous balus- trade around the eaves, rounded bays under the porch and a fanlight over the front door. The Dana-Palmer House is significant under Criterion C for embodying the distinctive characteristics of the Federal style. It is one of two surviving structures on Quincy Street that recall the neighborhood's original residential quality.
Historical Significance The Dana-Palmer House originally stood on the present site of Lamont Library, a little knoll that was part of the fortification of Washington's camp during the Revolution. Originally part of the Goffe estate, the land descended to the Dana family in the early eighteenth century. Distinguished members of the family who occupied the house included Richard Henry Dana, Sr. (1787-1879), one of the founders and editors of the North American Review, and his son, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882), author of Two Years Before the Mast. In 1835 the property was bought by Harvard College and was eventually incorporated into Harvard Yard. Increased interest in astronomy due to the return of Halley's Comet in 1835 suggested to President Quincy that the Dana House could be used as an observatory by William C. Bond, later one of the origina- tors of astronomical photography.
The house served this function from 1839 to 1843, when the larger Sears Tower was built on Observatory Hill. Succeeding occupants included Professor of Greek Cornelius Felton; Rev. Frederic Huntington (1819-1904), first Plummer Professor of T Profeuimee Professor: Christian Morals; Dr. Andrew Peabody (1811-1893), also Plummer Professor; Professor William James (1842-1910); and George Herbert Palmer (1842- 1933), a professor of Philosophy who occupied the house for almost forty years. During World War II, the house was the home of President James Bryant Conant while the President's House was turned into the Headquarters for Naval Training at Harvard. When the house was moved in 1947, the octagonal transit room used first for the observatory and later as a library was removed and the house restored to its original dimensions.
The Dana-Palmer House meets Criterion B for its numerous asso- ciations with people significant to the history and development of Harvard College. Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET 'MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Conmumity: Cambriäge, Mass. Cambridge MRA Form No: Camorldge Multiple Property Name : Resource Area Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. Standard Bibliography - Cambridge Multiple Resource Nomination Bunting, Bainbridge, and Floyd, Margaret H., ed., Harvard, An Architectural History. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1985 Cambridge Historical Commission, Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Report One: East Cambridge (1965) Report Iwo: Mid Cambridge (1967) Report Three: Cambridgeport (1971) Report Four: old Cambridge (1973) Report Five: Northwest Cambridge (1977) Cambridge Historical Society, Proceedings. Cambridge, 1906-present Daughters of the American Revolution, Hannah Winthrop Chapter, An Historical Guide to Cambridge. Cambridge, 1907 Gilman, A., ed., Cambridge of Eighteen Hundred and Ninety Six. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, 1896 Paige, L.R., History of Cambridge. Boston: H.O Hougton and Company, 1877 Paige, L.R.; Gozzaldi, M.I., ed., History of Cambridge Supplement and Index. Cambridge: The Cambridge Historical Society, 1930 Rettig, R.B., Guide to Cambridge Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1969 Stillman, W.J., ed., Poetic Localities of Cambridge. Boston: James R.
Osgood and Company, 1876 Woods, R.A., and Kennedy, A.J.; Warner, S.B., ed., The Zone of Emergence. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1962 Zaitzevsky, C., with the advice of the Review Committee members, The Harvard University Study of Historic and Architectural Properties in the Environs of Cambridge, (April 1983 - December 1984) Staple to Inventory form at botton NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet Item number OMB No.1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only recelved date entered Page Multiple Resource Area Thematie Group Name State Cambridge Multiple Resource Atea MASSACHUSETTS Nomination/Type of Review 258yr 171. Cambridge Common Historic District (Boundary Increase) Substantire Revies 172.
Dana-Palmer House Suästantive Revtew Date/Signature Koltered MTationa keepan autmmaturees egissen Attest 6r)Keeper 1/26/8 173. Dunvegan, The Entered 1m National Rogister 174. Eliot Hall at Radcliffe College Entered in tlee National Register Aot 175. Follen Street Historic District Suastantive Revtew 176. Fogg Art Museum Entered in tlse National Rogister 177. Gray Gardens East and West H. Dist. Intiered Nationel Register Attest fsteeper latrik Anden 5/14/86 Bets> Suzg 514-8 Ailouaßzen 5t4186 Attest ofikeoper AcluuByu5t4/8 Attest fa Keeper latuck Andun 519/86 Attest ButsL. Sauge srra fukeeper to186 Attest ofüiteper elmßzanl 5t4186 Attest 178. Harvard Union untered in tackeeper Mational Ro autortent 1p26/8, 179. Hapgood, Richard, House Entored 1n bille National Regiater Attest Keeper AluBoyur s14/86 180.
Jarvis, The TrVo:3E 1X Natiome Regtster Attest - forteper 514/86 86001682 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Dana--Palmer House (Cambridge MRA) Middlesex County MASSA CHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: LJ sample aichilectmally signifiiat Substantive Review Jrequest Lappeal Working No._ APR 4 1986 Fed. Reg. Date: 213/87 Date Due: 5/1/86 - -5/19/86 Action: _LACCEPT ... 5-19-86 -RETURN -REJECT- Federal Agency: - IV NR decision Reviewer - Discipline_ Date - Andeus risterien 5/15/86 _ see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3.
Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? yes no 7. Description Condition excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one - unaltered altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one original site moved date 8. Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) Builder/Architect summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other pnac 9.
Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national state local State Historic Preservation Officer signature title date 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Signed - Date . Phone: GPO 918-450 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL COMMISSION PHOTOGRAPH By_CM SurLivAN No.
1263/51 _Date 3:12.86 Canbridee MRA, Ma DANA- PALMER HOUSE, WESTE SOUTA EACADES 134) HARVARD STREET QUINCY (507) N 8 Nº 26 50010 No 27 9r00 PRESCOTT rhruzt TTTT N6 31 16990 Ne9 7698 Ti6o ad)" (12(6» Ne 38 16.21 -700 Ne.20 a700 (70) (ee0 coge WARE Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge ,MRA DANA PALMER HOUSE 10825 No J 28307 (110.162 Nº 34 16060 (92.0)(007) Nº. 37 16818 (101.122 135 159 108.m 18835 No./1 6800 188:20 N6/9 63 GERQL CANTER (re020) 6638 STREET VISUAN STREET thsas STREET No 36 700 1060 Nº No. 15 Nas N6 30 M laypaypico 23 (41 BROADWAY CITY OF CAMBRIDGE Shate /-10 Deceader 197 Dimentons Fran Dred Land Che! Znycouri mhtdi(Mic) Dimensone Are Mrasured Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000275