BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
IRM 3- BUILING ISSACEUSETES EISTORICAL COMMISSION ) BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON, MA 02116 IM1a Cambridge USGS MAP +20 Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge MRA ess Corner of Quincv & Harvard Streets oric Name Harvard Union SKETC: MAP Show property's location in relation to nesrest cross streets and/or geographical feacures. Iadicate al1 buildings betwees investoried property and dearest intersection. Indicate gorth. : Preseat dining facility original dining facility and club house ESCRIPTION: 1900 iource building permit Style Neo-Georgian Architect McKim, Mead & White Estesior wall fabric , brick Oucbuildiags_ None Major alterations (with dates)_ Moved Date_ Approx. aczeage Setting_ East side of Quincy Street, opposite Lamont Library Recordedby T. Alduino Organization Cambridge Historical Comm.
Date December 1985 UTM: 19/325850/4693080 USGS Quad: Boston South (Staple additional sheets here) 111/2 Aeevaree Sa ter es buains ader ehe ecmra yeasures and (See Attached Sheet) (See Attached Sheet) BIBLIOCRAPHY and/or REPERENCES (nane of publication, author, date and publisher) Bunting, Bainbridge & Floyd, Margaret Henderson, ed. Harvard, An Architectural Hist017985, PP. 83-84. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of larvard University. Roth, Leland M. McKim, Mead & White, Architects. New Jork: Harper & Row, 19 , pp. 218-219. 10M - 1/8 414/86 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Cambridge, Mass. Mid-Cambridue _Cambridge MRA Harvard Union Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below.
Architectural Significance The design of the Harvard Union, McKim, Mead & White's first major building on the Harvard campus, reflects the firm's desire to in- tegrate the new building with its eighteenth century neighbors, as earlier evidenced in their Johnston Gate (1890). The Neo-Georgian Union with its limestone quoins and escutchions is more closely related to English Georgian rather than the American Colonial prototypes employed by the Coolidge office. -Of imposing scale, the Harvard Union makes good use of its small and difficult site to clearly define the boundary of the Harvard campus along Harvard Street, while maintaining a sense of scale with the smaller structures it faces along Quincy Street. This intimacy was further enhanced with the addition of the Varsity Club in 1911 by Thomas Mott Shaw.
The Harvard Union meets Criterion C of the National Register of Historic Places, as a significant example of the neo-Georgian style, typical of the Mckim office. Historical Significance The Harvard Union was erected with a gift of $150,000 from Mayor Henry Lee Higginson, who worked with the McKim office on a number of local projects including Boston's Symphony Hall. The Union was intended by its donor to provide an attractive gathering place for students not wealthy enough to afford the luxuries of a Gold Coast Club, as well as to commemorate the Harvard volunteers who died in the Spanish-American War. The Union's interiors incorporate sculpture, painting and carved heraldic paneling and provide an extension of the Enalish image envisioned by Ware & Van Brunt in Memorial Hall (1866-1878) and later employed by the Coolidge firm in its River Houses of the 1930's.
Staple to Inventory form at bottom 1/4/8 -ENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Cormmity: Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge MRA Form No: Cambrldge 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 Sames a. Osg0od andi compaiy, i8alitles of Cambridge. Boston: - 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 Camoridge, (April 1983 - December 1984) Staple to Inventory form at botiom 4/4/86 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Harvard Union (Cambridge MRA) Middlesex County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: sample Reviewer's comments: request Lappeal APR 4 1985 Working No. Fed. Reg.
Date: Date Due: 5/1/86 Action: L RETURN_ - REJECT Federal Agency: - 5/19/86 519-86 -NR decision Recom./Criteria Reviewer Discipline Date 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 J 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 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification Pleaa penile acuase 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 date title 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to _ Signed. XSyeu _ Date .
5/19/86 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Phone: _ GPO 918-450 MASSACHUSETTS EISTORICAL COMMISSION 30 BOYLSTON STREET; BOSTON, MA 02116 APR Cambridge 4 1986 USGS MAP .20 02 LL Cambridge, Mass. U J!!1 25 Towa Cambridge MRA Address Corner of Quincy Harvard Streets Historic Name Harvard Union MASS. HIST. COMM. PHOTO: (3x3" or 3x5", black & white staple to left side of form Photo number SKETCH MAP Show property's location in relation to nesrest cross streets and/or geographical features. Indicate all buildings betvees inventoried property and nearest intessection. Indicate gorth. Use: Presentdining facility Origizal dinine facility and club house DESCRIPTION: Date_ 1900 Source building permit Style_ Neo-Georgian Architect McKim, Mead & White Exterior wall fabric , brick Outbuildings None Major alterations (with dates) none Moved N/A Date N/A Approx.
acreage 1.17 acres Setting East side of Quincy Street, opposite Lamont Library Recorded by. T. Alduino Organization Cambridge Historical Comm. Date December 1985 UTM: 19/325850/4693080 USGS Quad: Boston South Vaeene A Tacmage Shpo 12/8/04 (Staple additional sbeets bere) 4/4/86 ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE (Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terns of other buildings within the cammmity.) (See Attached Sheet) (See Attached Sheet) BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES (name of publication, author, date and publisher) Bunting, Bainbridge & Floyd, Margaret Henderson, ed. Harvard, An Architectural History. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1985, pp. 83-84. Roth, Leland M. McKim, Mead & White, Architects. New York: Harper & Row, 19 , pp. 218-219.
1OM - 7/8: 4/4/18 INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Cambridge, Mass. Mid-Cambridye Cambridge MRA Harvard Union Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued below. Architectural Significance The design of the Harvard Union, MoKim, Mead & White's first major building on the Harvard campus, reflects the firm's desire to in- tegrate the new building with its eighteenth century neighbors, as earlier evidenced in their Johnston Gate (1890). The Neo-Georgian Union with its limestone quoins and escutchions is more closely related to English Georgian rather than the American Colonial prototypes employed by the Coolidge office.
Of imposing scale, the Harvard Union makes good use of its small and difficult site to clearly define the boundary of the Harvard campus along Harvard Street, while maintaining a sense of scale with the smaller structures it faces along Quincy Street. This intimacy was further enhanced with the addition of the Varsity Club in 1911 by Thomas Mott Shaw. The Harvard Union meets Criterion C of the National Register of Historic Places, as a significant example of the neo-Georgian style, typical of the MoKim office. Historical Significance The Harvard Union was erected with a gift of $150,000 from Mayor Henry Lee Higginson, who worked with the Mckim office on a number of local projects including Boston's Symphony Hall.
The Union was intended by its donor to provide an attractive gathering place for students not wealthy enough to afford the luxuries of a Gold Coast Club, as well as to commemorate the Harvard volunteers who died in the Spanish-American War. The Union's interiors incorporate sculpture, painting and carved heraldic paneling and provide an extension of the English image envisioned by Ware & Van Brunt in Memorial Hall (1866-1878) and later employed by the Coolidge firm in its River Houses of the 1930's. Staple to Inventory form at bottom INVENTORY FORM CONTINUATION SHEET MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Office of the Secretary, Boston Commmity: Form No: Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge MRA Property Name: Cambridge Multiple Resource Area Indicate each item on inventory form which is being continued belaw.
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 palge, .R.; Gozzaidi, 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 t/v/rs 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 received date entered Page Multiple Resource Area Thematic Group Name State Cambridge Multiple Resource Atea MASSACHUSETTS Nomination/Type of Review 250ye^ 171. Cambridge Common Historic District (Boundary Increase) Substantive Revies 172. Dana-Palmer House Substantive Revtew Date/Signature Jcttefed Hosdiona Retoe Attest 6) Keeper 126/8 173. Dunvegan, The Entered 1m National Register 174. Eliot Hall at Radcliffe College Entered im National Register M 175. Follen Street Historic District Suastantive Revtew 176. Fogg Art Museum Entered in tase Nationel Register 177. Gray Gardens East and West H. Dist. Enbered Nationel Register Attest fsteeper Attest ofsoper Attest fa Keeper Attest fukeeper Attest freeper Attest Latrick Andeu 5/14/86 Betzz Sunge 5148 Aibuapgenls14/86 AelmuByenst4/86 latuck Andus 5/19/86 Batsf. Sauge 5u48 Aebrußzal talt6 178.
Harvard Union intered in tackeeper Matioral automteaan 1p26/8, 179. Hapgood, Richard, House Entored 1n blle National Register Attest Keeper AelunByen $/4/80 180. Jarvis, The Baver Natiom Reeister Attest futreper Attest -18/16 RESUBMISSION 87000500 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Harvard Union (Cambridge MRA) Middlesex County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Working No. 4/4/86 Fed. Reg. Date: 2287 Date Due: _ 36/80 auto ler Action: _ACCEPT/-26 8/ snowday _RETURN REJECT_ Federal Agency: Substantive Review: sample request appeal -NR decision Reviewer's comments: byrn kenisicad Recom./Criteria accepkc Reviewer Discipline.
Date achitedtmal sastory 1-22-87 see continuation sheet Quiginal retum commenka have veen Nomination returned for: . _ technical corrections cited below adleguakely reckifiek. _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition Status Accessible Present Use 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 J excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one - unaltered - altered Check one - original site I moved date Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates - boundary selection 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 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 date title 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 canbridse MRA, ma CAMBRIDGE HISTORICAL COMMISSION PHOTOGRAPH By_Ll SuLuvAN No. 1263/84 Date 3-12-86 HATUARD UNION, LEST + SOUT FACIDES Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000275