Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District
Welcome to the home page for the Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Boundaries
The Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District (NCD) encompasses two neighborhoods, formerly each designated as separate districts. The district is located west of Harvard Square between Brattle Street and the river, with Hilliard Street on the east and Lowell Street on the west. The district is bisected by Longfellow Park, which is part of the Old Cambridge Historic District. The NCD contains approximately 200 buildings.
Administration
The District is regulated by the Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District Commission, a group of volunteer Cambridge citizens appointed by the City Manager.
The Commission encourages property owners, contractors, architects, developers, or anyone working on a project within the District to contact staff during the planning stages of the project. If you are planning a project within the District, please e-mail Eric Hill or call the office at 617.349-4688 or by TTY: 617.349-6112. To learn more about Certificates and the review process, please visit the Districts & Historic Properties page.
Frequently Downloaded Files:
- A Certificate of Non-Applicability will be issued for work done in kind (work which matches existing conditions exactly), interior alterations, alterations not visible from any public way, and any other work which does not require review by the neighborhood conservation district commission. These certificates are generally issued by the Historical Commission staff on-the-spot.
- A Certificate of Appropriateness will be issued for reviewable alterations which the neighborhood conservation district commission deems not incongruous to the character of the property in question.
- Occasionally, a Certificate of Hardship will be issued for work which is not otherwise appropriate if the Commission determines that failure to approve an application would entail a substantial hardship, financial or otherwise, and that the work would not be a significant detriment to the district.
One of these certificates is always necessary to obtain a building permit for work in a neighborhood conservation district. All of the Commission's regulatory approvals have a life of six months. This means that the owner of the property has six months, from the date a certificate is issued, to obtain a building permit. Upon written request, the chair of the Commission may issue a six-month extension. If an extension is not issued, the owner must resubmit the Application for Certificate for the Commission's review.
Decennial Review:
The City Council enabled the establishment of neighborhood conservation districts (NCDs) in 1983 so residents could work with the Cambridge Historical Commission to develop area-specific protections more effective than zoning and more flexible than historic districts. The Half Crown-Marsh NCD consists of two previously separate districts:
- The Half Crown NCD (east of Longfellow Park), containing approximately 75 properties, was authorized in 1984 in reaction to unrelenting commercial development pressure in Harvard Square and its encroachment into the residential neighborhood.
- The Marsh NCD (west of Longfellow Park) protects approximately 147 wood-frame residential buildings largely comprising of worker’s cottages from the mid-19th century. Designated in 2000, the Marsh district grew out of neighborhood concern over the filing of four demolition permit applications for historic houses over a 1½-year period between September 1997 and March 1999.
The Half Crown-Marsh (HCM) Neighborhood Conservation District was established in 2007, following a consolidation study in 2006 of the two previously distinct NCDs.
A recent amendment to Article 2.78 of the Municipal Code, the enabling ordinance which governs the Neighborhood Conservation Districts, has required routine decennial reviews of all said districts. The 10-year report will include a study of neighborhood demographics and any trends, a summary of the activities of the NCD over the previous decade, and guidance on recommended changes to the boundaries, guidelines, and/or procedures of the NCD, if there are any.
The Half Crown-Marsh NCD Commission is made up of volunteer neighborhood residents of varied backgrounds who collectively review building permits and applications for a Certificate of Appropriateness for new construction, demolitions, and certain alterations to publicly visible facades in the district. The commission does not review most repairs, paint colors, building use, or interior alterations. Since January 1, 2013, the Half Crown Commission and/or CHC Staff has reviewed 462 applications. Of these 462 applications, 96.9% (449) were granted Certificates of Appropriateness, Non-Applicability or Hardship, and were approved.
A public meeting was held on May 20th via Zoom where CHC staff presented slides and a history on the last ten years of work by the Commission. The slideshow can be found here.
To stay up to date on the Decennial Review process or to reach out with questions or comments regarding the district and its review, contact Eric Hill at ehill@cambridgema.gov