To: Members of the Historical Commission

From: Charles Sullivan, Executive Director

Re: Case D-953: 452-458 Massachusetts Avenue (South Row, 1806)

An application to demolish the building at 452-458 Massachusetts Avenue was received on July 7, 2003. The applicant, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was notified of an initial determination of significance and a public hearing was scheduled for September 4.

South Row is a three-story, Federal-period commercial row located at 452-458 Massachusetts Avenue in the Cambridgeport section of the city. South Row stands opposite Lafayette Square, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Main Street. The property is identified as parcel 51, Assessors' Map 92. It contains 1,620 square feet of land and is currently assessed at $127,600.

South Row stands in a B-B zone, which ordinarily allows for business, general retail, and office use, at an FAR of 4.0 with a height limit of 120 feet. However, it is also in the Central Square Overlay District, which “requires review of development proposals that may negatively impact the area and the unique environment and character of the Square and the abutting residential neighborhoods. The maximum as of right building height is 55' and FAR is 3.0, with special permit processes allowing greater height and FAR for particular uses, design review and satisfying specific goals and objectives” (Cambridge Zoning Guide).

Projects requiring a special permit or variance must be reviewed by the Central Square Advisory Committee, which may advise the Planning Board to impose additional use, height, parking and setback limitations beyond those enumerated in the zoning code. The Overlay District also gives special status to properties that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Following are the criteria for issuance of special permits:

Standards for Issuance of Special Permits. In addition to the general standards for the issuance of a special permit found in Section 10.40 of the Zoning Ordinance, the special permit granting authority shall in addition make the following findings:
1. The proposed development is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Central Square Action Plan:
• encourage responsible and orderly development;
• strengthen the retail base to more completely serve the needs of the neighborhoods;
• preserve the Square’s cultural diversity;
• create active people oriented spaces;
• improve the physical, and visual environment;
• provide retail establishments that serve people of diverse economic and social groups who live in the surrounding neighborhoods;
• encourage the development of new mixed income housing; and
•promote compatible retail adjacent to residential uses.
2. The building and site designs are consistent with “Urban Design Plan for Central Square” as outlined in the “Central Square Action Plan” and the “Central Square Development Guidelines”;
3. The building and site designs adequately screen the parking provided and are sensitive to the contributing buildings in the vicinity;
4. No National Register or contributing building is demolished or so altered as to terminate or preclude its designation as a National Register or contributing building; and
5. No National Register or contributing building has been demolished or altered so as to terminate or preclude its designation within the five (5) years preceding the application (Section 11.305).

South Row is a contributing structure in the Central Square National Register District (1989) and therefore subject to the provisions of the Central Square Overlay Zone:

For the purpose of this Section 20.300 the following definitions shall apply:
1. National Register Building shall be a building individually listed or determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as determined by the Secretary of The Department of the Interior.
2. A contributing building shall be
a. Identified as a contributing building in a listed or eligible National Register District as determined by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior; or
b. A building located outside a National Register District but identified as a contributing building in the Central Square Development Guidelines.
However, a building shall no longer be considered a contributing building as defined in this Subsection 20.303 (2) for the purpose of this Section 20.300 if, upon application for a demolition permit, the Cambridge Historical Commission shall determine the building not to be a preferably preserved significant building as defined in the City of Cambridge Demolition Ordinance #965 [now Ch. 2.78, Article 2] (Section 11.303.3).

The condition of the South Row building is poor. There has been very little maintenance for many years, and past alternations have been destructive. The proponent will provide documentation of current conditions.

The proponent wishes to demolish the building in conjunction with construction of a “black box” theater for non-profit use. The initial intent of the project was to renovate South Row for continued use, and construct a theater behind it. The proponent now considers the building to be unsalvageable, but has not provided plans for the replacement structure.

Description

South Row is the surviving third of a Federal-period mixed-use row. The building once extended as far as Brookline Street, and consisted of a pair of hip-roof dwellings connected by a four-unit gable-roofed row house fronting on Massachusetts Avenue. The building formed a U-shaped plan and was sited directly on the sidewalk. Each of the wings displayed the characteristic five-bay facade organization of Federal period dwellings. The westernmost wing and three row house units were demolished in 1929 and 1933. The surviving wing still reveals the original five-bay organization of the east facade, although some windows and the elliptical arched entrance have been bricked in. The foundation consists of granite blocks and rubble stone.

The Massachusetts Avenue facade of the single surviving row house has sustained a number of alterations. In 1923 the second story windows were replaced by a picture window encompassing the original openings. The storefronts, referred to in early documents as "bow window shops", were repeatedly altered. After the demolition of the western half of the building, a range of one-story commercial buildings was erected next door. The present west elevation of South Row, exposed at the time of the demolition, has been clad with corrugated sheet metal.

The Massachusetts Avenue facade of South Row was clad in stucco prior to 1910. Cast stone quoins size delineate the corner and division of the Massachusetts Avenue facade, and are a twentieth century addition. The stucco was not applied to the side or rear elevations, where early brickwork can still be seen. The brick on the east elevation appears to have been replaced many years ago; the brick on the south and north elevations (under the stucco on the latter) appears to be original. A parapet defines the interior division of the building.

A series of ells consisting of crude, one- and two-story, flat and shed-roofed additions of concrete block and corrugated metal were considered not significant and were removed in the 1990s. The interior of the first floor has been demolished, and steel installed to reinforce the structure, which has been vacant since the late 1990s.

History

A. Historic Development Patterns

South Row is located on the extensive early Cambridgeport landholdings of Chief Justice Francis Dana (1743–1811). Referred to in eighteenth century deeds and tax records as "a range of brick stores" and "the brick block called South Row" the structure was built by Dana in 1806. From the outset, South Row appears to have been used for both residential and commercial purposes, with stores on the ground floor and living quarters above.

South Row may be the work of local housewright Jonas Gleason, the probable builder of the Opposition House in 1806. This structure was constructed by Dana and a number of other real estate investors to halt the construction of Harvard Street, which they feared would divert traffic from Massachusetts Avenue. Immediately after South Row was completed, Dana deeded the western half to Gleason, but retained ownership of the eastern half. Ownership of the eastern half passed back and forth between Judge Dana and one of his sons, Francis Dana Jr., during 1806 and 1807. At the time of Judge Dana's death in 1811, an inventory of his Cambridge real estate still included this property, which was described as standing on an eleven-acre parcel bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, a dike, a canal, and a private road. Dana’s estate did not include the western half of the building.

Surviving rental agreements document the occupations of some South Row tenants. Among these were a cabinetmaker and a watchmaker. Notes and account books of Francis Dana dated 1808 indicate that by this time he was having difficulty renting South Row and in selling his other Cambridgeport land. The declining economy of the period had slowed real estate activity considerably.

At the time of Dana's death in 1811 he was discouraged by his inability to dispose of his extensive Cambridge real estate holdings. Most of his property was inherited by his six children. Sections of South Row were acquired by two sons, Edmund Trowbridge Dana and Richard Henry Dana I (the father of the author). Edmund T. Dana sold part of his share in 1817 to Samuel Mason, a housewright. In 1844, Richard Henry Dana sold his portion of South Row to Samuel Mason's son, William Albert Mason, a well-known Cambridge surveyor and civil engineer.

W.A. Mason in turn sold the property to James W. Packer of Greenland, New Hampshire. The property reverted to the Dana family in 1867 when Packer sold it to Isabella H. Dana. Isabella Dana retained ownership until 1913, when it was sold to Charles McCarthy. Over the next sixty years the property changed hands a number of times. It was acquired by Albert Lynch in 1923, Joseph Marcellino in 1945, and Vincent Marcellino in 197l. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology purchased this parcel and others from Vincent Marcellino for $135,000 in 1980.

The building has been in continuous commercial use since the time of its construction. Over the years there have been a number of alterations to the original storefronts. Most recently, the ground floor of 452 Massachusetts Avenue housed a tavern known as the Bradford Cafe. The O.R.T. Value Center, a thrift shop, occupied the storefront at 456 Massachusetts Avenue, with Mrs. Donna, a "spiritual adviser", occupying the upper floors.

B. Development History of the Parcel and Surroundings

From the time of the first settlement in 1630 until 1793, when the West Boston Bridge opened, the vicinity of South Row consisted of salt marshes, woodland and pasture. The primary village in Cambridge continued to be at Harvard Square, and present Massachusetts Avenue was a rural lane that ended in the marshes near Lafayette Square. Francis Dana maintained an estate in the vicinity of present day Dana Street, but owned considerable land in Cambridgeport, including that on which South Row now stands.

Francis Dana was one of the eminent lawyers of his day and an incorporator of the West Boston Bridge over the Charles River. When completed in 1793, the bridge provided direct access to Boston and sparked decades of real estate speculation in Cambridgeport. Up until this time only four houses had been built in Cambridge east of Prescott Street. After the opening of the bridge, traffic along the causeway generated businesses such as inns, taverns and stables. The original commercial center of the new village grew up at Lafayette Square, with a Unitarian meetinghouse on the site of the former Shell station.

Dana speculated extensively in real estate, and soon acquired most of Cambridgeport between Massachusetts Avenue and the B.U. Bridge. In the early 19th century he began to subdivide his holdings. A Peter Tufts plan of 1822 shows the block where South Row now stands, bounded by Massachusetts Avenue, Canal (Brookline) Street, a forty foot way which corresponds to present-day Green Street, and a section of a 600-foot-long dike on the east, divided into ten small lots, all owned by members of the Dana family, with the exception of two small lots owned by Samuel Mason.

The economic success of Dana’s investment is hard to judge. By 1854 a dozen structures had been built in the vicinity, but the open land to the south and east still remained largely undeveloped. After the Civil War the neighborhood acquired a strongly commercial and industrial character. Next to South Row stood the large bakery and oven house of the Kennedy Cracker Bakery, a forerunner of the Kennedy Biscuit Company, which had been established in 1839. Beyond the bakery complex stood a large blacksmith shop. Further to the east was the first public school in Cambridgeport. The interior of the block facing Green Street contained a "horse infirmary", a coffin factory and a pulpit factory. Across Massachusetts Avenue was a large group of buildings that comprised Henry Thayer's Chemical Laboratory. By 1894 a fire station had been built on the site of the school. The bakery was replaced by a five-story brick apartment hotel in 1890, but baking continued in a brick factory one block to the south.

As the century progressed, the east end of Central Square became increasingly dependent on neighborhood trade. Lafayette Square lost the Unitarian meetinghouse in 1888 and found its middle-class population replaced by immigrants. After 1920 the most common form of commercial construction came to be the one-story concrete storefront. It was with just such a structure that the westernmost half of South Row was replaced circa 1930.

Significance

South Row is the oldest surviving building in the Central Square National Register District. It is notable as the only extant structure associated with the early development of Cambridgeport after the construction of the West Boston Bridge. As a commercial building dating from the Federal period, South Row is a type that is exceedingly rare in Cambridge. It is one of two buildings associated with Francis Dana that survive from this period (the other being the Opposition House, 2-4 Hancock Place).

Francis Dana (1743-1811) was the scion of an early Cambridge family, and one of the more illustrious residents of his day. An eminent lawyer, he served as a Minister to France and an emissary to the court of Catherine the Great of Russia. Among his friends and associates were Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Harrison Gray Otis, Elbridge Gerry and John Singleton Copley. Dana was also a five-time delegate to the Continental Congress and an elector of the President in 1789. He was a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1785–1806), becoming chief justice in 1791. Dana was married to Elizabeth Ellery of Newport, Rhode Island, the daughter of William Ellery, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Dana's estate stood near present day Dana Street, and in keeping with the practice of his time, he maintained large tracts of agricultural land in Cambridgeport. By the end of the eighteenth century Dana had acquired almost half the land in Cambridgeport south of present day Massachusetts Avenue.

Dana was an incorporator of the West Boston Bridge, and following its completion in 1793 he engaged in real estate speculation near Lafayette Square. At that time he subdivided part of his extensive holdings on the south side of Massachusetts Avenue between Pearl and Magazine Streets into building lots. Dana built South Row anticipating that its shops and living quarters would generate a handsome rental income. Dana hoped to attract tenants from the many tradesmen and merchants drawn to the area by its commercial potential. Unfortunately the Embargo Acts of 1807 and 1809 and the War of 1812 prevented the escalation of real estate values that Dana had ardently hoped for.

Recommendations

South Row is automatically significant under the demolition delay ordinance because of its status as a contributing building in the Central Square National Register District, but it is also important as a unique example of a Federal period commercial building in Cambridgeport and for its associations with Judge Francis Dana. Additionally, the building is significant for its associations with the broad economic and social history of the city.

The condition of South Row is poor, but the importance of the building is such that every effort should be made to preserve it. Demolition of the building, even if it were replaced by a replica, would be a significant loss to the city. I recommend that South Row be found preferably-preserved, and that the Commission consider initiating a landmark designation study for the property. Following this action, the Commission could evaluate M.I.T.’s plans for its replacement in the context of an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness or Hardship.