Harvard Square Walking Tour: A Self-Guided Cambridge Route Through Colonial and Victorian History

"The Red Line's Harvard station opened on March 23, 1912, when the subway's first section ran from Park Street under the Charles River to Cambridge. The glass-and-metal kiosk on the traffic island was built as a subway headhouse in 1928 and later served for decades as a newsstand. Nearby is the Harvard Square Information Kiosk and the plaza where Massachusetts Avenue meets Brattle and JFK Streets, which has been the commercial center of Cambridge since the 1800s."

Start here to get your bearings: the Yard's brick wall and Johnston Gate are directly across Massachusetts Avenue. The Square is busiest on weekend afternoons, with street performers and tour groups. If you want the Yard quiet, start before 10 a.m.

"Harvard was founded in 1636, and Massachusetts Hall (1720) is its oldest surviving building. In 1775 it housed Continental Army soldiers. Johnston Gate (1889) was designed by McKim, Mead & White. Inside, Daniel Chester French's 1884 bronze of John Harvard sits in front of Charles Bulfinch's granite University Hall (1815). Its inscription reads 'John Harvard, Founder, 1638,' which is wrong on both counts: he was a benefactor, not the founder, and the college dates to 1636. Widener Library (1915), by Horace Trumbauer, was given by Eleanor Elkins Widener in memory of her son Harry, who died on the Titanic in 1912."

Enter through Johnston Gate and walk toward the John Harvard statue, then continue to the Widener steps. The Yard is open to the public, free of charge, but Widener's reading rooms are restricted to Harvard ID holders. Skip rubbing the statue's foot for luck; it's a tourist ritual and the line can be long on weekends.

"Memorial Hall, at 45 Quincy Street, honors Harvard men who died fighting for the Union in the Civil War. Its cornerstone was laid in 1870, and it was finished in 1878 to designs by William Robert Ware and Henry Van Brunt, in polychrome Victorian Gothic. The original tower was lost to a fire in 1956, and a replacement was completed decades later. The building holds Sanders Theatre, a wood-paneled auditorium, and Annenberg Hall, the freshman dining hall."

Walk around the exterior to see the banded brick and stone in the transept. The memorial vestibule with the names of the Union dead is sometimes open to visitors, but check before you go, since hours depend on the academic calendar. On a Sunday the building may be closed, so treat the exterior as the main attraction.

"The Carpenter Center at 24 Quincy Street opened in 1963 and is the only building in North America designed by Le Corbusier. Its poured concrete form is built around an S-shaped ramp that rises through the middle of the building, and the structure sits on pilotis, the columns he favored. It stands across the street from the red brick of the Georgian Revival buildings around it, which is a striking contrast, and some people still debate it."

Walk up the ramp for free and look at the brise-soleil (sun-breaker) fins along the facade. The ramp is open to the public, though the galleries inside have their own hours. The concrete is weather-stained in places, so look at it on an overcast day rather than expecting a clean modernist photo.

"The Old Burying Ground, entered from Garden Street beside Massachusetts Avenue, was in use from 1635 into the early 1800s. Henry Dunster, Harvard's first president, is buried there, as are Revolutionary War soldiers and several enslaved people. The slate headstones carry winged skulls, a typical New England mortuary motif. Next to it, the First Parish in Cambridge meetinghouse at 3 Church Street is a stone Gothic Revival building from 1833, designed by Isaiah Rogers."

The cemetery is free and open from dawn to dusk, with a small interpretive sign at the gate. Slate stones are fragile, so don't do gravestone rubbings. The ground is uneven and muddy after rain.

"Christ Church, at Zero Garden Street, was completed in 1761 and designed by Peter Harrison, who also designed King's Chapel in Boston and the Touro Synagogue in Newport. It is a wooden Georgian building. Its Loyalist-leaning congregation fled in 1774, and Continental soldiers were quartered in the church. George and Martha Washington attended a service here on December 31, 1775. Cambridge Common, where Washington's army camped, is right across the street."

The exterior is worth the stop even if the doors are closed. On a Sunday the church holds services, so go inside only for worship or if the building is open for visitors. Afterward, cross to Cambridge Common, which is free, and read the plaque about the army's camp.

"The Georgian house at 105 Brattle Street was built in 1759 for John Vassall, a wealthy Loyalist, on the street later called Tory Row. George Washington used it as his headquarters from July 1775 to April 1776. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow first rented a room in 1837, and Nathan Appleton bought him the house as a wedding gift in 1843. Longfellow lived there until his death in 1882, and the National Park Service now runs it."

The grounds and the formal garden are free and usually open daylight hours. House tours are seasonal and may be limited by late October, so check nps.gov for current hours before you plan around them. The walk along Brattle Street is the best part: look for the wooden Georgian and Victorian houses set back from the road.

"Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage, at 1246 Massachusetts Avenue, has been a Harvard Square burger place since 1960 and is one of the Square's long-running family businesses. The menu is built around large burgers named after politicians and public figures, with the names updated over the years. The thick onion rings and the frappes are the standard accompaniments. It stands in the commercial stretch of Massachusetts Avenue that grew up along Harvard's southern edge."

Expect a line at lunch and on weekends, and the space is small and cramped. Check Sunday hours before you plan to eat here, since the restaurant has historically had a limited schedule. Burgers are large, and sharing a side of onion rings is enough for two.