A Historic New Home

Designed by Isaac Melvin, a local nineteenth-century architect, in the Greek Revival style with Egyptian Revival details, the former North Prospect Church was first constructed in 1845. Originally located in Harvard Square, on the current site of Harvard’s Littauer Center, the building was moved to Porter Square by oxen-drawn wagons in 1866. On its new site at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Roseland Street, the church was raised onto an artificial mound in order to add a lower floor. Monumental stairs and a driveway were added to the hill to provide access to the front doors - now over a story above their original height. Subsequent additions, completed in later decades, included a chancel and transepts, part of which housed the pastor’s office and a boiler room. In the 1960s, lightning struck the church’s cupola which burned and was replaced with the present eight-faced steeple.

Bruner/Cott has developed a proposal that preserves the historic church as a centerpiece of the new Art Institute. These plans have been shared with the Cambridge Historical Commission and form the basis for conversations on how best to safeguard the church's architectural and urban integrity. A key component of the plan involves restoring the building to the original architect’s vision, bringing its front doors back down to the sidewalk where they are more accessible and welcoming to the community. Moved within the site to the south, the restored church would house AIB’s extensive Art Library.

The use of the historic structure as a library would open the building to the public and welcome the community. It would also allow the interior space and its windows to be preserved and restored. Lowered and moved closer to the sidewalk, the church would have a more prominent place, both visually and experientially, in the Square and on the Avenue.