The Old Cambridge Historic District is a historic district encompassing a residential neighborhood of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

that dates to colonial times. It is located just west of Harvard Square, and includes all of the properties on Brattle Street west of Mason Street to Fresh Pond Parkway, all of the properties on Mason Street and Elmwood Avenue, and nearby properties on Craigie Street. The district includes five

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

s: Elmwood, the

Reginald A. Daly House The Reginald A. Daly House is a historic house located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a National Historic Landmark, notable for its association with Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957), an eminent geologist, Penrose Medal winner, and Harva ...

, the

Oliver Hastings House The Oliver Hastings House is a historic house Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is a National Historic Landmark, noted as an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture. It was the home of Oliver Hastings, a local builder. The house was const ...

, the

Mary Fiske Stoughton House The Mary Fiske Stoughton House is a National Historic Landmark house at 90 Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Henry Hobson Richardson designed the house in 1882 in what is now called the Shin ...

, and the

Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site The Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House and, until December 2010, Longfellow National Historic Site) is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge ...

, as well as several other houses listed separately on the National Register. The district follows the general route of the Watertown Path, an early colonial road that supposedly followed a Native American trail. This portion of the way became known as Tory Row during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, because many of the fine mansions lining it were owned by Loyalists. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it continued by a fashionable location, and now features a number of architecturally significant buildings. It includes 215 contributing buildings and one other contributing sites over an area of . One included building is the Cambridge Historical Society's offices, which are in the NRHP-listed Hooper-Lee Nichols House, located at 159 Brattle Street. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

(NRHP) in 1983. It abuts a number of other historic districts, including the

Cambridge Common Historic District The Cambridge Common Historic District is a historic district encompassing one of the oldest parts of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is centered on the Cambridge Common, which was a center of civic activity in Cambridge after its founding in 163 ...

, the Ash Street Historic District, and the

Berkeley Street Historic District The Berkeley Street Historic District is a historic district on Berkeley Street and Berkeley Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It encompasses a neighborhood containing one of the greatest concentrations of fine Italianate and Second Empire hous ...

References

External links

Cambridge Historical Society
official website {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Harvard Square National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts

See also

References

External links