Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Henry Van Brunt won a design competi-
tion for Memorial Hall, which was con-
structed for a total cost of $390,000
(most of it donated by alumni). The col-
orful tower is a replica of the original,
which was destroyed by fire in 1956 and
rebuilt in 1999.
Facing in the same direction you were when you
entered, walk through the transept and exit
onto Kirkland Street. Turn left and quickly right,
onto Oxford Street. One block up on the right,
at 26 Oxford St., you'll see an entrance to the:
$
Harvard Museum of
Natural History
Adjoining the
Peabody Museum of
Archaeology & Ethnology
at 11 Divin-
ity Ave., the Museum of Natural History
entertainingly presents the university's
collections and research relating to
the natural world. See p. 165 for a full
description.
Leave through the back door of 11
Divinity Ave. and look around. Across
the street at 6 Divinity Ave. is the
Semitic
Museum
(
&
617/495-4631
), where the
second- and third-floor galleries hold dis-
plays of archaeological artifacts and pho-
tographs from the Near and Middle East.
Horace Trumbauer, the architect of
Widener Library, designed the building
next door, 2 Divinity Ave. It's home to
the
Harvard-Yenching Institute,
which
promotes East Asian studies and facili-
tates scholar-exchange programs. For
every person who can tell you that, there
are several thousand who know this
building for the pair of
Chinese stone
lions
flanking the front door.
Turn right and return to Kirkland Street, then go
right. You'll pass Memorial Hall as you proceed
to the intersection of Kirkland and Oxford
streets. At Zero Oxford St. is the university's:
%
Science Center
The 10-story monolith is said to resemble
a Polaroid camera (Edwin H. Land,
founder of the Polaroid Corporation, was
one of its main benefactors). The Spanish
architect Josep Lluís Sert designed the
Science Center, which opened in 1972.
Sert, the dean of the university's Graduate
School of Design from 1953 to 1969, was
a disciple of Le Corbusier (who designed
the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts).
On the plaza between the Science Center
and the Yard is the
Tanner Rock Foun-
tain,
a group of 159 New England boul-
ders arranged around a small fountain.
Since 1985 this has been a favorite spot
for students to relax and watch unsus-
pecting passersby get wet: The fountain
sprays a fine mist, which begins slowly
and gradually intensifies.
TAKE A BREAK
The
main level of the Science
Center
is open to the public and
has several options if you want a
soft drink, gourmet coffee, or sandwich. Go
easy on the sweets, though, in anticipation
of the next break.
Leave the Science Center near the fountain and
turn right. Keeping the underpass on your left,
follow the walkway for the equivalent of 1
1
⁄
2
blocks as it curves around to the right. The Har-
vard Law School campus is on your right. You're
back at Mass. Ave. Cross carefully to:
^
Cambridge Common
Memorials and plaques dot this well-used
plot of greenery and bare earth. Follow
the sidewalk along Mass. Ave. to the left,
and after a block or so you'll walk near or
over horseshoes embedded in the con-
crete. This is the path William Dawes,
Paul Revere's fellow alarm-sounder, took
from Boston to Lexington on April 18,
1775. Turn right onto Garden Street and
continue following the Common for 1
block. On your right you'll see a monu-
ment marking the place where General
George Washington took control of the
Continental Army on July 3, 1775. The
elm under which he reputedly assumed
command is no longer standing.
