Harvard Square Painters — Harvard Square, Cambridge

The commercial core is covered by the Harvard Square Conservation District, roughly bounded by Massachusetts Avenue and Mount Auburn, Eliot, Bennett, Story and Church streets. Directly west, the Half Crown-Marsh Neighborhood Conservation District runs from Brattle Street toward the river between Hilliard and Lowell streets and holds about 200 buildings. Most of Brattle Street, the Common and parts of Harvard Yard fall in the Old Cambridge Historic District, where the rules are strictest.

That split matters for color. The Old Cambridge district reviews every exterior change, and the Historical Commission lists paint and roof color by name. The Half Crown-Marsh commission, by contrast, says it does not review most repairs or paint colors. In the Commission's 2019 draft study report on the Harvard Square district, staff cite the city ordinance as excluding exterior color from review in all neighborhood conservation districts.

The housing here is old even by Cambridge standards. In Census Tract 3541, which includes 1 Bennett Street and 24 Ash Street just west of the Square, 62.3% of the 1,273 homes date from 1939 or earlier and only 15 were built after 1999. It's a mixed tract: 16.8% of units are detached houses, while 28.1% sit in buildings of 20 to 49 units. Of the occupied homes, 57.3% are lived in by their owners.

The study report describes the Mount Auburn Street area, called the Gold Coast, as first built up as a residential neighborhood between the 1830s and 1860s. Most of its buildings are masonry, yet the report singles out surviving wood-frame houses there and early 19th-century houses tucked between dormitories and clubs.

Know your district before you pick colors

Inside the Old Cambridge Historic District, exterior colors need Historical Commission approval, and gutters, storm windows and storm doors are reviewed too. A few blocks away in Half Crown-Marsh, the same color change needs no review. Look up the address on the city's historic-property page or call Commission staff first.

Brick and stone that should stay bare

The 2019 draft Harvard Square study report says the Square "contains many outstanding examples of brick masonry construction" and proposes that painting brick, stone or concrete there require a Certificate of Appropriateness. For a mixed wood-and-brick building, the painter's scope should name which surfaces get coated and which only get masked.

Wood buildings under artificial siding

Discussing the Bow and Arrow streets area, the same report notes that some wood-frame buildings there and elsewhere were covered with artificial siding, and calls their original character easily recoverable. If you're taking siding off an older house, budget for repairing and priming the wood underneath before any finish coat.

Pre-1980 paint layers

In Tract 3541, 98.8% of homes were built before 1980. Scraping, sanding or removing old trim and sash should follow lead-safe practices, whether the work is outside on a porch or inside an apartment.