"The Garage" | 36 JFK Street | Harvard Square | Cambridge

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bigpicture7

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I was surprised not to find any mentions of this on aB (and apologies if I missed it). I thought about posting this to the Harvard Square infill thread, but given the footprint and landmark-esque nature of it, figured it might deserve its own thread.

Story from Cambridge Day
Story from Boston Globe

Images, Bruner/Cott Architects:
HSQ_G1.png


HSQ_G2.png


The gist:
Harvard Square's "The Garage" Mall may be getting a full-gut/total overhaul. Prelim plans look to be adding office space above, and keeping retail on lower level(s) (30% retail / 70% office, per Cambridge Day). Seems like that quirky interior ramp is a gonner.

On the bright side, it seems like there will be some restoration/rebuild of historic features on the Mt. Auburn St. side (see the brick gable in the first image above) from when this housed horse-trolley stables dating to 1860. On the sad side (for me anyway), the weird interior seems to be headed for history's dustbin; also, I can't tell if the upper office floors are going to look pretty generic/lame.
 
Well, crumb, another group of quirky, unique shops in Harvard Square gets replaced by chain stores and a Disneyesque facade on Mt. Auburn Street that is supposed to look like an old trolley car barn. Okaaaay....
 
Charlie_mta said:
Well, crumb, another group of quirky, unique shops in Harvard Square gets replaced by chain stores and a Disneyesque facade on Mt. Auburn Street that is supposed to look like an old trolley car barn. Okaaaay....
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There haven't been quirky shops to speak of in there in quite a while. Ever since I've lived in Cambridge (2014) the interior has been a hemp store and sadness. There might have been potential for a Bow Market clone here, but I'm not sure the infrastructure of the building would support all the kitchens.

The brick bits of this are quite nice-looking (I wouldn't call the brick gable "Disney" - it fooled me into opening Streetview because I didn't remember that being there). The stuff above not so much. I think the terra cotta color is a mistake. Just be a different color and stop trying to fool people.
 
the garage hasn't really been what lifers/locals think of when they think of the garage for a looooong time. if they were talking about dismantling the garage of my youth, i'd be up in arms, but as Equilibria noted (quite nicely, i might add) the place has been "a hemp store and sadness" for a while now. the ramp shape of the interior is unique, yes, but i think it's a fair call to say that this property needs an overhaul. i don't begrudge the owner wanting to make significant change at all. plus the streetwall experience on dunster and, in particular, mt. auburn sucks and always has -- this redesign can address that postiively.
 
JeffDowntown said:
Does the Cambridge Planning Department have a full office dedicated to ruining Harvard Square?
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when we lost the tasty and wursthaus to a pac sun and a fine watch store, it was clear the end was nigh and that was in 1998.
 
Equilibria said:
There haven't been quirky shops to speak of in there in quite a while. Ever since I've lived in Cambridge (2014) the interior has been a hemp store and sadness. There might have been potential for a Bow Market clone here, but I'm not sure the infrastructure of the building would support all the kitchens.

The brick bits of this are quite nice-looking (I wouldn't call the brick gable "Disney" - it fooled me into opening Streetview because I didn't remember that being there). The stuff above not so much. I think the terra cotta color is a mistake. Just be a different color and stop trying to fool people.
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I was thinking of Newbury Comics as one of the quirky shops that will probably go away As for the trolley car barn replica, it really looks artificial and silly. And does everything new around Harvard Square have to be brick? Its like everything built in the last decade or so has to tread carefully to not disturb this obsessive faux-colonial look for the Harvard Square area. Why? A modern glass building instead of the trolley car barn would have been a nice relief to all the brick and provide a good segue to Holyoke Center,
 
Blackbird said:
Newbury Comics is quirky, but it’s not unique to the square at all.
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Yea, but it's the type of local / non-national-chain establishment that tends to disappear when these kinds of redevelopment projects happen.
 
bigpicture7 said:
Yea, but it's the type of local / non-national-chain establishment that tends to disappear when these kinds of redevelopment projects happen.
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I think it's been pretty well done in by music streaming already, though. I've been assuming it would be closed each time I walked by.
 
I appreciate this isn't yet another brain dead box, but that design is getting pushed and pulled in about five too many directions. The restored gable is a great idea but it's immediately overwhelmed by the severe metal wall above it doing its best Holyoke impression. Either recess the wall a bit (not gonna happen) or simplify the design there.
 
Pretty much all the best quirky stalls in the Garage lost to Amazon and friends.
 
Wasn't that the location of the Spaghetti Emporium, or some such? The food was lousy (for my Italian American tastes) but it was innovative at the time to offer cheap and filling meals way before ersatz Italian chains came into being. If you recall it's opening, then you're over 65!
 
20+ years ago my friends are I would take the bus to Harvard, browse the tannery, newbury comics, and grab “the special” at cafe A. I think it was something like $3.25 for 2 slices of cheese/roni and a soda. Sigh. Harvard isn’t special anymore.
 
If by sadness you mean tatoo shops, the Newbury Comics, and the Anime shop -------
 
ra84970 said:
If by sadness you mean tatoo shops, the Newbury Comics, and the Anime shop -------
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I can't speak for the tattoo parlors or the anime shop, but the Newbury Comics is absolutely one of the saddest stores I've been in (before Covid).
 
bakgwailo said:
Is the Anime shop what became of Man from Atlantis?
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Not sure if theres a direct lineage, I think Tokyo Kid evolved from Man from Atlantis, but I'm not sure if the current store (Anime Zakka) has a direct line from Tokyo Kid.
 
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