Brattle Street (Cambridge, Massachusetts) facts for kids
Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was once known as the "King's Highway" or "Tory Row" before the American Revolutionary War. This street is famous for its many historic buildings. For example, it has a modern glass-and-concrete building that used to be the Design Research store. It also has an old Georgian mansion where both George Washington and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lived, though at different times.
In 1913, a writer named Samuel Atkins Eliot described the old mansions on Brattle Street's "Tory Row." He said the area was "not only one of the most beautiful but also one of the most historic streets in America." He also noted that it has always been a very fancy address.
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How Brattle Street Began
Even before the town called "Newe Towne" (which is now Cambridge) was built, there was a path here. This path went from Charlestown to Watertown. It passed near where Harvard Square is today and continued west along much of what is now Brattle Street. This was the first main road from the coast into the country.
In the early 1600s, Newe Towne had a row of six houses. Behind them was a thick forest. The path through this forest became Brattle Street. At the spot where Ash Street meets Brattle Street today, there was once Newe Towne's West Gate. This was a fence built to keep farm animals from wandering into town.
Brattle Street in the 1700s and "Tory Row"
During the 1700s, seven large houses were built along the main road to Watertown. This road included both modern Brattle Street and Elmwood Avenue. Many of the people who owned these houses were Loyalists during the American Revolution. Loyalists were people who stayed loyal to the British king. Because of this, these houses became known as "Tory Row."
During and after the Revolution, George Washington's army took over many of these houses. However, some were later given back to the families who owned them before the war.
Even as these grand houses were being built, the forest was still very close to Cambridge. In 1759, a Harvard student wrote that "many bears" were killed in Cambridge. He also said that "several persons" were hurt by them around that time. In the same year, the house at 105 Brattle Street was built.
William Brattle, a leader of the local army, was once the richest man in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The street is thought to be named after him. He had the house at 42 Brattle Street built in 1727. Brattle tried to keep peace between the American patriots and the British. But after an event in 1774 called the Powder Alarm, an angry crowd surrounded his house. They forced him to run away.
The Baroness Riedesel lived at 149 Brattle Street during the war. Her husband led German soldiers who helped the British. She wrote about the happy life of the "Tory" families on Brattle Street before the war. She described seven families who were friends or related. They had beautiful homes, gardens, and fruit farms. They would meet every afternoon for music and dancing. She wrote that they lived "in prosperity, united and happy." But then, the war separated them, and most of their houses became empty.
105 Brattle Street: Washington and the Longfellows
Another Loyalist who left Cambridge in 1774 was John Vassall. He owned the beautiful yellow Georgian house at 105 Brattle Street. It was built for him in 1759. In 1775, this empty house was given to George Washington. Washington used it as his headquarters when he took command of the Continental Army. He lived there until July 1776. His wife, Martha Washington, joined him in December 1775.
In 1837, a young Harvard professor named Henry Wadsworth Longfellow rented rooms in the house at 105 Brattle Street. At that time, it was a boarding house. Longfellow was proud to tell a friend, "I live in a great house which looks like an Italian villa." He added that his rooms were once General Washington's private rooms.
In 1843, Longfellow's father-in-law, Nathan Appleton, gave him the house as a wedding gift. This was when Longfellow married Nathan's daughter, Frances. The house cost $10,000 back then. Longfellow's wife, Frances (also called Fanny), was the first American woman to receive medicine to help with pain during childbirth. She gave birth to her child in the house at 105 Brattle Street.
Longfellow and Frances had two sons and three daughters. His poem "The Children's Hour" (1860) mentions his daughters: "grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, and Edith with golden hair." All three daughters later had houses on Brattle Street. Alice inherited her parents' home. Allegra and Edith had stylish homes built for them at 113 and 115 Brattle Street in 1887.
Brattle Street in the 1800s
In the early 1800s, only a few houses were added to the "Tory Row" mansions on the north side of Brattle Street. The south side was still mostly "meadow-land and orchards."
Between 1805 and 1812, a decision was made to straighten the end of Brattle Street where it meets Mount Auburn Street. Part of the original "Tory Row" was renamed "Elmwood Avenue." This means that Brattle Street today is not exactly the same as the old road to Watertown. The original road went along what is now Elmwood Avenue. This is why "Elmwood," one of the seven original Tory Row mansions, is now on Elmwood Avenue, not Brattle Street.
James Russell Lowell wrote in 1868 about Brattle Street in the 1830s. He described it from a hill near Mount Auburn Hospital. He pictured the Charles River flowing smoothly through green meadows. On the left, he saw about six old, important houses from colonial times. In early June, horse-chestnut trees in front of these houses would have white flowers. The hill behind them would be white or pink with fruit tree blossoms. He said there was no sound except for a horseman riding over a bridge.
As the 1800s continued, wealthy families kept building houses on Brattle Street. They chose the newest styles, like Greek Revival (house at #112 built in 1846), Stick style (#92, built in 1881), and Colonial Revival (#115, built in 1887). The Shingle style Mary Fiske Stoughton House at 90 Brattle Street has been called one of the best wooden houses in America.
Brattle Street After 1900
In 1969, the owners of the Design Research store built a four-story glass and concrete Modernist building at 48 Brattle Street. They had been selling Scandinavian clothing and housewares on Brattle Street since 1953. This new building was designed to show off their products.
During the summer, Harvard Square and Brattle Square are lively with street performers and musicians. At One Brattle Square, there is a small brass sculpture called the Fokin Memorial (2001). It is a tiny copy of a favorite puppet used by a puppeteer named Igor Folkin.
A poet named Gregory Corso wrote his first book of poems about Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is called "Vestal Lady on Brattle: A Collection of Poems Written in Cambridge, Massachusetts 1954-1955."
Famous Places on Modern Brattle Street
- 40: Brattle Hall
- 42: William Brattle House
- 48: A modern glass and concrete building built in 1969 for the Design Research store.
- 54: Dexter Pratt House
- 64: American Repertory Theatre
- The Episcopal Divinity School, started in 1867. Its St. John's Chapel (1868) looks like an old English church.
- 85: The Norton-Johnson-Burleigh House (1847)
- 90: Mary Fiske Stoughton House
- 92: The Misses Sarah and Emma Cary House (1881), an example of the Stick style in Queen Anne architecture.
- 94: The Henry Vassall House.
- 101: Oliver Hastings House
- 105: The former home of John Vassall and later Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is also known as the "Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House" and is now the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site.
- 112: A Greek Revival house (1846) at the corner of Willard Street.
- 113: The Edith Longfellow Dana House (1887), now home to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
- 114: A Neo-Georgian house (1903) designed by John W. Ames.
- 115: Annie Longfellow Thorp House (1887), a Colonial Revival house built for Longfellow's daughter Annie Allegra. It was inspired by her father's Georgian house.
- 149: Lechmere-Sewall house, also known as the "Lechmere-Riedesel House."
- 159: Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, now home to the Cambridge Historical Society.
- 175: Ruggles-Fayerwether House.
