Elmwood (Cambridge, Massachusetts) facts for kids
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Elmwood
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Main house, December 2008
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | 33 Elmwood Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1767 |
| Architect | Thomas Oliver |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000364 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHLD | December 29, 1962 |
Elmwood, also known as the Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House, is a very old and important house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's part of a special historic area called a National Historic Landmark District. This house is famous because several important people lived here.
These famous residents include:
- Thomas Oliver (1734–1815), who was a royal Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.
- Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), who signed the US Declaration of Independence. He also became Vice President of the United States. The word "gerrymandering" comes from his name. It describes how voting districts can be shaped in unfair ways.
- James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), a well-known American writer, poet, and diplomat.
The house was built around 1767 in the Georgian style. It was originally on a huge 100-acre property. John Nutting built it for Lieutenant Governor Thomas Oliver. Oliver came from a rich merchant family in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
When the American Revolutionary War began, Oliver was a Loyalist. This meant he supported the British King. He left the house, and the state of Massachusetts took it over. Later, Elbridge Gerry bought it. He lived there with his family until he died in 1814.
After Gerry's death, his family sold the house to the Lowell family. James Russell Lowell was born and lived most of his life in this house. During his time, much of the original land was sold off. His family later sold the house to Arthur Kingsley Porter, a Harvard professor. He gave the property to Harvard. Today, it is the official home of Harvard's president.
The house still looks mostly like it did in the Georgian style. Only small changes have been made to the outside. The Lowells decorated the inside in a Victorian style. But Harvard changed it back to a more traditional Georgian look. The house is not open to the public. The historic area also includes Lowell Park, which was once part of the house's original land.
Contents
Elmwood's Early History
Oliver and the American Revolution
The house we call Elmwood was built around 1767 for Thomas Oliver. He became the Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts in 1774. His property was on the western edge of Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was about 100 acres of fields with a great view of the Charles River. Oliver's land stretched from Fresh Pond to the Charles River. It even reached what is now Brighton, which was part of Cambridge back then. His house was not far from the mansion of his brother-in-law, John Vassall. That mansion is now the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site.
On September 1, 1774, British soldiers took gunpowder from a storage building in Somerville. This was ordered by Governor Thomas Gage. This event caused many local militias to gather quickly. People heard rumors of fighting, and this became known as the Powder Alarm. The next day, a crowd gathered in Cambridge near Harvard Square. Oliver went to Boston to talk with Governor Gage. He then told the crowd that no more military moves were planned. This helped calm them down.
However, the crowd followed Oliver home. They made him resign from his job, which he did under protest. Soon after, Oliver and his family left for Boston.
The House During the Siege of Boston
The Siege of Boston began in April 1775 after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. During this time, soldiers occupied Elmwood. These troops later became part of the Continental Army. One famous person who stayed there was Benedict Arnold, who was then in the Connecticut militia. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, the house was used as a hospital.
In March 1776, the British military left Boston. The Olivers, like many other Loyalists, went with them to Nova Scotia. Thomas Oliver eventually settled in Bristol, England. He died there in 1815.
Elbridge Gerry's Home
The Massachusetts government took Oliver's property during the American Revolutionary War. They sold it in 1779 to Andrew Cabot. In 1787, Elbridge Gerry bought the Cambridge estate. It became his family home.
After the XYZ Affair, Gerry faced unfair criticism. Elmwood was even the site of protests where people burned an effigy (a dummy) of him. Gerry served as Governor of Massachusetts in 1810 and 1811. In 1812, the state redrew its voting districts. This led to the term "gerrymandering" being created. It describes how districts are shaped to give one political party an unfair advantage.
In March 1813, Gerry took his oath of office as Vice President of the United States right in the house. He died in 1814 in Washington, D.C.. Gerry rented out large parts of his land to farmers. He also bought and sold land near the Charles River. This area, near the Eliot Bridge today, became known as Gerry's Landing.
The Lowell Family at Elmwood
In 1818, Charles Russell Lowell, Sr. bought ten acres of the property, including the house. He was part of the famous Lowell family. His son, James Russell Lowell, was born in this house on February 22, 1819.
In the 1850s, James Russell Lowell faced many sad events. His mother and his third daughter, Rose, died suddenly. These personal problems, along with political issues, made him want to spend a winter in Italy. He sold some of the land around Elmwood to pay for the trip. He planned to sell even more. In the end, 25 of the original 30 acres were sold to help him financially.
His troubles continued. His son Walter died while overseas. His wife Maria White Lowell died in October 1853. His father became deaf, and his sister Rebecca's mental health declined. Lowell struggled to cope and became very private at Elmwood for a while.
Lowell's Return to Elmwood
Lowell later received an invitation to speak at the Lowell Institute. This led to a job offer at Harvard College. He accepted the job, but asked to study abroad for a year first.
Lowell returned to the United States in the summer of 1856. He started his job at Harvard. He was still sad about losing his wife, so he avoided Elmwood. He stayed in another part of Cambridge with his daughter Mabel and her governess, Frances Dunlap. Lowell and Dunlap married in 1857.
After his father died in January 1861, Lowell moved back to Elmwood with his family. Even though he had avoided it, he was happy to be back. He wrote to a friend, "I am back again to the place I love best." However, keeping up Elmwood was expensive. The taxes alone were $1,000 a year. By 1867, he thought about renting out Elmwood and moving to a smaller home. But he never did. Instead, he kept selling off land starting in 1870. Eventually, only two and a half acres remained.
Lowell lived at Elmwood for the rest of his life. The only exception was from 1877 to 1885. During that time, he served as the United States Ambassador to Spain and Great Britain. At Elmwood, he wrote some of his most famous works. These include The Vision of Sir Launfal, The Biglow Papers, and A Fable for Critics. All of these were published in 1848. It was Lowell who gave the house the name "Elmwood." He even mentioned the home in some of his poems:
My Elmwood chimneys seem crooning to me,
As of old in their moody, minor key,
And out of the past the hoarse wind blows.
Lowell's friend and fellow poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also wrote a poem about the house. It was called "The Herons of Elmwood".
In the summer of 1872, Lowell rented the house to Thomas Bailey Aldrich while he traveled to Europe. Years later, in 1877, he rented it to the violinist Ole Bull. After Bull's death in 1880, the Norwegian writer Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson stayed at Elmwood for three months. Lowell returned to the United States in 1885 and stayed at Elmwood until he died there on August 12, 1891.
Elmwood in the 20th Century and Today
After James Russell Lowell died, his daughter Mabel inherited the house. She used it seasonally with her husband, Edward Burnett, and their children. In 1920, Arthur Kingsley Porter bought Elmwood and the remaining land from the Lowell family. Porter was a Harvard professor. He used the house as his home. He also taught some of his classes there and let students use his large library. Porter later became the head of Harvard's Art History Department.
In 1929, Porter bought Glenveagh Castle in Ireland. He disappeared from an island near there on July 8, 1933. In his will, he left Elmwood to Harvard. His wife was allowed to live there for the rest of her life. She died in 1962, and then Harvard took full control of the property.
After big renovations, Franklin L. Ford lived in Elmwood. He was Harvard's Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for most of the 1960s. In 1971, Acting President Derek Bok moved his family to Elmwood. This was because of safety worries from student protests near the previous president's home. Since then, Elmwood has been the official home of Harvard's presidents. It still holds some of Lowell's library books.
The Harvard-owned property and the nearby state-owned Lowell Park were named a National Historic Landmark District in 1966. Lowell Park was created in 1899 to honor James Russell Lowell. Money for the park came from private donations and public funds. It was given to the state in 1898. Today, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation manages the park.
Elmwood's Architecture
While parts of Elmwood's inside have changed, its outside looks much the same. It is a large, square house covered in clapboard siding. It is built in the Georgian style with brick-lined walls and two chimneys. Each floor has the same layout: two rooms on either side of a central hallway with a staircase.
The windows on the first and second floors have fancy decorative cornices. A balustrade (a row of small columns) from the 1800s surrounds the roof. The main entrance has Tuscan pilasters (flat columns) on each side. These support a classic entablature decorated with a frieze. Above this is a large window with Ionic pilasters on its sides. It is topped by a triangular pediment.
The house has had some changes and additions. Most of these were made when the Lowell family owned it. New parts were added to the west side of the house for modern services and a library. The first-floor windows in the front living room and dining room were changed to French doors. A one-story porch with a balustraded roof deck was added to the north side. A terrace was also put on the south side. The Lowells decorated the house in a Victorian style. However, Harvard changed the inside back to an 18th-century style when they took over the property.
