This article first appeared in the 200810
issue of BD+C.
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| The project required three weeks prep work to move the houses, known as the Ukrainian (9,800 sf); the Baker (4,600 sf); and the Carriage House (1,500 sf). Thanks to strong collaboration among Building Team members, the physical move itself took less than five hours. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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A century ago, majestic Victorian homes lined Massachusetts Avenue in Boston, but few of these grande dames still survive. Harvard Law School
Rather than raze the historic wood-frame homes, the law school made it a priority to repurpose them. In June 2007, the three houses were moved like a caravan of circus elephants a half-mile down Mass Ave, relocated behind a residence hall, and converted into apartments for Harvard Law School students. The adaptive-reuse project also involved substantial restoration, repair, and replication of original details and features. The project required three weeks prep work to move the houses, known as the Ukrainian (9,800 sf); the Baker (4,600 sf); and the Carriage House (1,500 sf). Thanks to strong collaboration among Building Team members, including Austin Architects, CSL Consulting, Davis Construction, and Shawmut Design and Construction, the physical move itself took less than five hours. Another few weeks were needed to get the homes settled, because scheduling and site conditions prevented new foundations from being excavated and poured ahead of time.   The judges lauded the law school’s efforts to save these rare treasures. “It’s the moving issue that really intrigued me. They could have knocked them down, gotten rid of them,” says Walker Johnson, FAIA, principal at Chicago’s Johnson Lasky Architects and honorary chair of Building Design+Construction’s Renovation Awards judging panel. “They kept the character of Massachusetts Avenue. It’s a really interesting job.” |
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Project Summary Harvard Law School Wood-Framed Houses Cambridge, Mass. Building Team Submitting firm: Shawmut Design and Construction (CM) Owner: Harvard Law School Owner’s Representative: CSL Consulting Architect: Austin Architects Structural engineer: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Mechanical engineer: SEA Consultants Building mover: Davis Construction General Information Total sf: 15,900 Construction cost: Withheld at owner’s request Construction time: April 2007 to March 2008 |
