Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard Public Art Competition Finalist
73 Brattle Street
73 Brattle Street is the address of a former house that stood on the site of Wallach Garden. Moses M. Sawin built the house in 1876, where he spent his life with his wife, Susan Olive Kendall. They had six children, three girls and three boys, two of whom, George Alfred and Charles Austin, attended Harvard College.
In 1917, Radcliffe bought the Sawin house, giving the college majority control of the block. 73 Brattle St. had 15 rooms that were converted into classrooms with the “whole Brattle street frontage … be[ing] given appropriate treatment.” The first course offered at the building was “The Less Known and Recent Plays of Modern Dramatists,” taught by Professor George P. Baker of Harvard University on every Monday and Thursday at seven o’clock in the evenings. On February 10th of 1922, the Radcliffe Shop of Cambridge was opened at 73 Brattle St. to benefit the Radcliffe endowment fund. The committee in charge included Miss Whitney of Barnard Hall, and Miss Rose Sherman of Radcliffe Library. On the opening day, there was a food sale, and the shop was open on weekdays from two to five o’clock in the afternoon.
According to Christopher Hail’s Cambridge Buildings and Architects Database found at Harvard/Radcliffe Online Historical Reference, the building was razed under the permit 32904 73 in 1930, and a subsequent classroom building was razed in 1932 at the address under the permit 34546 71. Today, the address 73 Brattle Street in Cambridge does not exist - its history forgotten.
73 Brattle Street is the title of our intervention. The history of this faded address is intertwined with the history of Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. Despite the nostalgia of uncovering the historical vestige of what is now Wallach Garden, the theme of our intervention is progress.
Approaching the installation, one is presented with imprints in the shape of the building’s footprint found in the Atlas of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts 1930 by G.W. Bromley and Co.: the last record of the address. Hanging from the overhead-frames are 1,632 bells. Each bell is engraved with a unique month of a specific year from 1879, the founding of the Radcliffe College, to 2015, the opening of the installation. While navigating through the soundscape of ringing bells, each visitor is encouraged to take a bell to symbolize the progression of Radcliffe’s history. The visitors will carry the bells with them, near or far, and once all the bells have been taken, the structure stands as a testament to the bells’ presence and reach; while also providing a stage for future activities.
Ultimately, 73 Brattle Street is more than just a sculpture but an enduring event that engages the public by tracing history and at the same time unfolding progress through the movement of bells.
