Proposed Knafel Center Would Offend Local Character

To the editors:

Harvard is about to launch another building project in the usual manner, characterstically over-powering: the Knafel Center, a complex designed to house some 500 students and a faculty of at least 100.

The longtime residents of the neighborhood face the prospects of this behemoth with dismay. The projected new building is completely out of size scale for the allotted space, an area bounded by Kirkland Street and Sumner Road.

By proceeding with the construction, Harvard will not only offend the primarily (not to say historically) domestic character of the neighborhood, but will destroy whatever green space is left in the rear of the beautiful early 19th century mansions (both under protection of Architectural Preservation) still standing on Kirkland Street. Moreover, it will completely dwarf and enshadow the charming little Swedenborgian Church, already diminished by the huge Gund Hall at its side.

To all the laudable elements of university co-existence in the city of Cambridge--consideration for neighborhoods, green spaces and architectural preservation--Harvard has given consistent lip service in the past, but has not consistantly borne out.

No matter what style is chosen in this instance--boring Bauhaus, bogus Georgian, post-modern melange or glass box--a building of this proposed size can only be enormous. The resulting increase in traffic and parking would be only another intractable problem added to the whole.

To illustrate the scale and impact of such a building, I submit my drawing (see below) of a possible structure showing that it would not only overwhelm the two wooden Greek Revival mansions and the Swedenborgian Church, but would cast them in complete shadow most of the day.

I feel it incumbent on Harvard to find some other and more appropriate spot in which to build its Knafel Center. MARIAN CANNON SCHLESINGER '34   Cambridge, Jan. 21, 1998