By Marc Levy
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
The bank space at 1336 Massachusetts Ave. fronting on a plaza in Harvard Square was a Cambridge Trust until 2024. The plaza-facing square footage is being ceded by Eastern Bank. (Photo: Marc Levy)
After years of complaints about the presence of banks in Harvard Square, one is giving up some of the square’s most prominent real estate: Eastern Bank is letting go of 3,000 square feet of space facing the plaza in front of Harvard’s Smith Campus Center. It is being marketed to retailers.
The bank is letting go of another 7,000 square feet belowground, keeping only about half of its street-level space – halving its frontage on Massachusetts Avenue to the section away from the plaza and extending down Holyoke Street, according to a leasing brochure from the firm Graffito.