Tucked just off Winthrop Street is one of Cambridge’s most quietly exciting survivors: an old stone retaining wall that has been doing its job for more than two centuries. Built in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, the wall was constructed to hold in land above the spring-fed Town Creek, which once ran along what is now Eliot Street, past the College Wharf to the Charles River. Most easily seen from Winthrop Street, between the Red House and Charlie’s Kitchen Beer Garden, the massive stones lean inward in a classic battered profile, deliberately dry-laid so water could pass through, rather than push it apart. This was not decorative stonework. It was early urban problem-solving, Cambridge style…one that has stood the test of time, until now. A section behind the Red House, not visible from the street, has collapsed and an adjacent section is visibly failing.
Condition of wall / January 2026
According to Charles Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission (CHC), the wall is located in the Harvard Square Conservation District. Any work within the conservation district requiring a building permit must receive the commission’s signoff. However, their jurisdiction only extends to features visible from a public way, so their actual authority relative to the wall, which is located on private property, is limited.
October 20, 2020 /
Partial demolition of old stone wall.
After a section of the wall collapsed in 2019, preliminary discussions regarding repairs took place between CHC and abutting property owners. In 2020, a portion of the wall was removed by one of the owners to make way for increased power capacity in an adjacent building.
In 2021, the CHC secured a matching grant of $200,000 in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds from the City Council and retained an engineering firm to design a rebuild. Their solution was to number the stones, remove them all, install a poured concrete footing and backer wall, and reinstall the original stonework, which would have made it structurally sound and addressed a truly concerning rodent problem in that area.
CPA funds come with conditions; in this case a preservation restriction that would maintain existing setbacks of adjacent buildings and allow occasional public access to view the wall.
The cost of this was estimated in 2022 was approximately $400,000. It was suggested that the property owners split their share based on their respective frontages (about 70%-30%). Sadly, an agreement was never reached and CHC recommended that City Council reappropriate the funds, which was done in 2024.
According to Denise Jillson, Executive Director of the Harvard Square Business Association, the wall is in dire need of repair. She said, “I believe the best way to preserve this unique and authentic piece of Cambridge history is by creating community awareness and committing to its importance as an historical relic while fully understanding and accepting that it sits on private property.
Suzanne Preston Blier, professor at Harvard University and President of the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association, said, “The wall’s orientation reveals how carefully the city shape was planned. It transformed the unstable hillside area into solid, buildable land adjacent to Winthrop Park, one of Cambridge’s oldest and most important civic centers. This was Cambridge making itself room — not by moving outward, but by building smarter within the heart of the city.”
Professor Blier further stated, “As Cambridge approaches its 400th anniversary in 2030, Harvard Square’s Old Stone Wall, offers a perfect reminder of what has always defined the city. It is one of the oldest engineered structures that can still be seen and touched, and it captures a moment when water, stone, earth, and long-standing civic ideals met head-on. The wall reminds us that Cambridge’s history is not only celebrated in milestones and institutions, but is built into the ground itself — a city that has always found ways to adapt.”
To bring attention to its plight, Jillson collaborated with Caro Taylor, a young Cambridge resident and junior at Commonwealth School, who recently interned at the HSBA. Caro loves history, illustrating, writing and has a keen sense of humor. Jillson suggested that Caro combine her talent and interests to create a comic book that details the history of the old stone wall, lays bare its current condition and shines a light on its possible future. Caro’s comic book can be viewed here.
In addition, Daniel Berger-Jones of Boston History Company, a historian, story-teller and long-time member of the Harvard Square Business Association, created a factual and entertaining video that details the wall’s current situation. We posted it on our social media accounts and hope you will view it on your preferred platform: Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
