Edwin Abbot House

The Edwin Abbot House stands west of Harvard Square in western Cambridge, at the formerly five-way junction of Concord Avenue, Garden Street, and Follen Street. Follen Street and the eastern portion of Concord Avenue, both quiet residential streets, are isolated from the rest of the intersection by a pedestrian plaza just south of the house. The traditional front facade of the house faces south toward Follen Street, with its major entrance now in the modern addition facing the Garden Street/Concord Avenue intersection. The main block of the house is 2+1⁄2 stories in height, and is built out of a combination of gray and rust-colored rectangular granite blocks, with red sandstone trim. It is covered by a red slate hip roof. The front facade is divided into three basic sections, the most prominent a projecting polygonal bay topped by a pyramidal roof. The entrance is set in the center section, under a segmented stone arch. Trim beltcourses extend around the building, acting as both sills and lintels for windows. The interior includes a grand entrance hall with high quality woodwork and a grand staircase.[3]

The house was built in 1889 to a design by Longfellow, Alden & Harlow for lawyer and railroad executive Edwin Hale Abbot (1834–1927). It remained in the Abbot family until 1937, and has since then been home to the institution now called the Longy School of Music of Bard College. In the 1960s a modern addition was made to the north, designed by Huygens and Tappe; it houses the Pickman Concert Hall. The rooms of the mansion are used by the school for a variety of academic purposes, including offices and practice spaces.[2]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts