Welcome to Centers and Squares

As a Cambridge real estate agent, the city squares of Cambridge, Somerville and Medford and the town centers of Arlington, Watertown and Belmont, Massachusetts are my home turf. And as a lifelong New Englander who’s lived within twenty miles of Boston most of my life, I can introduce you to other nearby towns as we search for your new home. If you’re planning to sell your home in Cambridge, MA or nearby you’ll find plenty of info about the home selling process here too. Questions? Send me an email or call me at 617-504-1737.

Moving Houses

From my collection of vintage house moving photographs

From my collection of vintage house moving photographs

Moving Houses  

 Both the lecturers whose Cambridge Discovery Days tours I attended last Saturday happened to mention how common house moves were before electric wires were strung through Cambridge neighborhoods.

As much as I dislike overhead wires (you would think it’s still the Wild West! – why on earth do we put up with these ugly wires strung down our streets?) it hadn’t occurred to me that it was the advent of overhead wiring that put an end to the moving of houses.

Moving houses was once a fairly common undertaking. Street widening, changing neighborhoods, economizing – all were reasons to move a house.  Sometimes a portion of a house was removed and moved for a family member.

Once you start digging into the history of Cambridge’s buildings you’ll discover many that were moved around town.  Nowadays with those dratted wires – not to mention street lights, signs, and overpasses – moving a house or building is a much bigger undertaking.   But with deep pockets almost anything is possible.

In 2007 Harvard spent something on the order of $1,000,000 to move three mansard structures down Mass Avenue close to Harvard Square.  Two three story-mansard houses and a matching mansard carriage house were moved to facilitate a building project.  Here’s a video of the moving houses:

 

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