Harvard Square kiosk landmark facing stalled restoration efforts

CAMBRIDGE — It may not look like much, this 500-square-foot kiosk in the heart of Harvard Square.

Visible through chain-link fencing, which has hemmed it in for years now, the small structure has the shape and feel of an oversized bus shelter, albeit one with handsomely restored brickwork and an ornate copper roof.

It had been the longtime home of Out of Town News, which closed in 2019, but then languished in construction purgatory. That journey is set — allegedly, at least — to wrap up early next year and cost $3.3 million, which would put it in the ballpark of an eye-popping $6,600 per square foot.

There has been jubilation at this news among those who live and work in the square. But also, exasperation at what has transpired as the city has tried to reopen this beleaguered little landmark.

“This project has been dragging on for way too long. It is painfully slow, frustrating, and expensive,” said Denise Jillson, head of the neighborhood’s business association. “With all this money that we have and the resources, and the brain trust that we have, these things should be — it shouldn’t be this difficult.”

Kathy Watkins, the city’s public works commissioner, has heard that very criticism many times over the (many) years the project has crawled along.

“I know people are frustrated about how long these things take,” Watkins said. But “we are super excited to see this coming to a conclusion, have it be open and usable, celebrate the community, and have people embrace and enjoy this building.”

She said refurbishing even a modest rectangular building — the kind of thing that would be a breeze just about anywhere else in the country — is not so simple. Not in Harvard Square, at least.

The kiosk’s story begins in 1928, when it was the headhouse for the transit stop beneath it. The original Out of Town News opened next door in 1954 as a separate newsstand, then moved into the structure in 1984.

In either location, Out of Town News, which specialized in selling periodicals from around the world to the neighborhood’s globally minded residents, was treated as a landmark. It was for more than half a century an intellectual hub and informal meeting place, and a touchstone for anyone who lived, visited, or studied in Cambridge during its heyday.

Julia Child browsed for recipes there, student protesters routinely rallied near its steps (and sometimes on its roof), and a young Bill Gates is said to have been inspired to explore the potential of computers after reading about them in a magazine bought on its shelves.

In its latter years, even as it increasingly served as a convenience store, the Out of Town brand was a reminder of a simpler time, when people needed to seek out news from far away rather than having it arrive at all hours via smartphone.

But by 2012, its best days clearly behind it, Jillson’s Harvard Square Business Association was calling for the kiosk to be patched up, restored, and put to some other use than what it had become: a place, Jillson said, to buy scratch tickets and a pack of smokes.

Still, ideas are one thing. Plans are another. When it came time to do something about it, the city moved cautiously, and slowly. Many community meetings were held. Working groups formed. Consultants were consulted. Neighborhood groups coalesced.

Meanwhile, the kiosk restoration was lumped into the broader project of renovating the plaza surrounding it, which was due for a refresh, bringing it up to modern accessibility standards. (Included in the $3.3 million price tag for the kiosk, officials said, are some modifications to the nearby T stop headhouse that were needed so it could support new accessible grading on the plaza. Renovations for the kiosk and plaza combined are budgeted at about $11.5 million, the city said last week).

By the time Cambridge was ready to break ground, COVID had struck. Supply chain issues slowed progress from there.

Even as construction began in May 2021, the nature of the work itself was an obstacle: a historic structure, in a historic locale, at one of the densest corners of one of the state’s densest cities, at one of its busiest crossings for cars, bikes, and pedestrian traffic.

A contractor to fix up the kiosk would need to specialize in historic preservation, and on obscure design elements like the structure’s artisan-crafted roof. Workers updating the plaza, meanwhile, would need to be willing to use smaller and lighter equipment than is typical, and to operate in phases so the area can remain open to the millions of people who pass through each year.

“The heart of the square is an extremely challenging place to do construction,” said Watkins.

To make matters more complicated, the plaza sits directly atop the age-worn Harvard MBTA station, in some places just a foot-and-a-half above its ceiling. So every step of the project has needed to be reviewed and approved by the T, a laborious and time consuming affair.

“That has been one of the big delays, to be honest,” Watkins said.

The T has certainly had good reason to be extra cautious. Just last year, a Harvard student was injured when a decrepit piece of equipment clattered on top of her inside the stop — an incident that came just two months after a chunk crashed down, nearly hitting a passenger.

A T spokesperson said the agency has “worked diligently” to “review and refine designs” for the project “to ensure that the renovations do not compromise the safety or convenience of riders.”

Despite the challenges, work on the kiosk is itself almost done.

When it opens, it will be a very different space than the landmark people remember.

Where there were once racks of newspapers and magazines along its walls, there are now wide windows, some of which swing open, so passersby can see straight through it. The interior is sparse, and will stay that way, so furniture can be arranged and re-arranged to fit various purposes.

It will, as needed, be used by the city’s Office for Tourism whose staff guide visitors around the square. The city also envisions other uses for its 500square feet, and hopes to use it for temporary attractions like art galleries and historical exhibits, musical performances, lectures, and other events.

Melissa Peters, chief of planning strategy for the city’s Community Development Department, said officials hope the tight space will feel like the beating heart of Harvard Square: “Active and alive and open.”

In this next iteration, the city said it hopes in the near future to publicize a form that various groups — artists, nonprofits, cultural institutions, businesses — can use to pitch ideas for the space. It has tapped the Somerville firm Culture House to direct programming there when it opens.

For most Harvard College students, it will be the first time they encounter the structure from the other side of the fence.

Frankie Freeman, a junior and president of a group of student-run businesses in the square called Harvard Student Agencies, said the new structure will be a step — finally — in the right direction.

“It’s kind of just an eyesore currently,” said Freeman, of Rhode Island, who oversees the student-led tours that kick off right next to the long-dormant kiosk, and the Harvard Shop, which is located next door. “It’s a little saddening to have to talk to tourists who are coming in and want to see this beautiful landscape, but all they get to see as they leave the T is the construction right outside the station.”

Freeman, 20, said he is too young to have ever been to Out of Town News, so has no personal connection to it. “I just hope that they can work efficiently and quickly, and have the construction done so that we can present Harvard as it should be presented.”

Spencer Buell can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @SpencerBuell.