JFK Library: Fourth Side of the Square

The Bennett Street transit yards hide their dirty insides from the outer world. A seven-foot wall, smeared with the faded paint of overzealous Dartmouth fans, watches over Boylston Street. A high steel fence stands sentinel on Memorial Drive as the ugly eyes of old subways stare out at passing cars.

Sometime in 1968, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) will evacuate those yards. The walls and fences will come down for good, and the 12-acre area will finally join life in Harvard Square.

"This is not going to be a place of big gates," architect I. M. Pei says of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library that will replace the yard's blacktop and train tracks. "We would fail if the complex is not designed so Harvard students can feel at home."

Pei's central problem is as simple to state as it is difficult to conceive: he must design a library complex which fits naturally into Harvard square and which is, in essence, an integrated part of the University campus; at the same time, this memorial he creates must be dignified and somewhat separate from its surroundings.

Neither aspect can be ignored, for this is to be no ordinary memorial. It will not simply be a museum to be looked at, but also a library and an Institute on Politics to be used actively by students and scholars. The complex should be, Pei says, "a place where young people can be inspired."

Laying the Groundwork

The Kennedy family, not Pei, set these broad guidelines. They desire a memorial that will honor John Kennedy by sustaining the spirit he carried into politics and the presidency. As an architect, Pei can only do so much: he cannot run the Library, nor can he formulate an appealing program for the Institute of Politics. He cannot guarantee that the ideal will become real--or even that it is possible. What he can do is create an environment in which--if the ideal is attainable--it can be achieved.

"I've avoided thinking about it too much," he says. He doesn't want to become tied to any preconceived notion before Massachusetts officially hands over the site. Then and only then will he begin working on the actual job of design.

Some things, however, are already clear. The Library complex will consist of two or three buildings and they will be low, long structures. Pei has yet to determine how closely associated the Library--which will house records and writings on Kennedy's life and administration--and the museum, the greatest tourist attraction, will be. Perhaps he will put them both in one building, perhaps in two. The Institute of Politics will have its own structure, and, whatever the final number of buildings, they will all be connected.

Pei is also firm on the need for "support facilities--parking lots, restaurants, small souvenir shops, for example--right on the Bennett Street site. Here again, the details aren't final and the plans to do more study on exactly what type of "support" the Library requires.

At first, the idea of such facilities so near the Library complex might seem insensitive or even stupid. Pei wants them for a number of reasons, however. Remember a few things: first the Bennett Street site is 12 acres and that's a lot of land. If you don't think so, just walk in some day and start wandering around.

Second, the Library complex is not going to be an isolated island. Had the Kennedy's wanted a rustic memorial, they would never have selected Harvard Square as the site. Pei's job of making the complex a part of the Square is going to be difficult. One way to make it easier, he seems to have decided, is to avoid a sharp demarcation between the city and the complex. Thus, the "support" facilities may act as a sort of transition area.

Half a Million Visitors

And third, Pei wants his "support" facilities (particularly the parking space) to help control the Library's impact on the Square itself. More than a half a million people are expected to visit the Memorial annually, and for that reason alone its effect on the Square is certain to be great.

Traffic, already confused and congested, could become worse. Pei has had a traffic study done and will work with Cambridge officials to case things. But the large implications of the complex's commercial impact remain unanswered. In ten or fifteen years, will the small stores along Mt. Auburn Street near the yards' be replaced with motels or restaurants? Or, perhaps the drawing power of the Library complex will simply move general commercial activity westward? The questions are as interesting as they are illusive, though Pei's insistence on eating places and souvenir shops shows that he is making a few reasonable guesses. (Pei will also ask the Library Corporation to have another study done--this one on the market impact of the Library's presence.)

But even with this sort of "support," Pei's problem in building a national memorial in the heart of Cambridge seems agonizingly difficult. Along the north side of the MBTA yards (the back of Brattle Square), he has to cope with motels, gas stations, and small stores, with their billboards and neon signs. "We must blend and defend," he says. "This is a great challenge to us."

The Library's riverfront neighbors--Harvard's Georgian Houses, the Monastery of St. Mary and St. John, and a line of six-story brick apartments--are friendlier. But just outside the yards' northwest corner, Baird Atomic Inc. has a block of three brick manufacturing buildings: another visual headache for Pei.

Not all his problems, however, are Herculean; some are simply annoying. Take land, for instance. "The Charles River basin is notorious for its bad foundations," he explains. There are already thousands of piles sunk in on the Bennett Street site by the MBTA. But Pei doesn't know if these are usuable. He will have extensive test borings made on the site before determining their suitability. And if they're no good? Well, he'll just have to have them all removed and put in new ones. That will take time.

In fact, there's going to be plenty of time before the Library complex becomes a reality. At the earliest, it may be completed by 1970, but Pei says he can't guarantee that. No one will be too surprised if takes a year or two more to finish.

Matching Money and Ideas

Currently, he is working on the final programming for the Library, Museum, and Institute deciding what will actually go into the buildings. This last stage of programming, which includes a step where Pei will match money against ideas and make sure the two meet, ought to take about three months. Simultaneously, the architect and his staff will begin more detailed studies of the foundations and of specific traffic requirements (how wide the streets should be, how many cars and buses are to be accomodated etc.). This latter step, Pei says, will require consultation with both the University and the city. Pei will also press the MBTA for a definite pull-out date. So far, he has only been able to get an estimate of from 18 to 24 months.

"All this takes time," he notes. How much? He politely declines a guess. It depends on other people and institutions and he refuses to predict how fast they will move. But whenever it is finished, he will go to his drawing boards and create a master plan for the 12 acres. During a six-month period (a time he is willing to estimate because it depends on him and his associates alone), he will determine the number of buildings, their locations, and uses as well as designing open spaces and determining what "support" facilities will go where.

From this master-plan, Pei will then begin the detailed work on all the buildings. When he gets finished and when the contractors have finally carried out his orders, the change in Harvard Square will just be beginning