Movin’ On Over

Three weeks ago, two multi-story houses behind Leverett Towers were air-jacked off their original foundation, placed on wheels, rotated 180 degrees, attached to a truck, and pulled onto a new foundation—at their new address, roughly 50 feet away.

While anything that stands in the path of Fair Harvard’s construction tends to bite the dust, these two houses were redeemed due to their apparent historic significance to the city of Cambridge. Graduate housing is slated to replace them in 2007.

Leverett residents wonder why the gray and blue buildings were protected; even Harvard’s Construction Mitigation Manager Ed Leflore would have preferred demolition over preservation. “We’d prefer not to move it—it’s easier to just stick a big bulldozer in there,” he says.

More noise was also the last thing some residents wanted.

Since they arrived in September, these River denizens have had to endure the unceasing cacophony of construction outside their windows, starting at 7:30 a.m. each morning, and cranes carrying houses did not help.

“I set my alarm for 8 a.m., but instead of being awoken by the pleasant sound of the radio, I heard the beeps from the truck backing up,” said Kathy I. Cheng ’07, who lives on the third floor of Leverett G Tower. Some Leverett residents placed bets on when the houses would be moved and had an impromptu party when they finally were.

Cheng also had a reason to celebrate. “At least we don’t have to worry about the people who lived in those houses peeping on us anymore,” she said.