TD Banknorth Square

Like any near-quadracentenarian, fair Harvard’s Square is often in need of a little work. Along with the traditional façade facelifts and refreshing injections of central air into upstairs apartments, the prospect of tenant renegotiations tends to provoke—how do we say this—a quasi-tangible aura of excitement around campus.

Last week, Harvard Real Estate Services announced that it will make such renovations, along with increasing handicapped accessibility, to the residences in the building that currently houses Toscanini’s, Gnomon Copy, Leavitt & Pierce, Zinnia, Ferranti-Dege, and a bunch of graduate students who, to their credit, have continued to survive without modern climate control.

Despite the potential repercussions of this change to smaller businesses, this is a time for progress; a gross physical salute to the limitless possibilities bounded by our neighborhood, a place long known to be the center not only of the intellectual world but of almost all matters of any importance. Truly, this is no place for quaint, locally owned Mom-and-Pop shops, poisoning us with their backward ways and sometimes friendly service, adding what some call “character” to the Square.

Here, in the very heart of Veritas, if there is at least one truth commonly realized, it must be that a community as vibrant, diverse, and intellectually stimulating as ours has virtually no chance of survival without the presence of the greatest number of retail banking institutions possible. Unfortunately for those misguided entrepreneurs who pursue some non-banking related venture in the Square, the nurturing and manifestation of our collective destiny through this pervasive banking presence cannot come without a price.

Like a rainforest standing in the path of a new and exciting time-share, we glibly bid adieu to the sweet taste of Toscanini’s homemade ice cream and pleasant old-world-meets-new-world charm, and Gnomon Copy’s $2 per page fax price and über-convenient coursepacks. And we eagerly await the entrance of a branch of, say, TD Banknorth, the nearest location of which is inconveniently in Waltham.

And as long as the first floor will be gutted, the second floor might as well be too. What better use of the space than a newer, sexier Career Services interviewing facility so that, one day we, too, can go forth and spread the gift of banking. See you in the Holyoke Center, Gnomon. Farewell, Toscanini’s. And not a moment too soon.