Newell Boathouse, named for a popular Harvard athlete killed just a few years after graduation, is the primary boathouse used by Harvard University's varsity men's rowing teams.[1] It stands on land subject to an unusual peppercorn lease agreement between Harvard and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.[2][3]
| Newell Boathouse | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Boathouse |
| Location | Charles River |
| Address | 801 Soldiers Field Rd. |
| Town or city | Allston, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 42°22′11″N 71°07′33″W / 42.3697°N 71.1258°W |
| Named for | Marshall Newell |
| Year(s) built | 1900 |
| Owner | Harvard University |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Concrete, slate |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Peabody and Stearns |
History
editCalled "the elder statesman among Charles River boathouses,"[4] Newell Boathouse is named for 1894 Harvard College graduate Marshall Newell, a varsity rower and All-American football player in all four of his undergraduate years, "beloved by all those who knew him" and nicknamed "Ma" for the guidance he gave younger athletes.[5] After Newell was killed in 1897,[6] $2,000 was raised for a boathouse in his memory.[5]
Built in 1900 on the south side of the Charles to a design by Peabody and Stearns (architect Robert Peabody having been rowing captain as a Harvard undergraduate),[1] Newell Boathouse is constructed of concrete, with a slate façade and roof. It was Harvard's first permanent boathouse,[7] replacing a series of wooden boathouses in the area.[8] In addition to storage for racing shells, the building provides locker rooms, meeting and training rooms, and rowing tanks and other practice equipment.[4] Architectural historian Bainbridge Bunting wrote that its "complex profile ... closely resembling that of Carey Cage reflected in the Charles in the early morning, has made it a landmark on the river."[7]
Site lease
editThe "prime riverfront space" upon which Newell Boathouse stands belongs to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition to having given the Commonwealth forty-six acres of land downriver, Harvard pays $1 per year for the right to maintain a boathouse on the site, under a lease running one thousand years, at the end of which time Harvard has the option to renew the lease for a further thousand years[3]—an example of a peppercorn lease amounting to "virtual freehold."[2]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Shand-Tucci, Douglas; Cheek, Richard (2001). Harvard University: An Architectural Tour. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-56898-280-9.
- ^ a b Clarke, David (2006). "Long Residential Leases: Future Directions". In Bright, Susan (ed.). Landlord and Tenant Law: Past, Present and Future. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 171–190. ISBN 9781847312785.
- ^ a b Shortsleeve, Joe (May 21, 2012). "Businesses Score Dream Leases At Taxpayers' Expense". CBS Local. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
- ^ a b "Men's Heavyweight Crew. Newell Boathouse". Harvard University. 2014. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
- ^ a b Lincoln, Rose (October 19, 2011). "Hidden Spaces: Newell Boathouse".
- ^ "Marshall Newell Killed" (PDF). The New York Times. December 25, 1897.
- ^ a b Bunting, Bainbridge; Floyd, Margaret Henderson (1998). Harvard: An Architectural History. Harvard University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-674-37291-7.
- ^ Haglund, Karl (2003). Inventing the Charles River. MIT Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-262-08307-2.