{"id":1143,"date":"2011-03-06T01:00:30","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T06:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/info-libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/?p=1143"},"modified":"2023-07-10T19:47:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T19:47:48","slug":"1919","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/03\/06\/1919\/","title":{"rendered":"Year 59 &#8211; 1919: The Reconstruction of Harvard Bridge, Together with a Memorial to our Soldiers and Sailors by R.P. Bellows and R.W. Gray"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Published: Boston, ca. 1919<a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/03\/06\/1919\/1919-title\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1145\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1145 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-300x175.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-1024x599.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-768x449.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-1536x898.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-2048x1197.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-title-624x365.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Robert P. Bellows and Ralph W. Gray, the architects behind this grand proposal, submitted their plans to the Metropolitan Improvements Commission of Massachusetts in 1911. While their modifications no doubt addressed the structural concerns with the existing bridge, the proposal really sings in its aesthetic aspirations (not least of which lies in a war memorial included in the design).<\/p>\n<p>To replace the existing structure of iron and steel, Bellows and Gray envisioned \u201ca permanent and handsome structure of stone and concrete\u201d \u2013 something reminiscent, <a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/03\/06\/1919\/1919-bridges\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1144\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-1144 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges-300x222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges-1024x757.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges-768x568.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges-1536x1135.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges-624x461.jpg 624w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-bridges.jpg 1805w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>perhaps, of the Old World. In these plans, they point to bridges in Paris, Geneva, and Prague as their models. To be sure, a number of their renderings feature an island flowing from the bridge\u2019s midsection. In a sketch \u201cbearing on the future development of the basin,\u201d the island\u2019s model is unmistakable: its resemblance to the \u00cele de la Cit\u00e9 in Paris is uncanny.<a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/2011\/03\/06\/1919\/1919-future\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1146\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1146 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-161x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"161\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-161x300.jpg 161w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-548x1024.jpg 548w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-768x1435.jpg 768w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-822x1536.jpg 822w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-1096x2048.jpg 1096w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-624x1166.jpg 624w, https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/app\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2011\/02\/1919-future-scaled.jpg 1371w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 161px) 100vw, 161px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Visitors often find it strange that the Harvard Bridge is so named, given its immediate proximity to MIT. Legend has it that the state originally offered to name it after the most worthy school in Cambridge. Harvard naturally thought itself the better school. MIT, after determining the bridge to be structurally compromised, likewise thought it fitting to name it after Harvard.<\/p>\n<p>This is a moot point, of course, since the bridge was actually named well before MIT moved to its Cambridge location in 1916. But we\u2019re all entitled to our legends, and it\u2019s a darn good story.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com\/permalink\/01MIT_INST\/jp08pj\/alma990013294040106761\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Find it in the library<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Published: Boston, ca. 1919 Robert P. Bellows and Ralph W. Gray, the architects behind this grand proposal, submitted their plans to the Metropolitan Improvements Commission of Massachusetts in 1911. While their modifications no doubt addressed the structural concerns with the existing bridge, the proposal really sings in its aesthetic aspirations (not least of which lies in a war memorial included in the design). To replace the existing structure of iron and steel, Bellows and Gray envisioned \u201ca permanent and handsome structure of stone and concrete\u201d \u2013 something reminiscent, perhaps, of the Old World. In these plans, they point to bridges [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":false,"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1143"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4270,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1143\/revisions\/4270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/150books\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}