Ralph Adams Cram on Brattle Street

Although Brattle Street is the promised land of Colonial Revival, two adjacent houses (NRD/LHD) by noted Gothic Revival architect Ralph Adams Cram add variety to the street. The structures at 126 Brattle (1890) and 128 Brattle (1892) were among the earliest houses designed by the firm of Cram and Wentworth. The architects employed multiple gables with half-timbering, massive chimneys, and large roofs (especially for number 128) to suggest the character of medieval buildings. In 1897, Cram became a founding member of the Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, an organization of architects and craftsmen devoted to “mutually helpful relations.” These houses display his interest in English Arts and Crafts architecture, especially the early work of Richard Norman Shaw.