Overview

A one-of-a-kind guided tour through the iconic gates of Harvard Yard, led by Pulitzer Prize–winning architecture critic Blair Kamin. Harvard is America’s oldest university, and nothing symbolizes the institution quite like Harvard Yard, defined by the twenty-five gates that frame it. Surprisingly, while the university was founded in 1636, the gates were mostly constructed in the past 125 years. In a relatively brief period of time, they have come to represent not only Harvard but also the ideal vision of the American university, complete with greensward and stately buildings where students come from all over the world. The essays in this beautifully illustrated book were written by Harvard students and Nieman Fellows led by Pulitzer Prize–winning architecture critic Blair Kamin, who edited the collection and introduces it. Each chapter reveals the story behind a particular gate, illuminating Harvard’s complex history and its place within the broader stories of Boston and America. There is here a deep reverence for the role of space in fostering identity and community. Designed primarily by renowned architects McKim, Mead & White, the gates are crafted from brick, stone, and wrought iron, each reflecting Harvard’s evolving sense of itself. This edition includes a new afterword by Kamin, as well as a fresh chapter on Harvard Yard’s latest gate, built in 2020 and inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alongside architectural history, the chapters highlight personal stories—from the reminiscences of esteemed alumni to a mother’s tribute to her son—demonstrating that these gates have become much more than practical passageways.

Full Product Details

9780674304536

Table of Contents

Reviews

Many endearing details and quirks of history emerge from the pages of this small, delightful book.-- ""Architecture Boston"" To Blair Kamin, the wrought-iron gates that ring the campus green at Harvard University in Cambridge Mass., are storytellers through design and time capsules of university history, which he and the students he taught explore in the book Gates of Harvard Yard. Its thoughtful essays examine the 25 gates surrounding the yard.-- ""New York Times""

As Kamin and his coauthors reveal in a series of essays, these gates contain meaning far beyond their simple iron shapes and symbols.-- ""Curbed"" From their architectural makeup to the range of people who funded their construction, Kamin and his coauthors work to convey the gates' historic beauty, which goes beyond their entrance, exit, and prohibitive purposes.-- ""Boston Magazine"" Gates are for getting through, but Kamin, his fellow instructors, and their students ask us to pause and contemplate. From gates, the neo-Georgian style spread to buildings and made much of the Harvard we know today.""-- ""Harvard Magazine"" Here we have a book that's more than just a good read. It's time to open up all of Harvard's gates, restore their meaning and revel in their beauty.-- ""Huffington Post"" Many endearing details and quirks of history emerge from the pages of this small, delightful book.-- ""Architecture Boston"" To Blair Kamin, the wrought-iron gates that ring the campus green at Harvard University in Cambridge Mass., are storytellers through design and time capsules of university history, which he and the students he taught explore in the book Gates of Harvard Yard. Its thoughtful essays examine the 25 gates surrounding the yard.-- ""New York Times""

Author Information

Blair Kamin is a Pulitzer Prize–winning architecture critic, formerly on staff at the Chicago Tribune. A Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 2012–13, he is a graduate of Amherst College and the Yale School of Architecture.

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