The Larches
- Address: 22 Larch Rd
Built around 1808, The Larches was the mansion of the last important Cambridge estate to be subdivided for suburban development. The Larches was originally used as a summer home. In 1915, the grounds were subdivided and the Gray House and its ell were moved to their present locations, 22 and 36 Larch Road respectively. At the time of the 1915 move, iterations on 22 Larch Road were carried out by the architect Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr.
The low hip roof and delicate cornice with fretted dentils and mutules, lightened by a pattern of drilled holes is characteristic of its early 19th century date. The entrance has a graceful elliptical fan light and sidelights, and is set within a porch supported by light fluted columns with papyrus leaf capitals. The surface ornamentation implies that the designer was still compiling ornamentation in the Georgian manner.
The interior of The Larches constitutes the best surviving Federal period work in Cambridge. A graceful flight of stairs rises in a semi-circle. Doors throughout the structure are capped by delicate friezes of molded plaster. The woodwork is light and elegant in scale, throughout.
The Larches is now the home of the composer Randall Thompson. It was originally built for Jonathan Hastings in 1808, and was later finished in 1810 by William Gray of Salem for his home. - MACRIS inventory record, 1964