Observatory Building B
Address60, Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, United States of America, 02138
Site Number667
Building Root Number
04192
Architect (Original)
Griswold Boyden Wylde and Ames
Constructed
1960
Building Acquired 1960
Building Acquired 1960
StatusActive
Site Name HistoryThe site is named after its function.Historical NotesThe Harvard College Observatory is a complex of buildings, in the Garden Street district of Cambridge, which forms a portion of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The Observatory was founded in 1839 with the appointment of William Cranch Bond as the Astronomical Observer to the University. The first telescope was installed in 1847.Building B at the Harvard College Observatory was constructed in 1960 in partnership with the Smithsonian. It was designed to be a computational center and laboratory. This new structure was designed by the Boston firm of Griswold Boyden Wylde and Ames on the site which stood the house of Professor Edward Charles Pickering.Additional Information
General Information By and About the Harvard College Observatory. Harvard University Archives call number HUF 165.2.
Harvard College Observatory. Harvard College Observatory : The First Century, a Review of the Past and a Preview of the Future. Cambridge, Mass., 1946. Available at multiple locations with various call numbers consult HOLLIS for details.
History of Observatory from 1839-ca.1900: Book of Facts, ca. 1900. Harvard University Archives call number UAV 630.400.
Baker, Daniel W. History of the Harvard College Observatory During the Period 1840-1890. Cambridge, Mass., 1890. Harvard University Archives call number HUF 165.490.6.
"The Astrophotographic Building of the Harvard Observatory." Science, 25 March 1932, Vol. 75:1943, pp.328-329.
Mitchell, William. The Astronomical Observatory of Harvard University. Boston, 1851 https://books.google.com/books?id=UPU-AAAAYAAJ&dq=The%20astronomical%20observatory%20of%20Harvard%20University&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=The%20astronomical%20observatory%20of%20Harvard%20University&f=false.
Bond, William Cranch. History and Description of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard. Cambridge, Mass., 1856. https://books.google.com/books?id=gENHAAAAcAAJ&dq=The%20astronomical%20observatory%20of%20Harvard%20University&pg=PP3#v=onepage&q=The%20astronomical%20observatory%20of%20Harvard%20University&f=false.
“Observatory Asks for Bids On New Wing.” The Harvard Crimson, 7 Dec. 1959, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1959/12/7/observatory-asks-for-bids-on-new/.
“Break Ground for Observatory Addition Here.” Cambridge Chronicle, 14 Jan. 1960, p. 1.
