Mature Trees Now Define John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, Cambridge, Mass.

by Carol R. Johnson, founder/chairman of Carol R. Johnson Associates, Inc.

BEFORE(1987) & AFTER(2012):
In 1987, this gateway to Memorial Park in Cambridge, Mass. from JFK Street and Memorial Drive suggested it was the Charles Hotel entry. This is the same entry in 2012. The landscape architects reorient the site by raising the ground plane and tilting it to the south and toward the river. When walking through the main entry now, pedestrians pass by leafy bowers and through open green space. The main row of now mature trees along the Charles Hotel and the Kennedy Institute are lindens and oaks.

One of the joys of practicing landscape architecture for many years is the pleasure one can take in seeing projects mature and seeing spaces change and become totally different than they were at the outset. This is, of course, often the result of maturing trees defining spaces as they could not when they were first planted and surrounding buildings dominated the open spaces.

An example of this is the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park in Cambridge, Mass. at the corner of JFK Street (formerly Boylston Stret) and Memorial Drive, just southwest of Harvard Square. The site was originally part of the lowland along the Charles River. When Memorial Drive was built between the river and this area, Memorial Drive was raised up above the river level, with the park sloping northward away from the river. The site for many years housed the car barns for Boston transit, which resulted in petroleum products polluting the soil. The solution to the polluted soil was solved by Pine and Swallow, environmental consultants to the landscape architects, Carol R. Johnson Associates. There was a proposal to build the Kennedy Presidential library here, but the neighborhood vetoed the idea. Instead, the site was divided into several areas, with space for Harvard's Kennedy Institute of Politics, a site for the Charles Hotel and condominiums, and a site for a Memorial Park dedicated to President Kennedy.

The institute and the hotel were built before the park. The landscape architects for the park were concerned about the site's northern orientation. To reorient the site to the south and the river view, the ground plane would have to be raised up to tilt to the south toward the river. This would mean that offices in the Kennedy Institute lower level would look out on an earthen embankment. The scholars at the Kennedy Institute accepted this for the benefit of the park.

The park sits south of the Kennedy Institute and the Charles Hotel and condominiums, east of the St. John's Monastery, north of the Charles River and Memorial Drive, and west of JFK Street and Harvard's Eliot House. These buildings defined the park from the outset and somewhat diminished the park's sense of arrival. The park has four entry points, but the last two are the most important: 1) beside the monastery at the western most point of the park; 2) at the opposite end of the walk running south of the hotel and the institute's buildings; the other two entries are the most important: 3) entry near the Lars Anderson Bridge at the corner of Memorial drive and JFK Street; 4) at Harvard Square near the hotel entry.

BEFORE(1989) & AFTER(2012):
In 1989, condos and other buildings dominated Memorial Park. In 2012, after 27 years of tree growth, there's a cozy canopy around the space and many more people now use the park. The main all????(R)???(C)e is Halka honey locusts, with groupings of swamp white oaks, sweetgums, red oaks, tulip poplar, fern leaf beech, Austrian pine and white pine.

The entry from Memorial Drive opens up views of a large open green space. It invites people to come into the park, even if it is only to use it as a short cut to areas outside of Harvard Square. Originally the green space seemed to belong to the buildings and not to the Charles River Reservation.

After 27 years of tree growth, the buildings are now totally obscured from the park. Despite Memorial Drive, the connection of Memorial Park to the river is clear. The landscape architects selection of trees emphasized use of natives, but not used exclusively. The main all????(R)???(C)e is Halka honey locusts. The main row of trees along the Charles Hotel and the Kennedy Institute are lindens and oaks. Along J.F.K Street are mixed deciduous trees. Within the structure of the main all????(R)???(C)e and the tree row are decorative specimens, some in groups and some single specimens. There are swamp white oaks, sweetgums, red oaks, tulip poplar, fern leaf beech, Austrian pine, and white pine. The park gets a minimum of maintenance, but the trees are flourishing. The trees are arranged to enhance the views from the benches placed along the walkways. Students and families sit in shady or sunny places, depending on the weather. Some students connect slack lines between trees to practice tight rope walking.

The second main entry to the park, the one from Harvard Square, has the same gateway pillars that the other entries have. Each one shows the text of one of President Kennedy's speeches. The gateway from Harvard Square is at the beginning of the Halka honey locust all????(R)???(C)e, which leads to the Memorial Fountain. The fountain also features excerpts of JFK speeches, over which the water flows. A nearby plaque has those words transcribed in Braille.

When the park was first built, the Kennedy Institute Building and the Charles Hotel and condominiums completely dominated the experience of walking to the Memorial Fountain. Now after 27 years of tree growth, the experience is transformed by the rows of elegant trees leading to Memorial Park. People now play and sunbath in an open space created by the richness of the tree foliage.

About the author: Carol Johnson is the founder and chairman of Carol R. Johnson Associates, Inc. (CRJA), with offices in Boston and Knoxville, Tenn. For 50 years she has maintained a diversified professional practice in landscape architecture and site planning. The firm's work typically includes site development, open space and recreation planning, master planning and urban development for municipalities, schools, colleges and universities, corporations and public agencies. Among her awards is the ASLA Medal, and the Gold Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.