MARGARET FULLER NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE

Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, 71 Cherry Street

What's New

In 2022, the CRA received a commitment of $500,000 from the City's Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds toward the rennovation of the historic Margaret Fuller House.

Throughout 2023, the Margarent Fuller Neighborhood House (MFNH) has been engaged in a strategic planning process that has shifted some of the program needs for specialized space in the planned addition. Therefore the CRA has held off from additional planning and design efforts so that the plans can better reflect the future needs of the MFNH.

Looking for information about MFNH's food pantry, community advancement, or adult enrichment programs? Please visit their website or call them directly at: 617-547-4680.

Project Context and Goals

The Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House and the CRA are working in partnership to bring new housing to MFNH's parking lot site in the Port, and redevelop MFNH's food pantry, and community advancement facilities, including upgrading its historic house. This project is aligned with the CRA's growing work to support affordable housing and social services in the City, using tools and strategies not readily available to other government agencies or nonprofits. The goals of the project are to:

  • Apply the value of undeveloped land owned by MFNH to expand the organization’s capacity, and strengthen its programs.

  • Strengthen MFNH’s immediate and long term financial position.

  • Supply mixed-income housing for the Cambridge community.

Project HISTORY

Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House (MFNH) has provided social services and community connection from the historic home it owns at 71 Cherry Street since 1902.

Since 2018, the CRA and the MFNH have been exploring options to develop a moderate-scale housing development on an approximately 9,000 square foot surface parking lot owned by MFNH. This project would provide revenue that would allow MFNH to make improvements to the interior of its historic house in order to better support its programs, and to construct a new social services facility to replace the basement level structure that now sits adjacent to the house, potentially utilizing portions of that existing structure.  The CRA and the MFNH have entered into a Cooperation Agreement in order to:

  • Supply mixed-income housing for the Cambridge community.

  • Apply the value of undeveloped land owned by MFNH (Parking Lot) to expand the organization’s capacity, and strengthen and grow programs.

  • Strengthen MFNH’s immediate and long-term financial position and improve its community-serving facilities.

 In August, 2019, Studio G was selected as the project architect. Studio G is mission driven, bringing a depth of experience in nonprofit building projects. They have expertise in designing housing, childcare and social service facilities, and nonprofit offices. Studio G also brings expertise in "green" building and historic preservation.

With their help, the MFNH and CRA are considering a project that would include:

  • Construction of new mixed-income housing,

  • Renovations to the historic house,

  • Development of a new addition next door to the existing house.

MFNH’s administrative offices, community library, and computer lab are located in the historic home. The pantry has recently been re-located in the basement/garden level structure built adjacent to the historic home. 16,000 individuals and families collect food from the pantry each year.

MFNH has conducted repairs as needed to the house, but has not conducted any major renovations in the recent past. The house does not have air conditioning. Other systems may be near the end of their useful life. Additionally, the pantry addition and the offices in the house itself are not currently accessible to those with physical disabilities.

View of rear parking lot from back of historic house. The homes across from the far end of the lot are on Pine Street.

View of rear parking lot from back of historic house. The homes across from the far end of the lot are on Pine Street.

Room in the current childcare facility.

Room in the current childcare facility.

Members of MFNH’s “Breakfast Club”, a weekly gathering for elders

Members of MFNH’s “Breakfast Club”, a weekly gathering for elders

MFNH BAckground

The only known photograph of Margaret Fuller, c 1846.

Home to Margaret Fuller until the age of 16, the three-story, Federal style house at 71 Cherry Street was built in 1807.  Fuller was born in 1810, and was considered a prodigy, reading Latin by age six.  In 1845 she published Women in the 19th Century, which was extremely  influential in the feminist movement of the 18th Century.  (Source: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/pwwmh/ma59.htm)

In 1902, the home was reinvented as the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House, becoming one of the first settlement houses in the United States, and serving the social needs of recent immigrant families in the Port neighborhood of Cambridge.  This was at the the height of the industrial revolution and Cambridge’s local factories were staffed mostly by recent immigrants. Their living conditions, in boarding and tenement houses, were often overcrowded and unhealthy. In keeping with the spirit of the Settlement House movement, MFNH was designed as an outpost of education and culture for these workers. 

Today, MFNH serves as a nexus of activity for residents of the Port neighborhood and beyond, and provides adult enrichment programs, after-school programs, community outreach, a computer lab, a community library, and a food pantry.

CONTACT & Location

For more information about the programs that the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House offers, please call them directly:

Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House

617-547-4680

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For more information about the CRA’s Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House project please contact:

Karriem van Leesten, Project Manager

Cambridge Redevelopment Authority

 255 Main Street, 8th floor, Cambridge, MA 02142

Phone:  617-492-6800

Email: kvanleesten@cambridgeredevelopment.org