Cambridge urban cores

[panamaniac]

I hesitated to open a new thread, but I saw an article in the Record about whether Cambridge's downtown(s) should be made heritage districts.  The discussion is spurred by an apparently bad cladding of the red brick Merchants Bank building along the river in Galt, next to the old Post Office.  The article has "before and after pictures" and, indeed, the "after" seems hard to digest.  Unfortunately, the property owner did not respond to the Record's request for an interview, so there is no indication of why the new cladding was required (deterioration of the brick?  water infiltration?  need for insulation?  the metal siding was on sale?).

It will be interesting to see whether this generates discussion in Cambridge.  I don't know to what extent individual buildings in downtown Galt have heritage protection, but the idea of protecting the entire area seems worthy of discussion, at least.

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/7053...istricts-/