Harvard Memorial Church reopens

With renovations largely complete, services resume this semester.

The new ramp providing accessible entry to the Memorial Church sanctuary

Photograph by Harvard Magazine/Lydia Carmichael

Another new ramp provides access to Memorial Church's renovated lower-level offices and meeting spaces.

Photograph by Harvard Magazine/Lydia Carmichael

Memorial Church closed after Commencement last May, making way for construction crews and displacing Morning Prayers and Sunday services during the fall semester—to Holden Chapel and the Radcliffe Institute campus, respectively. With the resumption of academic activity in the new semester, the church website happily bannered the news of “Reopening Jan. 23!”—and indeed, Morning Prayers were back in business in Tercentenary Theatre.


CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Photograph by Harvard Magazine/Lydia Carmichael

Much of the completed work is of the invisible variety: maintenance and infrastructure, new climate controls for the sanctuary and lower level (which will be felt, if not seen). Other construction remains in progress, most visibly on the church’s northern edge and northwestern corner—facing the Canaday freshman dormitory, and toward the Science Center plaza. There, the former grassy bank topped by a lush profusion of cherry laurels and rhododendrons has been removed to make way for an accessible ramp to the lower level of the church and a new entry. An accessibility ramp has also been constructed to overcome the barrier represented by the formidable granite steps at the western entrance to the main sanctuary. The lower level has itself been reconfigured for teaching and program uses—staff offices, group meeting spaces—with finishing work and some furnishing yet to come.

The photographs shown here focus on the reconfiguration of the exterior to accommodate new accessibility structures, work that makes the church that much more open to the Harvard community as a whole, in its accustomed place, as of this week.    

 

Read more articles by John S. Rosenberg
Related topics

You might also like

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

The Pump Celebrates Its 85th Birthday

Giving Harvard traditions their due 

The Latest In Harvard’s Fight with the Trump Administration

Back-and-forth reports on settlement talks, new accusations from the government, and a reshuffling of two federal compliance offices

Most popular

Harvard Panel Debunks the Population Implosion Myth

Public health professors parse the evidence surrounding falling U.S. birth rates.

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Harvard’s New Online Orientation Emphasizes Intellectual Paths

A summer course for first-years focuses on academic success, diverse viewpoints.

Explore More From Current Issue

Will Makris in blue checkered suit and red patterned tie standing outdoors by stone column.

A New HAA President at a Tumultuous Time

A career in higher ed inspired Will Makris to give back.

Two people moving large abstract painting with blue V-shaped design in museum courtyard.

A Harvard Art Museums Painting Gets a Bath

Water and sunlight help restore a modern American classic.

Illustration of scientists injecting large syringe with mitochondria into human heart.

Do Mitochondria Hold the Power to Heal?

From Alzheimer’s to cancer, this tiny organelle might expand treatment options.