-
7. 95 Irving Street and Beyond
- University of Nebraska Press
- Chapter
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''' - /+ Irving Street and Beyond Xoj^[\Wbbe\'... the Jameses had realized that it was time for them to find more permanent quarters. William had a solid position and modest income at Harvard, but even with the Syracuse rental income they lacked funds to buy a home. In March '../, though, William’s Aunt Kate died, leaving him a bequest of $/,&&&. This made their decision to build a home certain.1 Earlier that winter William had found a lot on Irving Street, just blocks from (& Quincy Street, where the James family had lived for years. It was close to the Harvard campus, so that he could walk to classes. In '..-·.. financially pressed Charles Eliot Norton asked landscape architect Charles Eliot, son of Harvard’s President Eliot, to draw up a design for subdividing his beloved estate, Shady Hill.2 Eliot planned a curvilinear street pattern similar to Frederick Law Olmsted’s designs, with large, single-family houses set back from the streets. The Shady Hill development was part of the movement north and northeast from Harvard’s campus, as there was no more room for professors to build near the university, and existing property was expensive. Shady Hill and Dana Hill, originally part of Cambridgeport, became virtual extensions of Old Cambridge.3 These developments were just one example of the growth that threatened ''( /+_hl_d]ijh[[jWdZX[oedZ to overwhelm Cambridge during the second half of the nineteenth century , when it moved from being a colonial and revolutionary village to an incorporated suburban city. Some of the growth came from professional and merchant families moving out from Boston, but it also came from the many immigrants drawn to work opportunities in the factories. The city’s population nearly doubled between '..& and '/'&, when it reached '&&,&&& people, and its population density was (+ persons per acre, a higher density than Boston and even than most American cities of that time. When beloved writer James Russell Lowell returned to the city from Europe in '../, he felt as if he had been brought in to a world of ghosts, as Cambridge had changed beyond recognition.4 By the time of William James’s death in '/'& there were calls to suppress pollution and regulate growth.5 Building the Irving Street house proved a formidable undertaking, and the Chocorua retreat was not yet finished. The worst of overseeing the construction fell to Alice. During the summer of '../ William decided he needed to go abroad again to see his ailing sister Alice and to attend an international conference of physiological psychologists that would be held in Paris. He had promised his wife that she could come on his next European trip, but, fatigued and frustrated, he put her off one more time. It was not possible for both to be gone at once just then, and, in addition, the cost of taking her would be prohibitive while they were building a new home. On the spur of the moment he decided to go alone. He was still, as sister Alice described him in her journal, “a blob of mercury.”6 William comforted Alice: “Only heaven reward you for all you’re doing for us.”7 Sometimes it must have seemed that only heaven did reward her. It was the same old story: absence makes the heart grow fonder. William said it himself, telling Alice, “What a wonderful effect absence has in quickening and at the same time simplifying one’s impression of the absent one.”8 But while his desire increased when they were apart, they argued by mail, this time over a lift. William loved the idea of an elevator, but Alice wanted a large linen closet. He tried to compromise. They could have both lift and linen closet by shifting other rooms and closets around. He promised to make the elevator childproof, as one of Alice’s objections had been her fear of the children getting hurt playing in and around it. [35.168.113.41] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 05:35 GMT) /+_hl_d]ijh[[jWdZX[oedZ '') Finally, he threatened: “For once I’ll assert my supremacy in this marriage !”9 But in his next letter he told her that he was going to investigate three Boston houses with lifts. Unless those homeowners unanimously recommended the innovation, however, “out of love for you and your horrid little midgy nature I will not put it in.”10 During his voyage out on the 9[f^Wbed_W William analyzed his marriage with its seemingly unavoidable conflicts. He sifted...