Porter Sqaure
Porter Square is located around the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Somerville Avenue, between Harvard and Davis Squares. The Porter Square station is one of the stops on the Red Line, and of the Commuter Rail, both part of the MBTA. The station is approximately 200 yards from the border with Somerville, so “Porter Square” inhabitants include residents of both cities.
Porter Square was named for the now-vanished Porter’s Hotel, operated by Zachariah B. Porter, who also left his name to the hotel’s specialty, the cut of steak now known as porterhouse. The square, formerly flanked by cattle yards that used the Porter rail head to transport their beef through the US, was an important center for commerce and light industry as early as the late 18th century. In 1984 the Red Line was extended from Harvard through Porter and Davis Square to its present terminus at Alewife, a project that also left Porter with its most visible landmark, Susumu Shingu’s 46-foot stainless steel kinetic sculpture entitled “Gift of the Wind.”
A prominent feature of the Porter Square skyline is the tower on the Art Deco-style University Hall building, which was a Sears, Roebuck from 1928 to 1985. In 1991, Lesley University began leasing classroom space there, and in 1994 it bought the building, known then as the Porter Exchange building, in which it now houses its bookstore and art and dance studios in addition to classrooms.
Lesley University continues to expand in the Porter Square neighborhood, with current plans to relocate the Art Institute of Boston to the site occupied by the North Prospect Church on Massachusetts Avenue across the street from University Hall.
Porter Square Real Estate
205 Richdale Ave Unit A-22 Cambridge
Listing Price: $469000
MLS #: 71128145
Square Feet: 1244 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
63 Mount Vernon Unit 1 Cambridge
Listing Price: $449000
MLS #: 71117126
Square Feet: 1130 sqft
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1
8 Russell St Unit 3 Cambridge
Listing Price: $314900
MLS #: 71112319
Square Feet: 695 sqft
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
1 Newport Road Unit 5 Cambridge
Listing Price: $499000
MLS #: 71105495
Square Feet: 1142 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
29 Regent Unit 1R Cambridge
Listing Price: $389000
MLS #: 71089563
Square Feet: 780 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
153 Walden Street Unit 3 Cambridge
Listing Price: $339000
MLS #: 71085058
Square Feet: 848 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
8 Russell St Unit 2 Cambridge
Listing Price: $565900
MLS #: 71083361
Square Feet: 1170 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
68 Orchard Cambridge
Listing Price: $875000
MLS #: 71079797
Square Feet: 1879 sqft
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 1
148 Richdale Avenue Unit 3 Cambridge
Listing Price: $798000
MLS #: 71075035
Square Feet: 2350 sqft
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3
7 Meacham Rd Unit 7 Cambridge
Listing Price: $329000
MLS #: 71066565
Square Feet: 1208 sqft
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 1
