Culture, art and architecture

Fogg Museum, Harvard Museums Harvard Art Museum, including the Busch-Reisinger Museum, a collection of Germanic art the Fogg Art Museum, a comprehensive collection of Western art, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, a collection of Middle East and Asian art Harvard Museum of Natural History, including the Glass Flowers collection Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard Semitic Museum, Harvard MIT Museum List Visual Arts Center, MIT Public art

Cambridge has a large and varied collection of permanent public art, both on city property (managed by the Cambridge Arts Council), and on the campuses of Harvard and MIT. Temporary public artworks are displayed as part of the annual Cambridge River Festival on the banks of the Charles River, during winter celebrations in Harvard and Central Squares, and at university campus sites. Experimental forms of public artistic and cultural expression include the Central Square World's Fair, the Somerville-based annual Honk! Festival, and If This House Could Talk, a neighborhood art and history event. An active tradition of street musicians and other performers in Harvard Square entertains an audience of tourists and local residents during the warmer months of the year. The performances are coordinated through a public process that has been developed collaboratively by the performers, city administrators, private organizations and business groups.

Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site Stata Center, MIT Simmons Hall, MIT Architecture

Despite intensive urbanization during the late 19th century and 20th century, Cambridge has preserved an unusual number of historic buildings, including some dating to the 17th century. The city also contains an abundance of innovative contemporary architecture, largely built by Harvard and MIT.

Notable historic buildings in the city include The Asa Gray House (1810) Austin Hall, Harvard University (1882–84) Cambridge City Hall (1888–89) Cambridge Public Library (1888) Christ Church, Cambridge (1761) Cooper-Frost-Austin House (1689–1817) Elmwood House (1767), residence of the President of Harvard University First Church of Christ, Scientist (1924–30) The First Parish in Cambridge (1833) Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church (1891–93) Harvard Lampoon Building (1909) The Hooper-Lee-Nichols House (1685–1850) Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (1759), former home of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and headquarters of George Washington The Memorial Church of Harvard University (1932) Memorial Hall, Harvard University (1870–77) Middlesex County Courthouse (1814–48) Urban Rowhouse (1875) O'Reilly Spite House (1908), built to spite a neighbor who would not sell his adjacent land See also: List of Registered Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Contemporary architecture Baker House dormitory, MIT, by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, one of only two buildings by Aalto in the US Harvard Graduate Center/Harkness Commons, by The Architects Collaborative (TAC, with Walter Gropius) Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard, the only building in North America by Le Corbusier Kresge Auditorium, MIT, by Eero Saarinen MIT Chapel, by Eero Saarinen Design Research Building, by Benjamin Thompson and Associates American Academy of Arts and Sciences, by Kallmann McKinnell and Wood, also architects of Boston City Hall Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard, one of the few buildings in the U.S. by James Stirling, winner of the Pritzker Prize Stata Center, MIT, by Frank Gehry Simmons Hall, MIT, by Steven Holl Music

The city has an active music scene from classical performances to the latest popular bands.