Where Harvard Square and Harvard University meet near the Old Burial Ground on the west side of the part of the campus known as Old Harvard Yard, stands Johnston Gate an ornate gate that is the oldest and most ornate of the gates surrounding it.
This gate is in the style of Georgian Colonial Revival, which matches the nearby buildings, Massachusetts Hall and Harvard Hall, which are among the oldest buildings in Harvard University. However, the elder of the halls, Massachusetts, was built in 1721, while the gate was built in 1889-1890. Charles McKim, of the New York firm of McKim, Mead and White, designed the gate. Samuel Johnston, Class of 1855, had donated $10,000 to the building of the gate.
The gate has a large main gate and a smaller gate to the right (when facing it from Mass. Ave.). For the main gateway, two brick and stone structures form the main walls of the gate, while an ornate iron bar achway extends between them. Two gates also with ornate details are below the archway. The smaller gateway has an ornate iron span with less ornate gates.
There are many details on this structure.
The iron archway has a cross at the apex, symbolizing Harvard's religious roots as a training school for ministers. Surrounding the cross are laurels and finely bent ironwork. The gates have fine details inserted between the vertical and horizontal bars.
On the brick pillars flanking the main gate, near the top, there is the seal of Massachusetts on the left and the seal of Harvard on the right. Two stone inscriptions were on either side of the gateway. One inscriptions states:
"After God had carried us safe to New England/ and wee had builded our houses/ provided necessaries for our liveli hood/ reard convenient places for Gods worship/ and setled the civill government/ one of the next things we longed for/ and looked after was to advance learning/ and perpetuate it to posterity/ dreading to leave an illiterate minister/ to the churches when our present ministers/ shall lie in the dust.
New Englands First Fruits."
On the Harvard Yard side, the inscription on the left identifies
the benefactor, Samuel Johnston of Chicago. Above the inscription is an eagle with a wreath. The inscription and symbol on the right is about Cambridge.
By Johnston Gate is a small building that appears to be a guard shack, though it did not appear occupied at the time. The yard is open to all to walk around, though do respect the property as you do.
Sources:
Wikipedia (Johnston Gate):
(
visit link)
Book:
Douglass Shand-Tucci and Richard Cheek. Harvard University: an Architectural Tour. Princeton Architectural Press: New York, p. 29-31.