Weld Boathouse

The Weld Boathouse

The Weld Boathouse, built by the George Walker Weld family in 1906, sits on the bank of Charles river on the east side of John F. Kennedy Street. The grand boathouse is several stories high with two docs to walk down to the water. It has a reddish roof with red brick accents on a beige facade. With large arched black steel windows and two symmetrical chimneys the boathouse also features a balcony on the riverfront.
Weld Boathouse from the Intersection of JFK St and Memorial Dr

The boathouse sits at the halfway point of the Head of the Charles course, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The Weld family hoped the boathouse would encourage “university-wide rowing” and the house is a close walk to Harvard University, Harvard Square, and the surrounding Cambridge area.

Weld Boathouse (upper right) and the Head of the Charles Regatta

The boathouse has become a famous Cambridge landmark denoting one’s arrival at the historic Harvard University and Cambridge, MA. Harvard, the Boston area, and the Charles River has attracted a steady flow of rowers to make good use of this boathouse over the last hundred plus years. Anderson Memorial Bridge which sits perpendicular to the boathouse serves as the main roadway to Harvard and the Square and Memorial Drive is also another busy roadway, as such the Weld Boathouse sees massive amounts of traffic each day. An iconic, historic, and frequented destination such as the Weld Boathouse deserves to be preserved and valued for future generations, as such I advocate for the Landmark Status of this building.

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