The photo essay below was prepared by Stephen Diamond, ABC Board Director and long-time Agassiz resident.

For several years a group of neighbors and business people from Agassiz and Neighborhood 9 have been working with planning to improve Mass Ave between the Cambridge Common and Porter Square. At last, some of our efforts are about to be seen. The City of Cambridge has engaged a contractor to work on a Demonstration Block to start construction in the spring of 2014 and a test of the new sidewalk paving has just been made in front of 1696 Mass Ave. The whole Demonstration Block will be on the west side of Mass Ave from Shepard St (Starbucks) to Garfield St. (Changsho).

In addition to new paving shown below, trees will be planted with better conditions for survival. Benches, art work, historic markers, and bike racks will be added. At three locations the curb will be extended to provide for a shorter and safer pedestrian crossing.

Near Porter Square, construction of the Lesley University Art Center has begun. The first phase will be the move of the North Prospect Church southward onto a vacant lot. The move is scheduled to take place in November. The photo below shows the church as it looked in 1906.

A foundation for the church is being excavated now, and steel beams for moving it have been inserted under the second floor. (The present first floor was added when the church made its move here from its original location in Harvard Square.) The second floor will lowered to ground level for the move. The recent pointed steeple has already been removed.

After the move in November, a domed steeple reproducing the 1906 one will be added and a new building will be constructed along Roseland Street. The two elements will be joined by a glass link. The completed construction will provide an Art Library on the first floor of the moved church, an art gallery on the first floor of the new building, and art classrooms.