Miscellany: AR, the early years

[ra.ra]

From postings on this site (notably comments made by Steve F. and Tom T.), I learned of the Cambridge address locations of the earliest AR manufacturing site (23 Mount Auburn Street) as well as the AR listening room (52 Brattle Street). And of course, many of us that own 60's speakers or electronics made by AR are familiar with the predominant manufacturing address at 24 Thorndike Street, which is listed on tags and plates attached directly to the audio equipment.

For information only, I wanted to share a few pics taken very recently, which show that all three of these buildings are still in use today. The 23 Mount Auburn St. building was originally called the Reversible Collar Company Building, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It appears that points of entry may have been altered over the many years, and it now uses addresses 25 and 27.

24 Thorndike St. is still a small stand alone corner building while the rest of the neighborhood has grown substantially. It is used mainly by attorneys and various legal services which support the adjacent county court buildings. 52 Brattle St. is a small storefront which occupies a prominent corner in Harvard Square that now houses a woman's clothing boutique (Clothware).

For anyone who ever knew or used these buildings during AR's heyday, I hope I am showing the correct locations.

Pic 1: 23 Mount Auburn

Pic 2: 24 Thorndike Street

Pic 3: 52 Brattle Street

 

[Tom H.]

Cool pictures. If only those walls could talk!