On the side of Coolidge Hardware, where Kimball Road meets Mount Auburn Street, a 16-by-9-foot wall of aluminum fins carries the same white and yellow reflective markers the crews outside use to mark lanes. In daylight it looks like a sharp piece of relief sculpture. At night, headlights rolling through the work zone hit the reflectors, and the wall throws off moving shadows and bands of color.
That piece, "Transitional" by MASARY Studios, and its companion at Sullivan Playground were commissioned for a specific stretch of time. The City of Watertown set them to stay up for about two years, the same window in which the Mount Auburn Street Project is expected to keep Coolidge Square under construction. Both pieces depend on light, so they show up best after dark. In mid-November, the dark comes early, so the art is easiest to catch on an ordinary errand run.
A Wall Made From the Work Zone
The City's public art program is called "Open for Business," and it was launched during the reconstruction to keep people coming to the square while the street was torn up. Liz Helfer, the City's Public Arts and Culture Planner, described the installations in the City's announcement, published by Watertown News, as "a beacon, drawing residents and visitors to rediscover our cherished local establishments."
"Transitional" takes that brief literally. Watertown News reported that the piece is built from sheets of aluminum and road reflective tags, so it changes as you walk past it at different angles. MASARY Studios also produced the Solstice light show at Mount Auburn Cemetery. In the City's words, the lane markers are "a nod to the neighborhood's current transportational shift."
The wall faces Kimball Road at the Mount Auburn Street corner. Coolidge Hardware's address is 622 Mount Auburn Street. Stand on the corner for a few minutes after dark and the steady flow of cars does the rest.
The Piece You Can Miss at Noon
The second installation does the opposite. "Dazzling the Pines" hangs in a group of trees next to the basketball court at Sullivan Playground, and Watertown News found that in daytime it "does not jump out." Look closely and you can see silver balls hanging from and between the branches. Some look like Christmas ornaments and some look like disco balls.
After dark, a set of lights shines on the spheres. The City describes the stainless steel strands scattering sunlight into "a shifting constellation of reflections" by day and the canopy becoming "a glowing, immersive environment" at night. The piece is by Elaine Buckholz with help from Sam Webb. Buckholz also made an earlier piece for the children's play area at the same playground.
Over the summer, long evenings meant most people walked by these two pieces in daylight, when one was easy to overlook and the other was only half working. In November they're lit up by the time most people head home.
Why the Clock Is Set to Two Years
The art's lifespan matches the construction schedule. At a November 2025 meeting with Coolidge Square business owners, Kristopher Surette of Tighe & Bond, the project's designers, said the reconstruction would take four to five construction seasons. Work started in 2024 and was expected to finish in 2028, according to Watertown News coverage of that meeting.
Surette also explained that crews don't stay in front of one storefront for the whole stretch. They come back several times: once for utilities, again for the roadway, again for sidewalks, and again for site furnishings. That's why the same block can look finished one month and fenced off the next.
The project runs from the Cambridge line to near the Starbucks. The finished street will have:
- One travel lane in each direction for most of the corridor, down from two, with turn lanes at key intersections
- Dedicated bike lanes along about 95 percent of the project area
- Street parking kept in place
- New sidewalks, curbing, traffic signals and planting areas
- Granite walls at several corners with "Coolidge Square" carved into them, built as seating and surrounded by new street trees and landscaping
Erin Rathe, the City's Senior Planner for Economic Development, mentioned art installations as part of that same beautification plan. The current reflector wall and lit pines are meant to carry the square until the permanent seating walls and street trees are in.
An Evening Loop Through the Square
The art is set among the businesses it was commissioned to support. A short walk connects both pieces with the storefronts named in the City's Discover Coolidge Square promotion and in Watertown News coverage of the sidewalk work:
- Coolidge Hardware, 622 Mount Auburn Street. Start at the "Transitional" wall on the Kimball Road side.
- Uncommon Grounds, 575 Mount Auburn Street. The coffee shop was part of the City's Discover Coolidge Square promotion in June 2025.
- Artemis Yoga, 639 Mount Auburn Street. Owner Liz Padula opened the studio in East Watertown in December 2015, on the block between Arlington Street and Bigelow Avenue.
- The block between Bigelow Avenue and Elton Avenue, south side. Sevan Bakery, Stella Pizza, Boxfish Seafood Restaurant, Victoria Spa, Vasquez Barber Shop and Exotic Nails & Spa share this stretch, which got new sidewalks in June.
- Donohue's Bar & Grill. Rathe singled out the restaurant's own customer messaging during construction as the kind that works well.
- Sullivan Playground. End at the pines by the basketball court once the lights are on.
Padula told Watertown News in June that she expects the end result to pay off. "It will encourage more walkability, more visits," she said. "It will be good in the end."
How the Work Zone Runs on a Weekday
An evening walk avoids most of the hassle. The project's weekly updates lay out a consistent routine for daytime trips:
| What you'll run into | How it works |
|---|---|
| Street parking | Restricted in the active area. Crews post closure signs starting at 7 a.m. and remove them by 5 p.m. |
| Driving | Lane shifts and possible lane closures, with one travel lane kept open in each direction |
| Sidewalks | Pedestrians are sent to the opposite side during work, then given temporary walkways |
| Getting into a business | Rear entrances where available, or a police detail escorts you through the work zone while work pauses |
During the first week of November, the posted schedule called for sidewalk grading and pouring at School Street, Lloyd Road, Elton Avenue and Melendy Avenue. It also listed granite curb work at School, Lloyd and Melendy, and drainage installation between Garfield Street and East Bates Road. In mid-September, crews worked between Templeton Parkway and Irma Avenue. The work zone moves every week, so check before you go. The City posts the next week's plan at mountauburnstreet.com, and you can sign up for the project emails. At the 2025 meeting, City staff said those emails go out every Friday with traffic impacts and maps. For questions, they pointed people to 311.
If curbside spots are closed, use the municipal lot on Wells Avenue. Business owners at that meeting asked for more signs pointing to it because people from outside the neighborhood may not know it's there.
Two More Reasons to Be on Mount Auburn Street This Month
Farther along the street toward Watertown Square, St. James Armenian Church at 465 Mount Auburn Street holds its St. James Hye Café on Friday, November 13. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and the kitchen opens at 6:30 p.m.
Closer to the Cambridge line, Badam Uyghur Cuisine is taking over the former Home Taste space at 58 Mount Auburn Street. What Now Boston reported that owner Adila Sadir was aiming to open this month. If it's open, it's another stop for a night on the corridor, and it marks the far end of the stretch that's being rebuilt.
Long-term owners on the streets around Coolidge Square are watching the old four-lane road turn into the slower, more walkable street in the 2028 plans, and that will affect how these blocks are seen. If you'd like to know how the Mount Auburn Street project is starting to show up in East Watertown home values, The Toland Team is glad to talk it through. Get a free home valuation and we'll look at your street together.
