"There was a great deal of community involvement," said Sullivan. "They asked for brick that would match Harvard University."
Harvard it seems, is a bastion of red brickism.
"It's because red brick wears well and looks classy around Harvard," Glasgow said.
When Graham Gund Architects began work on the Inn at Harvard, the University Planning Committee, which commissioned and oversaw the building of the hotel, wanted it to match the style of the college, said Alec Holser, an associate of Graham Gund architects.
"We mostly tried to make it fit in with the academic buildings," said Holser "They rent out the rooms to people associated with the university."
But lower cost combined with durability, packaged in a pleasant, traditional look, has perhaps been the greatest factor in red brick reproducibility in the Square.
"The stuff built in red brick looks nice," said Glasgow. "Buildings like William James and the Carpenter Center are not aging very well."
"When you make it look like red brick it becomes timeless," he said.