With modern-day retail giants like Abercrombie & Fitch and the Gap fronting today's Harvard Square, it's easy to forget that the tourist-filled shopping district was once the center of New Towne, the oldest planned town in New England.

But Harvard Square, unlike Newbury Street, Beacon Hill and other old quarters of Boston and Cambridge, is not a designated historic district--yet.

The Cambridge City Council will vote on an ordinance to designate Harvard Square as a historic district within the next month.

The move would give the Cambridge Historical Commission jurisdiction to review any proposed changes to exteriors of Harvard Square buildings, though it would not allow the council to regulate the types of businesses operating in the Square.

"Some people feel that it's too late--that Harvard Square has already been overdeveloped," said Mayor Francis H. Duehay '55.

But, Duehay said, many historic buildings that remain in the area could be in jeopardy without an ordinance to protect them.

People are surprised when they hear Harvard Square has not yet been granted historical district status, said Charles M. Sullivan, chair of the Cambridge Historical Commission.

"Most people say they thought it must have been done years ago," Sullivan said. "Threats up to today have been in the periphery of Harvard Square. Now that development takes place in the heart of the Square, it's a different issue."