The house at 95 Irving Street shares the character of its neighboring residences.

It is old, built in 1889. It has lots of windows, high ceilings and wood-paneled doors.

But it has something the other houses lack--the legacy of the famed Harvard psychologist William James, who lived there during the final years of his life.

Responding to the recent purchase of the home by a developer who hopes to turn it into two apartment-style dwellings, a group of residents has filed a petition with the Cambridge Historical Society and the Cambridge Planning and Zoning Board, asking them to designate the home as a landmark, thus putting a kink in the plans to remodel.

The new owner of the house, Jill Ruge, a 1989 graduate of the Kennedy School of Government, said she plans to convert the home into two separate apartments.

"We're trying to do a very thoughtful renovation of the house--three-quarters of the house will be restored to what it was like when James built it in the 1880's," Ruge said.

A sampling of neighbors' opinions this weekend found, however, that nearly all oppose the changes to the home Ruge proposes to make.

Charles Fried, a professor of law, lives two houses from the James home.