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NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) -OMB No. 1024-0018 RECEIVED 2280 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service JAN - 7 2000 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NAT. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (National Register Bulletin 16A). Complete each item by marking "X" in the appropriate box or by entering the information requested. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions.
Place additional entries and narrative items on continuation sheets (NPS Form 10-900a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer, to complete all items. 1. Name of Property historic name CORCORAN SCHOOL other names/site number_ SCHOOL HOUSE #10: WALNUT STREET #10; NEW GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2. Location street & number 40 WALNUT STREET - - not for publication city or town CLINTON _ vicinity state_ MASSACHUSETTS _ code_MA county WORCESTER code_ 027 zip code_01510 3 State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this El nomination - request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
In my opinion, the property Vr meets does not meet the National Register Criteria. 1 recommend that this property be considered significant - nationally [] statewide locally. ( See continuation sheet for additional comments.) UsaU. Fitfqueald 9Signatureof certifying official/TitleJudith B. McDonough, Executive Director 15/37/99 Date Massachusetts Historical Commission, State Historic Preservation Officer State or Federal agency and bureau In my opinion, the property -] meets - does not meet the National Register criteria. ( See continuation sheet for additional Comments.) Signature of certifying official/Title Date State or Federal agency and bureau 4. National Park Service Certification I, hereby certify that this property is: M entered in the National Register - See continuation sheet. - determined eligible for the National Register - See continuation sheet.
- determined not eligible for the National Register D removed from the National Register - other (explain): tebant Beell Date of Actior 2/4/00 Corcoran School Name of Property 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) x private -public-local - public-State _ public-Federal Worcester, MA County and State (Check only one box) x building(s) _ district - Site _ structure - object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing 1 Noncontributing building sites structures _objects Total Name of related multiple property listing (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing.) n/a 1 Number of contributing resources previously listed In the National Register n/a 6.
Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) EDUCATION/ school Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) Domestic: multiple dwelling 7. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) LATE 19"/EARLY 20" CENTURY REVIVAL: Colonial Revival on a Queen Anne form Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundation_stone walls brick roof other slate bluestone, wood, metal Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) MPS Form 10-900e (0-06) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Section number - Page _ Corcoran School Clinton (Worcester), Massachusetts 7.
NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION Located in the heart of Clinton's Civic Center, the Corcoran School is an accomplished and substantial building that anchors the southwest corner of Walnut and Church Streets. Facing east on Walnut Street, it overlooks the four-acre town common, an intact mid-to-late 19" century public open space surrounded by a streetscape that retains the scale and architectural integrity of its era. The Corcoran School stands among historic churches, former high-style residences and such civic buildings as the Clinton Town Hall. Completed in 1900 and designed in the transitional Queen Anne/Classical Revival style, the Corcoran School is an excellent example of school architecture at the turn of the 20" century. Generally centered on the lot, the 2 ½ story redbrick building is rectangular in plan (7 bays wide by 11 bays deep).
It is set back approximately 20' from the sidewalk along Walnut Street and approximately 15' from the sidewalk along Church Street. Trees and shrubs are planted at either edge of the main entrance on Walnut Street and at either side of the north entrance on Church Street. A stone curb rims the edge of the lawn at the sidewalk along Walnut and Church Streets. The building is set on a raised basement and rises to a slate roof, which is steeply sloped on four sides and flat in the middle. Two large gables running north-south frame the sloped roof on the north and south elevations. A smaller pedimented dormer is centered between the two large gables on the north and south elevations. Three pedimented dormers pierce the east elevation of the roof, while two pedimented dormers are found on the west elevation flanking a centered, shed-roofed gable which surmounts the central pavilion.
Roof and dormer gables are enlivened by raking parapets. A brick chimney is set off-center on the west and south elevations. Four louvered, polygonal cupolas rise above the roof, one at each of the four corners on the flat section of the roof. The sloped sections of the roof, the dormer cheeks and the cupola roofs are sheathed in slate. A projecting pedimented pavilion centered on the symmetrical façade (east) rises from a shallow projecting portico that shelters a recessed entry. The end pavilions on the north elevation project leaving a recessed central section. Rock faced bluestone trims the water table, window sills, keystone lintels at the first story and splayed lintels elsewhere, string courses at the base of the pedimented dormers, lintel courses at the dormers and an impost band at the round arched windows.
A stone stringcourse runs across the façade just below the cornice, a detail that is repeated at the center of the north and south elevations and at the two end pavilions on the west elevation. The edges of the dormers and gables are trimmed with bluestone corner blocks and coping. A blank stone sign band is centered above the main entrance. In 1918, when Clinton schools were given names, the town stated its intention to carve the names into the stone bands above the entrances. For unknown reasons, the work was not executed at the Corcoran School. Window and door openings are typically flat arched, except for round brick arches with stone keystones at the gable windows on the north and south elevations.
Three round-arched windows (continued) MPS Form 10-800e P-00 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number _ Page _2 OM8 Approvel No. 1024-0016 Corcoran School Clinton (Worcester), Massachusetts are also set at the second story, above the main entrance, and an oversized round brick arch is centered on the north elévation. Brick ornament includes blind round arches above the dormer windows and at the second story of the north elevation. A repeated detail consists of a triple window with a stone lintel course and blind arch over the center, which is suggestive of a Palladian window.
Additional classical detailing, executed in wood, includes a dentil cornice that runs across the façade (except for the projecting pavilion), across the.center pavilion of the north and south elevations and across the end pavilions on the west elevation. The front entrance portico consists of a wooden arch decorated with molded spandrels and a keystone set on a brick and stone base. The flat roof, which projects beyond the arch, rests on metal fluted lonic columns which had supported a heavy wood modillion cornice and balustrade. Behind the arch, a molded wood recess with coffered ceiling frames the entry. The piers and pilasters in the entry are decorated with a dentil cornice. The soffit of the arch is enlivened with paneling, as is the ceiling of the porch hood. Granite steps with pipe railings lead up to the entry, which is set in a deep paneled recess.
The sides are detailed with double blind arches set in a larger arch supported on pilasters. Original front double entry doors topped by a multi-light transom remain. Each door has an upper glazed panel and three narrow horizontal wood panels. A metal gate has been installed across the front of the portico to secure the vacant building. The five-panel double doors at the north entrance facing Church Street are replacements, and are not significant. Above the doors is a damaged multi-light transom. The double doors at the south entrance appear to be original and are glass and wood panel doors with a multi-light upper panel. An oversized window centered on the north elevation lighting the north stair is set in a round brick arch and consists of a recessed panel frieze and dentil cornice above a triple window. This is surmounted by a wood paneled fan, which has no glazing.
Almost all of the original wood windows remain. Window sash are typically 9/2 double-hung wood sash, and most have flat arched sash except some of the attic windows, which have round arched sash. Smaller windows include 4/1. 6/1, and 6/2. The three round-arched windows over the main entrance have 1/1 sash. Transoms over the doors are typically multi-light fixed windows. A few minor discrepancies are evident between the original drawings and the existing building. It appears that some changes were made to save on costs at the time of construction and some are later alterations. The original drawings show a large polygonal cupola centered over a skylight in the roof, which was built but is no longer extant. The smaller cupolas are shown on the drawings with flared bases, which do not appear in the existing building.
The cupolas were also drawn to project through the sloping portion on the roof rather than through the flat portion were they were (continued) MPS Fomm 10-800e United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 Corcoran School Clinton (Worcester), Massachusetts built. There is no entrance on the north elevation leading out to Church Street on the drawings, but the existing north entry is clearly original. Quoins at the corners of the building and the pavilions, and carved detail at the dormer corner blocks were apparently too expensive to include. A medallion under the gable of the central pavilion on the main façade was colored over on the drawings and left out of the construction. The firm of C.W. Greene, P.E.
revised the heating and ventilation systems in 1959, creating new openings in the exterior.walls for grilles, installing ducts that are visible primarily in the corridors, and filling in arches at the stair halls. Interior The basement contained the boiler and mechanical rooms, as well as the lavatories. The walls were unfinished, painted brick, while the lavatory ceilings were pressed metal. The floor level is depressed where the existing boiler is located. Stairs lead down from the landings at the north and south entries. The north entry has a double stair, and the south entry a single stair. The stair halls open into the side of a central corridor that runs east-west. The first and second floors are laid out on a cross plan with a classroom at each of the corners and public corridors forming a cross at the center.
The main corridor runs east-west and the stair halls form the cross at the center to the north and south. At the first floor, the east end of the corridor leads to the main entrance vestibule. Above this at the second floor here is a small room that had been a library. At the stair halls, a double stair with landing runs up from the first to the second floor and from the second floor to a quarter landing stair that runs along the wall to the third floor. A single stair runs down at the middle to the floor below. On each floor, two narrow rooms flank the stair halls. They were wardrobes for the students' coats. Centered at the west end of the corridor on the first and second floors is a single smaller room that was a teacher's office. The second floor teachers' room contains a stair leading backstage at the third floor.
The classrooms typically have a single corner cupboard over three drawers, chalk boards with trim and chalk rails. Interior detailing in the classroom includes molded window- and door surrounds, baseboards, a simple cornice molding and a picture molding at the height of the window heads. The floors are covered with rubber or vinyl tile and the ceilings are pressed metal. The rooms are lit with fluorescent lights. Doors into the classrooms have a large glass upper panel over three horizontal wood panels. Large rectangular transoms over the doors have been filled with a solid panel. Each classroom has one door into the corridor and one door into the adjoining coat room. The doors leading from the stair halls into the coat rooms are simple wood doors with no moldings and plain surrounds, which suggest that they are not original.
Two segmental arches span the corridor and similar arches frame the doors leading to the stair halls. The arches to the stair halls were later infilled and paired swinging doors with sidelights open into the stair corridors, having no significant detail. In the stair halls and corridors a flat rail with no molding is applied to the wall at approximately five feet. (continued) MPS Form 10-900 (6-00) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approvel No. 1024-0016 Section number - Page - Corcoran School Clinton (Worcester), Massachusetts The third floor contains the main assembly hall. The focal point is the stage, which is set at the west side of the room and has a wood paneled skirt with ventilation grates set in some panels. Steps with wood balustrades lead up to both sides of the stage.
The rear wall of the stage is curved and there are two wood panel doors leading backstage. Two wood panel doors flanking either side of the stage also lead backstage. The proscenium arch has no detail or molding. Other features of the room include blind arches in the north and south walls, and to the east, an arcade on two square wood paneled columns. The room has a wood floor and simple baseboards. What was the frame of a skylight is set into the ceiling, but it is presently filled with painted panels. The entries into the room are located in the north and south walls and consist of double wood panel doors topped by a round arch that has a filled fanlight. The window sills at the third floor are approximately five feet above the floor. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are recorded on the school property or in the general area (within one mile), sites may be present.
Environmental characteristics of the area represent some locational criteria (slope, soil drainage, distance to wetlands) that are favorable indicators for many types of prehistoric sites. The property includes a level to moderately sloping landscape and was probably well drained prior to historic development. Prehistoric sites are also present in the region, usually located near tributary streams leading to Wachusett Reservoir. In general, however, the potential for locating prehistoric resources on the school property is low. The location of the school is over 1000 feet from the nearest wetlands, a factor that reduces the overall prehistoric sensitivity of the property. Any prehistoric resources that were present were also likely impacted by historic land use of the property that included construction of three schools.
A moderate potential exists for locating historic archaeological resources on the Corcoran School property. The existing Corcoran School is the third school to occupy the southwest corner of Walnut and Church Streets since 1846. Structural evidence of the first school, "a little wooden building", built as a private school in 1846 may exist with evidence of outbuildings and occupational related features (trash pits, privies, wells). Similar evidence may also survive from a high school built in 1854 on the site of the wooden schoolhouse, which was moved and later demolished. The second school or the high school was demolished in 1898 to prepare the site for construction of the Corcoran School.
Archaeological evidence from the 1846 and 1854 schools have likely been impacted by later school construction culminating with impacts from the Corcoran School whose footprint is twice that of the earlier high school. (end) Corcoran School Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance