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5660 NPS Form 10-900 (Rev. 10-90) OMB No. 1024-0018 RECEIVED 2280 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service APR 2 3 2004 National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NAT.REGISTER OF HISTO :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 The Hyde School other names/site number Lee Central School 2. Location street & number 100 High Street _ not for publication - vicinity _ zip code 01238 city or town_Lee state Massachusetts _code_MA county_Berkshire . code 003 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this Bnomination - 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 meets - does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant - nationally O statewide locally. (- continuation sheet f betsy tredhere Signature of certifying official/Title CaraH. Metz, State Historic Preservation Officer pae denansal kegistu Duectr, 4/20104 Massachusetts Historical Commission 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: V/ 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): totili Aideus 614/204 e of Action - Hyde School Name of Property 5. Classification Ownership of Property (Check as many boxes as apply) _ private X public-local - public-State - public-Federal Berkshire, MA County and State (Check only one box) X building - district _ site - structure _object Number of Resources within Property (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing 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.) 1 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register None 6.
Function or Use Historic Functions (Enter categories from instructions) Education: School Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions) Vacant Z. Description Architectural Classification (Enter categories from instructions) Late Victorian: Romanesque Materials (Enter categories from instructions) foundationConcrete walls Marble, limestone, concrete, cinderblock, brick, Angel Stone (synthetic). roof_ other _Glass block Fiberglass Shingles, rubber membrane Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current condition of the property on one or more continuation sheets.) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page_ OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Hyde School Lee (Berkshire), MA Architectural Description Dramatically sited on a rise in the topography and constructed of white Lee Marble, the Richardsonian Romanesque-style Hyde School provides a focal point at the head of Academy Street, a short tree-lined road leading from Main Street (US Route 20) to the school on High Street (photo #1). Facing west on a 3.5-acre parcel of land, the school stands in a residential neighborhood abutting downtown Lee, a small Massachusetts town with a population 5,849. Located 122 miles west of Boston, Lee is in the Housatonic River Valley. A street known as The Crossway runs along the south boundary of the school property. To the east rises Ferncliff, a town-owed landscape of steep rocky cliffs, caves and woods that was given to the town by Albert Hyde.
While there are two churches in the area, both High and Academy Streets are primarily residential, and characterized by mid-19" century single-family houses. With 300 feet of frontage on High Street, the school stands on an irregularly shaped parcel that includes a yard to the south of the building, and the entrance to the playground is on the north. The prominent façade (west) and north and south elevations of the building retain their original features, but the east (rear) elevation was altered, first in 1936 when a gym and classroom complex were added at the southwest corner, and again in 1976 when a two-story corridor was added. Spanning three-quarters of the rear elevation, the corridor connects to the 1936 addition. In 1977, a classroom and cafeteria block was added at the south end of the campus, fronting on High Street and connecting to the 1936 addition.
Today the three components-the original Hyde building, 1936 addition, and 1977 addition-form a courtyard complex along High Street. The siting of the original building, on axis with Academy Street, and the presence of mature trees along High Street diminish the visual impact of the later additions, allowing the original portion of the Hyde School to retain its commanding presence in the overall streetscape. The Hyde School's character-defining features include its rough-cut ashlar stonework, its broad round arch framing a recessed entry bay (photos #3-4), its long rectangular triple-arch window groupings in the belfry, and its tower. The latter provides the chief decorative interest, and is the focal point of the composition.
Earlier examples of the Richardsonian Romanesque-style were typically asymmetrical and constructed of a colored stone, such as granite or brownstone, often displaying a combination of light and dark stonework. The use of marble along with symmetrical massing and modest trim reflects the influence of the Classical Revival style which began to appear in the 1890s, and was codified as the fashionable style for important public buildings at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1894, the year that the Hyde school was being constructed. (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page_2 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Hyde School Lee (Berkshire), MA Built of coursed white rough-cut marble ashlar quarried at Lee Marble Works, the original Hyde school building is generally cross-shaped in plan (photo #5). It has a rectangular seven-bay core with projecting three-bay sections centered on the façade and rear elevations. Rising two stories from a full basement to a hip roof, the building is dominated by a square (20' by 20'), four-story, projecting tower centered on the façade. A broad Romanesque arch defines the main entrance and anchors the first floor of the tower. Above it at the second and third stories are paired windows. The fourth story terminates in a belfry with triple round arches on each elevation. Capped by a pyramidal roof and weathervane, the tower features six-inch wide continuous sill courses of honed marble beneath the second, third and fourth story windows.
A date block with raised numerals, reading 1894, is centered on the façade beneath the third story windows. Symmetrically organized, the façade features three sets of paired windows flanking the tower, except for single windows on either side of the entry bay at the first story. Seven concrete steps with a central wooden railing lead to a porch recessed beneath the Romanesque arch. The original steps were of Lee marble that became worn with age and slippery when wet. A second stone arch frames the doorway, which retains its original double doors topped by a fanlight with sunburst muntin pattern. The original recessed wooden panels of the doors have been replaced by glazed insets. Sidelights flank the archway at the entry. The principal window openings are approximately 6'9" wide by 8' tall (photo #6).
Each is divided in two by a marble mullion that creates paired windows containing three stacked sash (1/1/1 replacements) in each vertical opening. A wide marble belt course above the windows serves as a lintel, and a narrow marble belt course beneath the windows serves as the sill. The original wood-frame windows have been replaced with aluminum units, but size of the openings is original. Basement windows, originally fitted with operable sash, are now filled with glass block. Other notable trim details include a 13"-wide marble watertable above the basement windows and marble brackets beneath the eaves of the main cornice and the tower. The original slate roofing on the building was replaced with Fiberglas roof shingles in 1994.
At the same time, the building was equipped with dark bronze-colored aluminum gutters and downspouts, and the original chimney (in the northeast section of the building) was removed. The marble exterior has never required repair, a testament to the quality Lee Marble, which is among the finest in the nation. (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 3 UMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Hyde School Lee (Berkshire), MA Interior: The interior of the Hyde School building is remarkably intact. A central corridor leads to six classrooms on each floor - four large rooms in the core of the building, and two smaller classrooms in the rear projecting section. The classrooms retain their blackboards.
The boys' and girls' lavatories on either side of the central corridor at the east end of the basement retain their high partitions of Lee marble dividing the toilets (photo #14). Walls in the halls and classrooms are generally finished with a four or five foot high wainscoting that is stained in the hallways and painted to match the walls in the classrooms (photo #16). Originally all of the wainscoting was stained. Interior doors are hard pine, typically with five horizontal panels. Original wood flooring is covered with vinyl floor tiles. The one remaining original stairway to the left (north) of the front entry has six turned newel posts with ball finials (photo #17). A second front stairway to the right of the entrance was removed to comply with State fire safety regulations. Major Additions 1936-GYMNASIUM/AUDITORIUM AND CLASSROOMS.
Attached to the southeast corner of the Hyde School, the addition is composed of a two-story classroom section with walk out basement level and a lower two-story gymnasium/auditorium. The steel frame building is generally T-shaped in plan with a slightly pitched roof covered by J.P. Stevens Membrane (originally tar and gravel). It extends to the south and east of the Hyde Building, terminating in a gym/auditorium, which is articulated by six columns of windows. The façade of the complex faces west on High Street, where it is set deeply back from the Hyde Building, which it is designed to complement (photo #10). Faced with ashlar blocks of rough-cut Lee marble and trimmed with smooth Indiana Limestone, it has a central entrance flanked by paired windows at each story.
The entry is framed by a colossal Art Deco frontispiece of Indiana limestone blocks with Lee Central School carved into the face. Above the frontispiece is a bank of three windows, and above that is a framed block carved with the date 1936. A compound segmental and flat arch frames the doorway, which is reached by two sets of concrete steps. Double doors with multi-light glazing in the upper 2/3rds lead into the building. Smooth limestone lintels and sills frame windows, were originally fitted with large multi-light, wood frame "Austral" sash. The present sash are "Kalwal." At the second story of the façade they are composed of multi-paned panels over a single awning-style horizontal light. At the first story, sash are 1/1. The other elevations of the building are faced with buff colored brick and have large slightly recessed window bays lighting each classroom (photo #11).
Sash are composed of five vertical panels divided into four horizontal rows. The lowest horizontal row contains a single transparent sash, as do two openings in the upper row. All others have opaque multi-pane panels. At the (continued) NPS Form 1 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number7 Page_4 OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Hyde School Lee (Berkshire), MA north elevation of the gym is a one-story projecting section that contains the stage (photo #13). Attached to it is a cinderblock, one car garage with shed roof and overhead door that opens to the west. 1976 - CORRIDOR. Rising two stories above a high basement to a flat roof, this fourteen-foot wide gray cinderblock structure spans three-quarters of the rear elevation of the Hyde school.
Running north to south, the corridor leads from the rear entry of the Hyde Building into the 1936 addition (photo #7). It was constructed to comply with State regulations mandating the removal of two interior wooden staircases of the Hyde Building, which were considered fire hazards. The spare structure features three, four-pane windows along the corridor of each story (photo #8). 1977-CLASSROOM AND CAFETERIA ADDITION. Four bays wide and generally rectangular in plan, the addition rises three stories along High Street and The Crossway. It has a relatively flat roof covered with J.P. Stevens Membrane (originally tar and gravel) The surface of the building is "Angel Stone," a synthetic product manufactured to resemble marble. The textured surface provides the decorative interest and harmonizes with the rough-cut marble exterior of the Hyde building and the 1936 addition.
The spare design reflects the principals of the modern movement in architecture, which eschewed architectural detail that did not have a specific function. Accordingly, a flat roof and banks of five windows that light the classrooms characterize the building. Aluminum-frame windows are arranged to emphasize strong horizontal lines. A narrow projecting stairwell faced with glass block to light the interior connects the 1977 addition to the south end of the façade of the 1936 structure. Archaeological Description Although no ancient Native American sites are recorded on the school property or in the general area (within one mile), sites may be present. Environmental characteristics in the area indicate some locational criteria (soil drainage, slope, proximity to wetlands) that are favorable for the presence of ancient sites.
The Hyde School is located on a well drained, level to moderately sloping terrace, both favorable locational criteria. The school is, however, located slightly over 1,000 feet from the Housatonic River, a distance from wetlands that exceeds most high sensitivity designations in ancient settlement models. Given the above information, regional settlement studies, the size of the parcel (3.5 acres), and construction impacts associated with building the original Lee Academy (1837) and the existing school, a low potential exists for locating significant ancient Native American resources on the school property. Predictive models for the property indicate a low to moderate potential for the presence of ancient Native American resources and any potential resources that were present were destroyed by school construction. (continued) Hyde School Name of Property 8. Statement of Significance