Major Bibliographical References (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): HPCA # 8865 Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 x State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested - Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency - previously determined eligible by the National x Local government Register _ University - designated a National Historic Landmark -Other - recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: Watertown Public Library # _recorded by Historic American Engineering Record OMB Approvel No.
1021-0018 KºS Form 10-900a (5-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Designed by Charles Brigham for his hometown at no cost, the Elizabethan Revival-style Old Watertown High School at 341 Mt. Auburn Street was built in 1913. The early 20th century was a transitional period in American education, during which students were more likely to attend high school than ever before. Old Watertown High School offered a college preparatory curriculum, which was supported indirectly by its Elizabethan Revival design; a favored style for college buildings of the period. The curriculum also placed a new emphasis on the education of women and immigrants, as well as on the importance of physical education.
In 1925, Old Watertown High School became the town's second junior high school, remaining in continuous use as a school until the late 1980s. The history of the Old High School reflects the rapid growth of Watertown as a prosperous industrial town and traces the evolution of the public school system in the early 20th century. Architecturally, the building is a well-preserved example of a school designed by Charles Brigham, one of the most prominent Boston architects of the day, as well as a Watertown native and civic leader. One of Brigham's last buildings, Old Watertown High School occupies a commanding location on Mount Auburn Street. is among the most architecturally significant buildings in Watertown, and is a rare example of the Elizabethan Revival style.
Old Watertown High School retains integrity of design, location, setting, materials, feeling, workmanship, and association; and fulfills National Register criteria A and C at the local level. The period of significance is from its date of construction to 1952. The end date is the standard fifty year cut off, established to allow for historical perspective, but it is also a date before which the east elevation was altered by an addition (see description). Watertown, situated along the banks of the Charles River, was founded in 1630 as the first inland settlement in Massachusetts. Initially, the economic base was grounded in agriculture, grazing, and fishing. By the mid-18th century, the town's civic center had been consolidated at the corner of Mt.
Auburn and Common Streets where the meeting house (burned in 1836) stood within the Common Street Burial Ground (MHC #800), a few blocks west of the site that became the location of Old Watertown High School in 1913. In the Colonial and Federal periods growth was rapid with the population more than doubling between 1765 (693 persons) and 1830 (1641 persons), by which time the power of the Charles River had been harnessed for the manufacturing of cotton duck, paper, medicines, soap, and candles. By 1870, the population had reached 4,326, with Irish immigrants representing nearly a quarter of that number. While farming was a viable occupation during most of the 19th century, Watertown's economic base was firmly rooted in manufacturing. The invention in Watertown of a paper bag-making machine revolutionized the packaging industry.
Ready-made shirts were being sewn first in homes and then in the Hathaway factory, which also included a laundry and spawned Watertown's starch industry. Economic expansion and development of new industries reached its peak in the late-industrial period (1870-1915). Particularly successful enterprises included Hollingsworth and Whitney Paper Mills, Lewando's French Dyeing and Cleansing Establishment, Empire Laundry Machinery Company, Metropolitan Laundry, Warren Soap Manufactory, Barker and Crystal Springs Starch factories, Aetna Woolen Mills, Hood Rubber Company, and the Stanley Motor Carriage Company. In addition, Watertown was the center of a thriving cattle trade, which occupied the Union Market Stockyards off Franklin and Walnuts Streets. (continued) OMB Approvel No.
1021-0018 tns Form 10-900 e (5-86) United Statec Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA By 1915, the population had quadrupled to 16,515 persons. Some of the growth was due to the arrival of street railways and the 1912 extension of the subway system from Boston to Cambridge, which made suburban life more attractive to Bostonians. But immigration patterns also made a substantial contribution to the population statistics as the ranks of the foreign born swelled in response to Watertown's ready supply of jobs. Irish and Italian immigrants were joined by waves of Armenians, who began arriving after the 1909 Adana Massacre in their homeland.
Watertown remains an important center of Armenian culture within the New England region, supporting various Armenian churches, cultural institutions, and businesses. The public school system in Watertown developed in concert with the booming economy and explosive population growth. By the mid-19th century, there were three school districts serving the east, west, and central sections of town, and civic leaders were discussing the need for a separate high school. It was built in 1853 on Common Street opposite the Burial Ground to serve the three upper grades. The building was damaged by fire in 1858, rebuilt, and reportedly incorporated into the present Phillips School building; now part of a complex containing school administration buildings, a senior center and the Watertown Council On Aging.
In the 1890s, the town built a new grammar school on the land abutting the first high school on the north. Called the Francis School, it was also designed by Charles Brigham. The Francis School quickly became overcrowded, resulting in the building of the Hosmer School half a mile to the east on a site abutting that of the soon to be erected Old High School. When first constructed, the Old Watertown High School and adjacent Hosmer School stood alone in the newly laid out residential neighborhood. The modest two-family houses that characterize the present neighborhood were largely constructed during the first decade of the school's existence. The decision to build the school was made at a particularly productive special town meeting, called on August 13, 1909.
At the landmark meeting, Henry Clay Derby, a Watertown meat distributor, donated $40,000 toward the erection of a new high school building as a "token of my affection for the Town in which I have lived nearly all of my life." Eugene N. Foss of Cohasset, later governor of Massachusetts, donated a 138,713 square foot plot of partly marshy land valued at $15,000 to the cause. The accomplished architect Charles Brigham "offered to contribute the necessary plans and supervision of the building of the school." A letter from Derby, read aloud at the meeting, explained that he had considered donating the funds for a new grammar school to serve the growing population in the southern section of Watertown, south of the Charles River, "...
but now that an emergency has arisen, and it seems almost imperative that a new high school-house should be built, and also being much impressed with the unfortunate financial condition of the Town, I have thought it not unwise to modify to some degree my intention." The land donated by Foss for the new high school had been a cattle pasture on the estate of Alvin Adams. After the death of Adams, trustees of his estate had subdivided the pasture into a conventional street grid, but the land remained undeveloped. Between 1904 and 1911 the estate was resurveyed and laid out with the present curvilinear street pattern, one block of which was donated by Foss to the town. The Foss tract was bound by the serpentine Boylston Street (W), curving Concord Road (S), and nearly straight Winthrop Street (since removed on the west) and Hancock (continued) OMB Approvel No.
1024-0018 M°S Form 10-900 a (5-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA Streets (also removed on the north, but now the location of the driveway in front of the school). Although the street pattern has changed, the boundaries of the existing parcel are similar to those of the Foss parcel. The rest of the subdivision was broken up into many small, irregularly shaped lots intended for residential use. Charles Brigham (1841-1925), a Watertown native, was near the close of his long and prosperous career when he donated his design for Old Watertown High School. With fifty years of experience and numerous major commissions behind him, Brigham was nearly seventy.
Born to Mary and John Brigham, a lumberman, Brigham was -- as a young man -- "single mindedly devoted to a future in architecture as a practical profession." As such, he was part of the generation that transformed the architectural profession from a hobby for gentlemen of means to a commercial enterprise. Charles married Rebecca Jordan in 1878. She died in 1910, and the couple had no children. Brigham, who had attended Watertown public schools, had, in fact, been a member of the first graduating class (1857) of the Watertown's first high school on Common Street. A prominent Watertown citizen, he was a founder of the Watertown Historical Society and designer of the town seal. He served Watertown as a selectman, school committee member, water commissioner, and trustee of the public library.
He was also a founder and president of the Watertown Cooperative Bank and a director of the Union Market National Bank. In addition, he was an early preservationist, helping to save Watertown's historic Edmund Fowle House (NR 1977, MHC #127) by moving it to his own land on Marshall Street. 1iter his graduation from high school in the late 1850s Brigham worked as a draftsman in the offices of Calvin Ryder. In the late 1850s or early 1860s he entered the firm of Bryant and Gilman; then the most prolific and nationally recognized Boston architectural office. During his employment with Bryant & Gilman, Brigham met his future partner of twenty years, the wealthy English-trained architect John Hubbard Sturgis.
The notable partnership of Sturgis & Brigham (1866-1886) was influential in the introduction and popularization of Ruskinian Gothic concepts and forms in America through Boston's first Museum of Fine Arts in Copley Square (1876; demolished) and the Church of The Advent on Brimmer Street in Beacon Hill (1880, NR district 1966). After Sturgis returned to London, Brigham formed a partnership with John C. Spofford and then with Charles C. Coveney and Henry Bisbee. Most of Brigham's subsequent commissions were done under the auspices of these partnerships. Two of his "largest and most impressive architectural designs in Boston" include the extension of Bulfinch's Massachusetts State House (West Wing, 1899) and The First Church of Christ Scientist Mother Church (MHC #7520).
In addition to those famous commissions, Brigham designed many houses and fine buildings in Watertown including his own house (84 Garfield Street, 1890, MHC #156), the Church of the Good Shepherd (1888; MHC #150), the Unitarian Parish House (1889; MHC # 105), Watertown Savings Bank (1892; MHC #54), and Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church (1912, MHC # 187). Brigham's firm also designed several notable high school buildings for other communities including the Renaissance Revival style Needham High School, (1896, MHC #39), and the Elizabethan Revival-style Fairhaven High School (1906, MHC #133, NR-1978), which is similar to the Old Watertown High School. The two schools, both of brick and limestone with slate-covered roofs and Flemish gables, ditfer significantly in plan and massing.
While similar in size, the difference in construction costs for each school is (continued) OMB Approvel No.1024-0018 K°S Form 10-900-a (5-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA Section number - Page - striking. At Fairhaven, construction costs were estimated to range between $500,000 and $700,000, which was unusually high for the era. The building costs for Old Watertown High School totaled $160,000. Both buildings are inspired by English designs of the carly 17th-century Elizabethan period, which incorporated influences from Flanders into what was a transition from the Gothic to the Renaissance style.
In addition to the Flemish gables, typical Elizabethan Revival features displayed at Old Watertown High School include the picturesque roofline, the symmetrical massing, strong horizontal belt courses, and crenelated parapets, Tudor-arched entries combined with classical Gibbs surrounds, and grouped mullioned windows with transoms enclosed by bold stone trim. As Derby described in his letter read at the town meeting in 1909, the need for a new high school was pressing. The old Watertown High School on Common Street was filled beyond capacity, and even its corridors were serving as classroom space. Children were necessarily sent across the yard to the Francis Grammar School building for recitations and study period, and as a result, Watertown was losing students to neighboring towns.
In March 1910, a building committee--consisting of architect Arthur Gray, builder Chester Sprague, Charles Fitz, Joseph Keefe, Thomas Vahey and George Wright--submitted Brigham's plan and cost estimate for the proposed building. The Town immediately appropriated an additional $100,000 to execute it. The committee soon found, however, that bids exceeded the appropriated funds for construction. "The plan however was so excellent in its design and in all of its details, that your committee were unanimous in their opinion that it would be better for the Town to increase its appropriation sufficient to carry into execution every detail of this plan, than to curtail or abridge it in any manner whatsoever...
$20,000 will enable the committee to construct the building as designed, making it a first-class building in every respect."With the additional funds appropriated that November, there was a total of $160,000 for construction costs. Drawings were filed wvith Massachusetts Department of Public Safety on November 17"" by architects Brigham, Coveney & Bisbee. The building permit (#891) was filed in Watertown on November 19, 1910, listing Charles Brigham of Brigham Coveney & Bisbee as architects and John W. Duff as builders. The address of the high school was Hancock Street, which is now reduced to a driveway in front of the school. Specifications for the brick and stone building were 164 feet long, 90 feet deep and 46 feet tall with a concrete foundation.
In February 1913, "after Washington birthday exercises, 219 pupils, carrying their books..., walked informally to the new building" from the former high school on Common Street half a mile away. Girls entered through the door on the rght, and boys through the one on the left. Praising the new high school, one town official said, "Our high school, both in architectural beauty and in completeness of its equipment, is probably unsurpassed by any high school of its size in Massachusetts." (Hodges, p. 163). At Common Street, the high school curriculum had been limited by spatial constraints. It had offered six tracks: Normal Preparatory Course, MIT Preparatory Course, College Scientific Preparatory Course, College Classical Preparatory Course, Commercial Course and a General Course.
With the completion of the new Watertown High School, the school department was able to add new courses of instruction and a total of twenty-three classes. Programmatic changes, including a new emphasis on the education of girls and the immigrant population, were reflected in the arrangement and use of rooms. (continued) OMB Approvel No. 1021-0018 K°S Form 10-900-a (5-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA Section number - Page - In his 1911 report, the superintendent of schools argued for improved women's education.
He wrote: "The education of girls is always complicated by the fact that there is always a dual purpose in their pursuit of an education; first, more or less temporary employment, and second, ultimately, homemaking." As a result, the entire attic floor of the new Watertown High School was devoted to a course of instruction exclusively for girls -- Home Economics or Domestic Science. This new track included classes in sanitation and hygiene, bacteriology, biology, drawing, chemistry, physics, practical and scientific laundry work, first aid, home nursing, sewing, elementary dressmaking and millinery. Students made visits to the grocery store and other establishments, and planned a menu for a family. The facilities included a main kitchen (with 2 gas ranges and coal and gas stove combined), house kitchen, china closet, dining room and reception room.
Dressmaking and millinery departments were on the right. The Domestic Science teacher was also responsible for the lunchroom, and it appears that the female pupils prepared lunches for the entire student body. A dumbwaiter led from the kitchens to the cafeteria and refrigerator in the basement. Another important addition to the curriculum was a "well-rounded course in Physical Education" for all high school boys and girls. Previously, only those students who represented the school on athletic teams had benefited from Physical Education. Five periods of physical exercise over two weeks were intended to increase attention and increase interest in academic work.
The new gymnasium, which occupied the bow-front section on the south elevation, was well equipped with "Swedish booms, traveling rings, dumb bells, etc." To the right of the gym were the girls' lavatories, showers, and wardrobe room with lockers. In front were forty-two dressing rooms and to the left were the boys' lavatories. Spectator galleries and the Physical Education office overlooked the gym and were accessible by spiral staircase. The addition of Physical Education to the regular curriculum also resulted in the purchase of the present athletic field in front of Old Watertown High School on Mt. Auburn Street.
Within a year of the completion of the school, the Chairman of the School Committee appealed to voters to purchase that plot as soon as possible, "as we realize that the price will never be so low as at the present." Until it was removed in the mid 1920s, a leg of Hancock Street crossed in front of the school and separated it from the playing field. The present driveway is a remnant of this street. Another influence on the design of Old Watertown High School was a 1911 law that allowed school committees to "grant use of school buildings for entertainments and exercises of general interest and value to the community." The assembly hall, home economics rooms, and classrooms were regularly used by the Evening School.
A rudimentary Evening School, largely serving Watertown's Armenian and Italian population, had been offered in the Hosmer school prior to the construction of the Old High School. The larger, better equipped Old Watertown High School allowed the toivn to open the school to other members of the community "who have been denied the privileges of a high school education." In the first semester, five rooms were used for the "elementary classes, composed entirely of our 'New Americans, four rooms for commercial classes, two rooms for the millinery department and the whole upper floor for the work in dressmaking and cooking." Interest and progress in the Evening School was "attributable in large measure to the influence of the beautiful, comfortable and well-lighted rooms," as well as to the enthusiasm of the teachers.
In the assembly hall/auditorium at the front of the building, the Evening School offered a series of illustrated lectures, particularly adapted for the Armenian and Italian people of Watertown. The hall, finished in a pale pink, (continued) OME Approvel No.1021-0018 tnS Form 10-900 a (5-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA accommodated 700. The large stage "will easily seat all pupils of the high school," which totaled 248 in the first year. The Massachusetts State Seal was displayed on the wall to the right of the stage, with the seal of the United States displayed on the wall to the left.
Despite the new emphasis on industrial and domestic education, aspiration toward higher education was the predominant message of the assembly hall, where each of the fifteen windows displayed the seal of a New England college. Over the stage was Principal Frank Whitney's pet motto, "Carpe Diem." Regular classrooms occupied the rest of the first and second floors, with laboratories and drawing rooms on the third floor. Each room, with oak-stained woodwork, was equipped with a "good-sized book case" and approximately forty- iwo seats. A telephone system connected all rooms, and drinking fountains were supplied in the corridors. The first floor held classrooms for math (Room 5), French (6), German (7), Latin (4), and recitation (3). The principal's office and an office and reception hall for the two male teachers were also located on the first floor.
The principal's office held a large vault with shelves of sheet iron and a large clock that regulated time throughout the building. The second floor held classrooms for English (room 8), commercial geography (9), bookkeeping (11), shorthand (13), and typewriting (12). On two sides of the commercial geography room were cases displaying agricultural objects. The bookkeeping room, a large space overlooking Mt. Auburn Street, included a counting desk, filing cabinet, and movable blackboards. Also located on the second floor were the stock room, girls' lavatory, infirmary, library, recitation room, study room, and a teachers' room, presumably for the eleven female teachers. The third floor held classrooms and laboratories for drawing and the sciences including freehand drawing (20), mechanical drawing (21), biology (22), lecture room (18), physics (16), chemistry (17) and a photograph room.
Mr. Robinson, the physics teacher, had his office in the rear of the lecture room. The increasing population of Watertown with corresponding increases in high school enrollment affected the structure of the school system as a whole. On the first day of the 1913 school year, the ninth grade was moved to the high school from its previous location at the elementary school. In a decision that is typical of other school districts of the period, elementary schools began to serve grades one through eight, and high schools incorporated a four year course of study starting with grade nine. Old Watertown High School also provided temporary space for the eighth grade in basement Room. In 1915, "The Six and Six Plan" stipulating six years of grammar school, three of junior high, and three of senior high, was considered in Watertown.
However, it was not until 1922 that the first junior high school in Watertown opened as the West Junior High (MHC #329). That same year, a committee was appointed to acquire land for a new, centrally-located high school with a capacity of 800. Within less than ten years of its construction, attendance in the Brigham-designed building had more than doubled. The surrounding neighborhood, platted but undeveloped in 1911, had been transformed in the intervening years by a surge of construction of modest single-and two-family houses. There were complaints about the school's narrow interior corridors, limited locker space, and the small lunchroom with no daylight. As arrangements were made for the construction of a new senior high building, high school classes were relegated to the three upper floors, while junior high classes took over the first floor and basement.
(continued) OMB Approvel No. 1024-0018 K°S Fomm 10-900 d (S-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA In September 1925, the third and present Watertown High School, designed by A. Houston Burr, opened nearer the center of town on Columbia Street, a block away from the first Watertown High School on Common Street. At the opening exercises "this 1926 model" was described as if it were an automobile --"air-washed, vacuum cleaned, and equipped with 4-wheel brakes." This new building was in decided contrast to the picturesque Elizabethan Revival- style structure of the previous decade. With the opening of the new high school, the Brigham-designed building became the East Junior High School and eventually the Middle School East.
In 1954, the school was enlarged with a modern addition designed by Coletti Brothers. Drastically different in design, fenestration and massing, it housed a new gymnasium, auditorium, cafeteria and some small rooms in a two-story connector. The old Hosmer School, to the east, was demolished ca. 1960 to be replaced on the same site by a new Hosmer School. In the late 1980s, the Brigham-designed Old Watertown High School (by then the East Junior High) was closed due to low enrollment. Seventh and eighth graders were consolidated at the Middle School and ninth graders were incorporated into the existing high school. The gym, auditorium, and cafeteria of the 1954 addition became part of the Hosmer School. The connector was demolished as part of the current rehabilitation. Old Watertown High School stood vacant until its recent conversion to an assisted living facility called Brigham House.
The adaptive reuse project enables this noble edifice to continue to serve the public, enhance the streetscape, and delight passersby for generations to come. (end) OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 KnS Form 10-900e (S-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number - 9 Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA 9. MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Annual Reports of the Town of Watertown, 1910-1915. Floyd, Margaret Henderson. "A Terra Cotta Cornerstone for Copley Square: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1870-1876, by Sturgis and Brigham. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, May 1973. Hodges, Maud deLeigh. Crossroads on the Charles: A History of Watertown, Massachusetts. Canaan, NH: Phoenix Publishing, 1980. Hodges, Maud deLeigh.
"One Hundred Years of Watertown High School, 1953." TMs. Watertown Free Public Library. Massachusetts Historical Commission files: National Register Nomination for Fairhaven High School, 1978; Inventory forms for Watertown High School (Wat. 276), Theodore Parker School (Wat.201)West Junior High School (Wat.329), Fairhaven High School (Fai. 133); Reconnaissance Survey Report, 1980; Watertown Historic Resources Inventory (Architectural Preservation Associates), 1982. Placzek, Adolph K., ed. MacMillan Encyclopedia of Architects. New York, 1982. S.v. "Charles Brigham." by Margaret Henderson Floyd. The Tribune Enterprise, Watertown, January 13, 1913, p. 1; Sept. 5, 1913, p. 5, Sept. 12, 1913, p. 1. Withey, Henry F. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970. S.v.
"Charles Brigham." Maps and Atlases Bailey's Birds Eye Map of Watertown. 1879 Beers Atlas of Watertown. 1874 Sanborn Map Company. Insurance Maps of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1904, 1911, 1916, 1923, 1928, 1951, 1971. (continued) OMS Approvel No. 1024-0018 ATS Form 10-900-a (5-86) United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA Section number - Page - 2 Stadley, Atlas of Watertown. 1898. Walker, Altas of Watertown. 1889 Drawings Brigham, Coveney and Brisbee, Plans for Watertown High School, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Public Safety Archive, 1910. Coletti Brothers, Plans for Additions and Alterations to Existing East Junior High School, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Public Safety Archive, 1954. (end) Old Watertown High School Name of Property 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of Property L.26 acres UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet) 1. 19 Zone 321300 Easting 4692800 Northing *Zone Easting Northing Middlesex, MA County and State USGS Quad: South Boston 3. Zone 4. Zone Easting Easting Northing Northing Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title_ Leslie Donovan, Ann Clifford, Karen L.
Davis, Consultants, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Director, MHC organization_Massachusetts Historical Commission date August 2006 street & number_ 220 Morrissey Boulevard telephone 617-727-8470 city or town_ Boston stateMA zip code_02125 Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location. A sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property.
Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of the SHPO or FPO.) name Brigham House Associates Limited Partnership street & number c/o BARAN Partners, 451 D Street, Suite 304 telephone 617-464-3444 city or townBoston state_MA _ zip code_ 02210 Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.0. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503.NPS Form 10-900 OMB ApprovelNo. 1021-0018 pes Fomm 10-900-e United States Department of the Interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number. 10 Page - Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA 10.
GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Verbal Boundary Description The boundaries of Old Watertown High School at 341 Mount Auburn Street are those recorded as follows on the current lease to the property: A certain parcel of land situated in the City of Watertown, Middlesex County Massachusetts, shown on a plan entitled "ALTA Plan of Lease Parcel in Watertown, MA, located at 341 Mount Auburn Street, Watertown, Massachusetts Prepared for BARAN Partners, LLC dated February 20, 2002, by SITEC, Inc., 12 Welby Road, New Bedford, MA 02745" and more particularly described thereon as follows: Beginning at a point, which is the northeasterly corner of the parcel shown as the Lease Parcel, Thence S 17° 12' 16" W, a distance of 218.23 feet more or less to a corner, Thence N 89° 13' 59" W, a distance of 8.94 feet to a point of curvature, Thence along a curve turning to the right, having a radius of 226.80 feet, a distance of 407.02 feet to a point to curvature, Thence, along a curve turning to the right, having a radius of 537.90 feet, a distance of 16.07 feet to a corner, Thence, S 73° 04' 59" E, a distance of 299.73 feet to the point of beginning.
Containing 57,289 square feet, or 1.32 acres more or less. Verbal Boundary Justification The nominated property includes the entire parcel upon which the Old Watertown High School presently stands and closely follows the original site of the building. (end) Rcs Fo 10-900-g United States Department of the interior Nationai Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number photos Page - OMB ApprovelNo. 1024-0018 Old Watertown High School Watertown (Middlesex), MA PHOTOGRAPHS 1. Looking south, since-demolished school building to left. 2. Looking southwest 3. Looking northwest, south and east elevations 4. Interior, present dining room, former auditorium 5. Looking south, north elevation 6. Detail, detail of front (north) portico and bow front at former auditorium 7. Looking east, west and south elevations 8. Looking northeast, south and west facades 9.
Detail, bow front of former gymnasium, looking north 10. Detail, Dutch gables and brick vent stacks, looking north' Photographs taken by Leslie Donovan, Tremont Preservation Services Date: May 2002, June 2005 Negatives with Tremont Preservation Services. AREA OFIHORK ninisenudeo- */ Brigham House Floor 2/3 Floor Plan 2/3 Old Watertown High School 341 Mount Auburn Street 817... AAA 01 az 03 10 LaNo Lawn Conorece Surface kezeltt-a Lara Concrete Stderalk boundary of Lease Bntry Tarráce 1atel0-0o New itetalalog? Woll Landucapjuzd Ares Old Watertown High School 341 Mount Auburn Street Watertown (Middlesex County), MA Viailors Parking 12 18-3 14 15 =E|B-E|0- Visitors / Staff Existing Pront Yard lo be Tandscaped for the use of Lhe residents.
18 la Parking 4.mas 19 20 c5-31 New Area Yay Now Retsiniag malt=/zuerürsil Ner Handisop - Accesa Rsmp -Now Entrance THE BRIGHAM HOUSE Assisted Living Facility Ramp DN New Service Remp NEW PAVED ARBA Lenal -e-5 GAZEBO Landacaped Garden Area Electric - Transforter Partime Parting Parkine 25 Parking 26 Staft Parking Lmlt of the leamo EXISTI (Ho (Not Exiating Strui connecta bot] Structure to STAFF PARKIN 6 Spaces 6605 *60n CONCORD 170 67 5300 338 6100 RD. Old Watertown High School 341 Mount Auburn Street Watertown (Middlesex County), MA 28 approximat revised lease soundary to 341 M+.Auburn St PART BLOCK OF 26 329,830 WINTHROP SEC TION 10 BLOCKS 26- 29 341
AUBURN STREET 10050 Revised To danuary 1, 1907 2 A UNITED STANATIONAL PARNSORIE INTERIOR NATTOWAL, REOAOR OF UINORTC PLACES REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY NAME: Watertown High School, Old MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Middlesex DATE RECEIVED: 8/10/06 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 9/09/06 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: REFERENCE NUMBER: 06000860 DATE OF PENDING LIST: 8/25/06 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 9/23/06 REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: OTHER : Y PDIL: N PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: V SLR DRAFT: Y NATIONAL COMMENT WAIVER: N V ACCEPT RETURN REJECT 9/22/2006 DATE ABSTRACT/SUMMARY COMMENTS : Historically and architecturally significant early 201h century pubtic schodbuilding RecoN a Latia Acep Aic REVIEWER TELEPHONE DISCIPLINE Nistorian - DATE 9/22/2006 DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N If a nomination is returned to the nominating authority, the nomination is no longer under consideration by the NPS.
Old watertown High School 341 Mf. Auburn Street Watertawn. MA Photo #1 AF Old Watertown High School 341 Mt. Auburn St. Watertown.MA Photo #2 Old Watertown High School 341 Mt. Auburn St. Watertown, MA Photo #3 Old Watertown High School 341 Mt. Auburn St. watertown. MA Photo #4 aLI old watertown High School 34| Mt. Auburn St. Watertown, MA Photo #5 341 MOUNT AUBURN STREET Old Watertown High school 341 Mt.Auburn St. Watertown,MA Photo #6 Old Watertown High School 341 Mt. Auburn St. Watertoun, MA Photo #7 Old watertoun High School 34| Mt. Auburn St. Watertown, MA Photo #8 Dld Watertown High School 341 MtAuburn st. Watertown, MA Photo #9 Old Watertown High School 341 Mt. Auburn St. Watertown,MA Photo#10 RECEIVED 2280 AUG I O 2006 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission NAT.
REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES NATIONAL PARK SERVICE August 9, 2006 Dr. John Roberts National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW, 8" floor Washington, DC 20005 Dear Dr. Roberts: Enclosed please find the following nomination form: Old Watertown High School, 341Mt. Auburn St., Watertown (Middlesex), MA The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. The owners of the property were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30 to 45 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Note: Watertown assessor's maps are in the process of being updated, reflecting changes in the immediate vicinity of the Old High School.
When we receive the new versions, they will be forwarded to the National Register office for insertion into the file. One letter of support has been received. Sincerely, Betsy triedtie Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Leslie Donovan, consultant Clyde Younger, Town Council Roger Erickson, Watertown Historical Commission John B. Hawes, Jr., Planning Board 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc JUN-14-2006 10:27 P.002 HISTORICAL COMMISSION Town of Watertow1 Administration Building 149 Main Srreec Watertown, Marsachusetor 02472 617.972.6426 rel. 617.972.6484 fax. David J. Russo, Jr., Chairperson Roberta Lane, Vice-Chairperson Donald Berg J.B.
Jones Honrietta Light Mury Ü'Looney Marilynne Roach Christopher Hayward Prescrvation Agent Daphne C'ollins Administrutive Assistant June 14, 2006 Ms. Brona Simon Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Acting Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 220 Morrisscy Boulevard Boston, Massachusetts 02125 Re: National Register Nomination 341 Mount Auburn Streer, Watertown Dcar Ms. Simon: Thank you for allowing the Watertown Historical Commission the opportunity to provide input on the Massachuscres Historical Commission's decision of whether to nominatc 341 Mount. Auburn Street to the National Register of Historic Places. We regret that we cannot attend the meeting in person. The Watertown Historical Commission is charged by the Town Council for the prescrvation, protection and development of the historical and archeological assets of the rown, pursuant to G.L. c.40, §8D.
In addition, since 341 Mount Auburn Street is a building owned by the Town of Watertown, we are uniqucly situated to provide technical advicc on its historic and architectural nature. The Watertown Historical Commission strongly supports nominating this important building to the National Register. It is our opinion that this nomination satisfies both Criteria B and C for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. The former high school'satisfies Criterion B because it is associated with architect Charles A. Brigham, a significant person to the town. Mr. Brigham was a native son of Watertown, educated in our schools and heavily involved in the life of the town. He served as Sclectman, a member of the School Commitice, Chairman of the Board of Trustces of the Frce Public Library for more than thirty years (1889-1922).
He was also Director of the Union Market National Bank, the first President of the Watertown Cooperative Bank, a long-time member of the Watertown Historical Society and cven served on the town's Warcr Commission from 1900-22. Some of his service to the town was very high-profile and yet some of it was also very inconspicuous and hints at Mr. Brigham's commitment to the rown. JUN-14-2006 10:27 P.003 Mr. Brigham was instrumental in the preservation of the Edmund Fowle House and contributed his design services to the First Parish Church for the former Parish House (now the church). He also donated plans for a high school building (later the East Junior High School, and presently "Brigham House" an assisted living facility), which is the subject of this current hcaring. He also designed the Watertown town seal.
He was thoroughly a native son of Watertown who gave back to his town tremendously and without cost. The building at 341 Mount Auburn Street exomplifies his magnanimous relationship to the town: donating his time and energy for public betterment. And it is this value which links Mr. Brigham to the building at 341 Mount Auburn Strcet. The building also satisfies Criterion C for listing on the National Register of Historic Places because it is the work of a master, possesses high arristic valucs and retains its integrity of location, design, setting and materials. Mr. Brigham is best known as an innovative architect whose work initiated fusion of the complex eclectic references of the English Queen Anne revival with American colonial revival design.
The resulting New England houses of the 1880s by Brigham and other Boston architects defined the shingle style in onc of the most original and distinguished epochs of American architectural history, from which orher notable architects, such as Henry Hobson Richardson, emerged. Mr. Brigham is also known as architect who designed a number of important buildings, including a wing on the Massachusetts State House, the Maine State House, the Christian Science Church in Boston, many mansions as far west as California (Redlands, the Pacific home of Albert C. Burragc) and as far south as Valparaiso in Chile, and also in the citics of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Fairhaven, Massachusetts as well as public buildings in these cities. Mr.
Brigham designed Museum of Fine Arts, in Coplcy Square, introducing the usc of terra-cotta to building structures in the United Statcs (demolished in 1909); Church of the Advent, on Brimmer Street, Boston; YMCA at the corner of Boylston and Berkeley Strects; the Laconia Public Library, Laconia, New Hampshire; and New Bedford Institution for Savings among others. Interestingly, Brigham even designing subway stations in Boston, including the now demolished Scollay Square/Adams Square starion as well as the Stoughton Railroad Station in a Richardsonian manner in 1887. Mr. Brigham also designed a number of residential buildings in Newporr, Rhode Island and Boston's Back Bay, including Albcrt C. Burrage's residence in Boston, introducing the ornatc French Chateauesque style to a typically staid New England. Mr. Brigham designed St.
Mark's Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the Coddingron School in Quincy, Massachusctts, a significant number of public buildings in Fairhaven, including the Elizabethian-influenced high school, complete with gargoyles, Millicent Library, Unitarian Church, town hall and Tabitha Inn. In Fairhaven, Brigham also designed the spacious country mansion of Henry H. Rogers. 2 JUN-14-2006 10:27 P.004 The Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System lists 71 buildings designed by Brigham. The Watertown Historical Commission has identified morc than 40 buildings in Watertown that were designed by Brigham. The former high school also satisfies Criterion C because the building possesses high artistic values and retains its intcgrity of location, design, serting and matcrials.
The building is an Elizabethan-inspired design, with many clements of the English Gothic Collegiate style and touches of French Chateauesque. The building maintains the symmetrical massing that is charactcristic of the Elizabcthan style, including the symmetrically projecting wings. The massing is also a late manifestation of the symmctrical Chateauesquc in the United Statcs, which after World War 1, were generally asymmetrical. The Gothic elements include castellated parapets that crown the projecting wings, a large central block extending upward uninterruptedly through the cornice into shapcd parapets with cement vergeboards inset, steeply pitched roof and various cast cement trim used for the window (some quoining) and door surrounds.
The Chateauesque elements mimic many of the Gothic, including the window quoins, pointed dormers with pinnacles, stceply pirched roof and large central block cxtending upward uninterruptedly through the cornice and window hood molds with label stops. The choice and use of these varied architcctural elements in this compact frame rcpresent an ingenious crcation that, in a concrete way, emphasizes the sacredness and importance of education. The cohcrent fusion of varied (often seemingly contradictory) architectural elements that is present here is, indeed, a hallmark of Mr. Brigham's work. Importantly, the building also retains integrity of location, design, sciting and materials. Originally, thc building was set on a large plot of land, approximately seven acres. Since then, a number of other school buildings have been built to the cast, including one that connected to subject building.
Howevcr, the building remains unobstructed on all other sides and rctains an important measure of space around it, as it was originally designed The connecter building that attached the subjcct building to other buildings in the complex has been demolished and the building stands alonc again, providing the building with its original spatial integrity. Indeed, except for the doors and several windows, the building retains all of its architectural intcgrity of design and materials. In summary, we believe that 341 Mount Auburn Street satisfies the relevant and nccessary criteria to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and we therefore respectfully request that the Massachuscts Historical Commission nominate the building for the National Register. Very truly yours, klamilfitfusar David J. Russo, J.D. Chairperson 3.
TOTAL P.004 2SVB LINEI The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Massachusetts Historical Commission October 6, 2006 Mr. Patrick Andrus National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior 1201 Eye Street, N.W. 8'h floor Washington, DC 20005 Re: Old Watertown High School, Watertown (Middlesex), MA Dear Patrick: RECEINED 2280 OCT 1 2 2006 VAT REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACE VATIONAL PARK SERVIC Enclosed please find a revised copy of the photography page for the Old Watertown High School NR nomination, reflecting the additional information omitted from the original copy. Please replace this page in the Park Service's file. Thank you for your attention in this matter. Dil Bager Philip Bergen Preservation Planner 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, Massachusetts 02125 (617) 727-8470 - Fax: (617) 727-5128 www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc
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