Nomination for Smith Alumnae Gymnasium

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DATA SHEET FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM RECEIVED APR 5 1976 DATE ENTERED APR 30 1976 SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC Smith Alumnae Gymnasium AND/OR COMMON Same 2 LOCATION STREET & NUMBER Smith College dampus, Green street CITY, TOWN Northampton STATE Massachusetts _ VICINITY OF CODE 025 3 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY DISTRICT XBUILDING(S) -STRUCTURE SITE _OBJECT OWNERSHIP _PUBLIC XPRIVATE _BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION IN PROCESS _BEING CONSIDERED STATUS X OCCUPIED _UNOCCUPIED _WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE X_YES: RESTRICTED -YES: UNRESTRICTED _NO 4 OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME Smith College, Mrs. Jill Conway, President STREET & NUMBER College Hall, Elm Street CITY.

TOWN Northampton VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC. Hampshire County Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER 33 King Street CITY.TOWN Northampton REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE NOT FOR PUBLICATION CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT First COUNTY Hampshire CODE 015 PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE _MUSEUM -COMMERCIAL _PARK XEDUCATIONAL _PRIVATE RESIDENCE _ENTERTAINMENT -RELIGIOUS _GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC _INDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATION -MILITARY _OTHER: STATE Massachusetts 01060 STATE Massachusetts 01060 Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth DATE 1975 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS CITY.

TOWN _FEDERAL XSTATE _COUNTY LOCAL Massachusetts Historical Commission Boston STATE Massachusetts 02108 7-DESCRIPTION CONDITION -EXCELLENT *GOOD FAIR _DETERIORATED _RUINS - UNEXPOSED CHECK ONE _UNALTERED X ALTERED CHECK ONE X_ORIGINAL SITE _MOVED DATE_ DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

Alumnae Gymnasium, dedicated in 1890, was designed by William C. Brocklesby who was commissioned to design at least nine buildings on the Smith College campus from 1886 to 1900. The gym stylistically has many ties to the High Victorian Gothic buildings Peabody and Steams had erected on campus during the late 1870's and early 1880's. The choice of similar materials: dark red brick with red mortar, and accents of brownstone, giving textural emphasis, are a unified theme among the early campus buildings as are the active massing, steep roofs and gables. The building falls into the additive style of the Victorian tradition with individually articulated units denoting the separate functions contained within. From an angle, the jutting forms may look chaotic, but the hierarchical roof arrangement indicates an ordee.

The steeply pointed and flaring, slate-roofed cupola with its diminutive wooden arcades screening the louvres pinpoints the center of the gymnasium space. The expansive slate roof encompasses the large interior space providing a strong horizontal effect on a north-south axis. Stepping down from that level, the gym is pierced from all four com- pass points by steeply pitched gables. These gables, like those of the Peabody and Stearns buildings, have a low parapet trimmed and braced in brownstone. The gym gables have the added feature of being stepped out on the sides like an overhang. Midway down the main roof, equally spaced from other elements on the east and west sides, are slate roofed, wooden dormers. Each dormer has two windows with 8 over 2 sash arran- gements, the windows being separated by two feather-edged panels, one over the other.

The wood exterior trim here and elsewhere on the building is presently painted a dark green. Next in the hierarchy are the paired stairtowers on the east side which act as flanking pavilions for the eastern central gable. The stairtowers have hipped gables that do not compete for vertical emphasis with the four main gables; in fact, this roof treatment allows for the main volume of the gym to engulf the towers within its own roof outline.' The stairtowers give access to the basement dressing rooms, one half flight down; the main gym floor, one half flight up; and the running track above the main floor, another full flight up, on a level with the upper portion of the main windows. With the 1892 addition on the south end, the descending scale is reordered. This addi- tion has a steep stepped gable in brick topped by quarry-faced brownstone, Queen Anne in style.

This is the only gable whose peak has a window, i.e. a narrow lancet window. Flanking the gable are two office blocks. The southern arrangement, central gable and flanking office space, is a repetition of the northern facade where the individual arrange- ment of office space is asymmetrically articulated. By this addition, Brocklesby created a balance in the building that had not existed with his original design and designated an entrance the visiting public could use without wandering too close to the dressing rooms. This southern entrance is markedly different from the rest of the building. In addi- tion to its stepped gable and calmer, symmetrical arrangement, it makes more of a play with rounded openings.

These appear in the two round transom windows in the upper por- tion of the gable which are enhanced by a string course of molded brick that crosses the gable and circles over the windows. Another band of molded brick crosses the central bay on the first floor to encircle the brick voussoirs above the semi-circular fanlight over the double doors and outline the brownstone lintel block of the window. continued 8

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD PREHISTORIC -1400-1499 - -1500-1599 -1600-1699 - 1700-1799 X.1800-1899 -1900- ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC AGRICULTURE X ARCHITECTURE ART _COMMERCE -COMMUNICATIONS AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW _COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE _CONSERVATION -LAW -ECONOMICS _LITERATURE X EDUCATION (physical) -MILITARY _ENGINEERING -MUSIC -EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT -PHILOSOPHY LINDUSTRY -POLITICS/GOVERNMENT INVENTION -RELIGION _SCIENCE -SCULPTURE -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _THEATER -TRANSPORTATION _OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES 1890 BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT William C. Brocklesby STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Smith College was founded in 1871 through the bequest of Sophia Smith as a fulfillment of her moral obligation to humanity. "As coming times may develop or demand for the education of women and the progress of the race, I would have the education suited to the mental and physical wants of woman. It is . . . (my design) to develop as fully as may be the powers of womanhood, and furnish women with the means of usefulness, happiness, and honor now withheld from them."1 Yet there was a persistent question during the first decade of the college concerning the deleterious effects of a college education upon a woman's physical condition.

Thefirst director of Physical Education, Senda Berenson, not only refuted the implication, but adapted basketball for play by women so that Alumnae Gymnasium has the unique distinction of being the site of the first women's basketball game. Berenson felt that the game "trains the players to be clear headed and cool, quick to act and wise in judgment, essential qualities for success in life."2 The early graduating classes so strongly supported the concept that their first fundraising efforts were directed to building a permanent masonry gymnasium, among the first funded by and intended for the use of women. It is still used as a recreational gym by students and faculty. William C. Brocklesby was commissioned to design the gym in 1890.

In conjunction with the other buiidings he designed for the college, the Smith College campus buildings form the largest extant grouping of Brocklesby's buildings anywhere. Within this ensemble, the gym exemplifies his transition from the High Victorian Gothic of Lilly Hall of Science to Richardsonian influence, as seen in his Dickinson House (burned 1944 and subsequently- demolished) and his Forbes Library across West Street from the campus. Indeed, in the designs for the college buildings by Peabody and Stearns (1875-1882) and Brocklesby (1886-1900), Smith's architectural history traces the development of the late 19th cen- tury styles. Against the advice of the Art History Department of Smith College and architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock, plans for demolition of Alumnae Gym have been approved so that a library extension may be built on the site.

Smith has lost several buildings during college expansion and two of Brocklesby's buildings were demolished to accommodate the last library extension in 1960. A committee of alumnae and another committee of stu- dents have been communicating with the college president and trustees about the preser- vation of Alumnae Gym. While the library addition will proceed as planned, the preser- vation advocates have proposed moving the building (minus the western addition) approx- imately 200 feet onto a contiguous parking lot. Part of the parking lot was the site for the former Dickinson House, which was designed by Brocklesby in 1894, burned in 1944 and subsequently demolished. By relocating Alumnae Gym on this site, it might be said that the original site plan of the campus would be restored. continued

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Daily Hampshire Gazette, August 5, 1890. Hanscom, Elizabeth D. and Greene, Helen F. Sophia Smith and the Beginnings of Smith College. Smith College Fiftieth Anniversary Publications, Northampton, Mass.1925. "President''s Report," 1890-1891. Smith College Archives, Northampton, MA. 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY - less than 1 acre UTM REFERENCES AL1,8 ZONE 69,462,9 EASTING 14,48,7469 NORTHING LILL VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION ZONE EASTING LLL NORTHING Lldulilu LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Judy D.

Dobbs, National Register Editor, Darleen Melis and Janice Prescott Massachusetts Historical Commission STREET & NUMBER 294 Washington Street CITY OR TOWN Boston March 30, 1976 TELEPHONE 617-727-8470 STATE Massachusetts 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL - STATE _ LOCAL 02108 As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665). I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE Ujabech Reed Amado "L Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Conmission DATE 3/30/76 FOR NPS USE ONLY INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER DATE DATE #30/96 4.3076 KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER GPO 892.453 Form No. 10-300a kev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR NPS USE ONLY RECEIVED APR 5 1976 DATE ENTERED APR 301976 CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER 7 & 8 PAGE 1 #7: Returning to the eastern and main facade, there seems to have been an effort on Brockles- by's part to leave few undecorated areas. For the central gable he designed what is essentially a Palladian window with its arch filled in by brick laid in a basket-weave pattern with brownstone voussoirs outlined by a carved molding, fluted keystone, and stopped by crockets.

It is the broad lintel of these windows that steps out on the sides to form the gable overhang. Below the windows is the delightful bas relief terra cotta plaque which reads, "Alumnae Gymnasium, A.D. 1890" above two twine nets beribboned, festooned, and surrounded with detailed figures of Indian clubs, dumbells, and early tennis racquets. The three basement windows below are topped by brownstone lintels that are underscored by another belt course in a manner that suggests a bracket label. Cut into these lintels are ogee curves. The ogee curves also appear as molded brick aprons under the continuous brownstone sill of the main windows, reiterating their width. There is a strong sense of verticality in the eastern facade (which was probably also true for the western facade). The strong vertical thrust of the central gable is assisted by the straited height of the three main windows.

In the flanking walls, the vertical is reinforced by the use of buttresses to divide what could have been a horizontal expanse of wall into vertical bays. In echo of the dedication plaque, there are panels of molded brick between upper and lower sets of windows. The stairtowers present another change in character which may be considered an expres- sion of the change of function. As already mentioned, the roofs are hipped gables. The windows are round arched and by their staggered arrangement, demark the winding of the stairs. To delineate the stairs, Brocklesby draws a line of molded brick up the sides of the stairtowers and across their facades, intersecting the top windows. This molding is the only eave decoration, in contrast to the walls flanking the central gable which have corbelled eaves picked out in terra cotta.

The stairtowers also pro- vide the original means of access to the building in the form of two entrances with wooden peaked hoods. The diminutive arcades of the cupola appear again but are surmounted by a lattice effect. The hood is supported by fluted wooden brackets. The doubly curved stairway skirts are quarry-faced brownstone that are compressed very rapidly to a low height. Finally, Brocklesby makes use of a system of brownstone belt courses to give variation of color and to contrast the brownstone's rough texture with the precise mechanical qual- ity of the flush-jointed brick. The courses are aligned with either lintels or sills. The only consistent line is that of the watertable which offsets the main floor of the gym, while other lines weave in and out between buttresses and projecting bays. #8: 1 Elizabeth D. Hanscom and Helen F.

Greene, Sophia Smith and the Beginnings of Smith College, p. 62. '2 "Smith College Monthly," April 1894, n.p. Property Smith Alumnae Gymnasium State Massachusetts TECHNICAL Photos - 2 Maps Working Number 4.5.76.2947 Thesull need a letter af permissim to maue. See call Mepnt 76000259 Hampshire CONTROL OK 4.6.76 HISTORIAN ACCEAT Luizngoa 20 Ap26 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN Accept m.g. hurz ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER Aceepte 4/21/76 HAER Inventory Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF Accupa cole 4/22/76 BRANCH CHIEF ratienat Register Write-up 6-1-26 Se-c-back Send-back _ Federal Register Entry 6-1-26 Re-submit United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WASO No. 7 KEEPER Hump 4.30:76 Entered APR 301976 INT:2106- 74 Smith Alumnae Gymnasium Northampton, MA Charlotte Frieze Blum, photographer January 1976 104 East 31st Street, New York, NY 10016 South facade..

Har pstue Co., Masi Photograph #1~2 APR 5 1976 4/30/76 Smith Alumnae Gymnasium Northampton, MA Charlotte Frieze Blum, photographer January 1976 104 East 31st Street, New York, NY 10016 East elevation. Fum potuc co., madh. Photograph #2 al2 4/30/76 APR 5 1976 ILI 61 WASO-166 (August 1971) U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE TELEPHONE REPORT FROM (Name) DATE 4-13-76 TIME OF CALL 12 n0on AM PM 1. CALL 8 TO: Judy Dobbs 3. SUBJECT, PROJECT NO., ETC. 2. ADDRESS (Tel. No. if needed) HA Historical Commission 617-727-8470 Smith Alumnae gymnasium, Hampshire Co., Northampton MA 4. DETAILS OF DISCUSSION Called to clarify the procedures which would by be necessary to follow once building was moved.

NAME OF PERSON PLACING/RECEIVING CALL Hickuy hurz TITLE AH OFFICE GPO 897-848 Regional Director, North Atlantle Regton T:2jb 5/4/76 PR 7 ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSACIUSETTS. Date Entered APR 301978 Name Peixce, Peter, Stoze Belcher, Jonathan, Iouse Peraald, Ceorge P., House Albree-lal1-Lavrence, House Saith Alumnae Gynnastum Futnam, Genezal Isxeel, House D111ingham Zouse Wellealey Iown Hall Location Middleborough Plynouth County Randolph Norfolk County Medford Middleaox County Medford Middleses County Horthampton Hampshize County Danvers Eesex County Brevater vicinity Barnstable County Vel1esley Norfolk County Also Notified Hon. Edward M. Kennedy Hon. Edrrard W. Brooke Eon. Margaret M. Keckler lion. James A. Eurka Eon. Torberk B. MacDonald Hon. Silvio 0. Conte Michae1 J. Harrington Eon. Cerry E. Scudda State Fistorie Preservation Officer 1re. Ellzabeth R.

Amadon Ixecutive Director, Maasachusetts Historical Comission 294 Mlashington Street Boston, liassachusetts 02103 INT: 2950-75 Tavid Kook 12 May 1976 H34-PR MAY 1 3 1976 Mrs. Elizabeth R. Amadon Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Couission 294 Washington Street: Boston, Massachusetts 02103 Dear Mrs. Amadon: After careful consideration, the proposed relocation of the Smith Alumnae Gynnasium at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, to an adjacent parking lot has been approved. It is regrettable that the library expan- sion necessitated the mnove from its original site. Thank you for the infornation. Sincerely yours, Charles A. Ierrington 1Sgd.5, W1111am 205. Murtagh Keeper of the National Register bcc: Regional Director, North Atlantic Region Director's Reading File VPR FNP :LOOK: sle: 5-12-76 BASIC FILE RETAINED IN PR PUBLICATION DATA SHEET State: County/indep.

city City/vicinity PRIMARY TITLE (Secondary Title) Address/location Statement of signif- icance includng cons- truction date, altera- tion date, present use, and style. IA I06 I07 I08 MASSACHUSETTS hampshire Northampton SMITH ALUMNAE GYMNASIUM I09 I10 Smith College pampus, Green St. designed by Williem C. Brockleslg and 1890 Jacobethan gymnasium built by Smith College alumnae; altered 1892; still in use. Statement of signif- icance including im- portant peoples names; include key words for search of events and areas of significance. Other surveys, include number of habs or haer drawings Ownership/agency Date of entry Areas of Significance (circle those which apply to property) Ill Among first such sports facilities built for women; site of first women's basketball game. #C 115 In #I I12 I13 Indexing Items Private (4-30-76) agrteule aarehi pree atccele - art 6. commerc communication 8.

conservation 9. economics education 11. engineering 12. exploration 13. industry invention 15. landscape architecture 16. law 17. literature 18. military 19. music 20. philosophy 21. politics/government 22. religion 23. science 24. social/humanitarian 25. transportation 26, entertainmer recreation 29. settlement 30. social/cultura 31. urban and community planning Smith Alumnac Gymnasium, MA: Brocklesby, Williom C.: CE CE CE CE CE CE CE J.NR Data Sheet DATE: 2.0 A8 16 Reviewer INITIALS: XX ENTe.

(4-30-74) NAME AS 10 APHARS IN PRORINL BECISTERI Smith Al umnaz Gymnasicem OTHER NANES: IoCATON" smith Callzg Bampus, Gnen Storter CIY TOWN Northampton CONGRESSIUNAL DISTRICT / VICINITY OF STATE Massachusitts COUNTY Hampshirs 0,5 OWNER OF PROPERTY: (Circle) PRIVATE STATE LOCAL GOV'T MUNICIPAL COUNTY OTHER ADMINISTRATOR(underline) FEDERAL (AGENCY NAME) : NPS REGION: (CIRCLE) N.ATLANTIC MID ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST MIDWEST SOUTHWEST ROCKY MOUNTAIN WEST PACIFIC NORTHWEST FEATURES: INTERIOR _ Substantially intact-1 _ unknown - 4 - not applicable - 7 CONDITION - EXCELLENI _FAIR EXTERIOR ENVIRONS _Substantiaily intact-2 unknown.-5 - Substantially intact-3 - unknown -6 not applicable - 8 Not applicable-9 -Interior, exterior, environs not intact-O _DETERIORATED UNALTERED _RUINS XALTERED _UNEXPOSED .Reconstructed AORIGINAL SITE _MOVED -Unknown _Unexcavater _Excavated ACCESS.- Yestrestricted historic district?

Yes-unrestricted No access Unknown YES NO WITHIN NATIONAL REGISTER HISTORIC DISTRICT? IF YES, NAME: YES NO WITHIN NATIONAL HISTORIC LANDMARK? IF YES, NAME: YES NO ADAPTIVE USE: YES NO Saved ? YES NO FUNCTION(S): (use vocabulary words) then-tasport Facility, ed. now- Jams SIGNIFICANCE: _ARCHEOLUGY-PREHISTORIC _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC AGRICULTURE XARCHITECTURE _ART -COMMERCE _COMMUNICATIONS Claims "first" -CONSERVATION -ECONOMICS XEDUCATION LENGINEERING _EXPLORATION _INDUSTRY _INVENTION _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE -RELIGION _LAW/Gov't/politics _SCIENCE - LITERATURE _MILITARY -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIA -MUSIC __PHILOSOPHY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT -TRANSPORTATION -OTHER (SPECIFY) -entertainment _health Xrecreation -settlement -socio/cultural -urban & commun planning YES NO "oldest'' YES among, gyms for women NO "only" YES NO ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: architect/m.builder: William C.

Brocklisby landscape/garden designer: interior decorator: engineer: artist/artisan: builder/contractor: ETHNIC GROUP: NAMES: (label role personal Sinda Bessuson - Ist Smith college directer os physical education appropriate date) events Finst wornzn's baskstball gamz DATES: institutional Smith Clligz DATE OF CONSTRUCTION (Specific date or 1/4 of century): 1890 DATE (S) OF "AJOR" ALTERATTONS: 1892 addition HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT DATE (S) : SOURCE: (OF NOMINATION) PRIVATE STATE OTHER FEDERAL 'AGENCY: ACREAGE: (to nearest tenth of an acre) LOCAL GOV"T MUNICIPAL COUNTY COMMENTS: (incLude architectupal information here) dark Asd breck with ned mortar, apcents of prowristons vrigular nectangular shapz gables riss abovs roofs, with hippsd toof buttsoss strung coursss of moldsd brick, somi tsrra colta dicoratión praked woocen hoods orsi font intrances stesply pointed szuarE cupala.

Jacobithan SIGNIFICANCE:(maximum two sentences) A wll et ad brick gymmasuenn built by thi alumnar Smith Colleis in recoquition of the mportance of phujical éducation in womsn's sclucation. sits of the first women's baskstball game. reetoretor Bntex, 2 a4, ies egnd apea aoat shnans, brownstone and terra-cotta trim; Brick,/2 stories, irregular reetanguler shape, intersecting gabled and hipped roof sections, interior chimneys with corbeled caps, peaked hoods over front entrances, double-door reund-arched rear entrance with fanbreck, cupola uttin 3, bered erne and d etenpay pitchet toeadditton, 1892; moved,# 1977. Eclevctic with Late Gothic Revival, Romanesque and Jacobethan elements. Built by Smith College alumnae in recognition of importance of physical education in women's education; site of first women's basketball game.

with elemenis oy Late Gothic Rernal, Romanesque, I and Jacobethan styles. Built by the alumnae of smith lollege in recognision os the mparance of pnusica edrcatias in wanens educadion ay sile of the hist waren's basket bah gome. 1B 2/2/78 Dott, Brick, Lstaies, irregular rectongular shape, intersecting gobled and hipped not sections, interior chimneys with cabeled cops, pedked wooden hoods over thant entranies, able-doar nund-ached rear enthance with fonlight, upda with louvered anhes and steeply pitthed rotte, molded brick sting couses, broumstane and - temra cotta deccrative trim; 18D2 , Mear addidion; 19/7, moved t new nearby site. Edlectic design by kilham C. Bracklesby with elements of Lase Gothir Reual, Romanesque, and Jacobethan styles.

Built by the alumnae of smith lollege it recognition of the mperance o ghysied edrcatian in womeris educadion; site os the hist waren's basketball gome. XB 2/2/78