Nomination for Peirce School

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 REV.

(9/77) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM RECEIVED GCT& 1979EC 6 1979 DATE ENTERED SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS 1 NAME 3 4 5 HISTORIC Peirce School AND/OR COMMON O1d Peirce School LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 88 Chestnut Street CITY, TOWN Newton _NOT FOR PUBLICATION 4 tCONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT STATE n/a _ VICINITY OF CODE 025 Massachusetts CLASSIFICATION DUN iddlese 01700E CATEGORY DISTRICT X BUILDING(S) STRUCTURE SITE _OBJECT OWNERSHIP XPUBLIC PRIVATE _BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION IN PROCESS BEING CONSIDERED STATUS OCCUPIED XUNOCCUPIED _WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE - YES: RESTRICTED X-YES: UNRESTRICTED -NO PRESENT USE -AGRICULTURE _MUSEUM XCOMMERCIAL _PARK _EDUCATIONAL - PRIVATE RESIDENCE ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS _GOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC -INDUSTRIAL _TRANSPORTATION :MILITARY _OTHER: OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME City of Newton, Massachusetts STREET & NUMBER 1000 Commonwealth Ave.

CITY, TOWN STATE Newton Center - VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION Massachusetts 02159 REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC. Middlesex South District Registry of Deeds STREET & NUMBER Third Street CITY, TOWN Cambridge REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS STATE Massachusetts TITLE Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth DATE 1978 - FEDERAL XSTATE _COUNTY _LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS Massachusetts Historical Commission CITY, TOWN STATE Boston Massachusetts DESCRIPTION CONDITION ND _EXCELLENT XGOOD FAIR _DETÉRIORATED -RUINS CHECK ONE XUNALTERED -ALTERED CHECK ONE XORIGINAL SITE _MOVED DATE. _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

The 0ld Peirce School is situated on the north side of a moderately sloped hill named West Newton Hill in West Newton at the corner of Chest- nut and Austin Streets. The site has several mature specimen trees in- cluding Sugar Maple, Elm, Ash, Catalpa, Horse Chestnut and Norway Maple. Lawns and walks Sloping away from the building cover the north side of ay tcm the property. The south side of the property contains an existing park- ing area separated from the building by a fieldstone retaining wall and adjacent paved area. The school, which faces north, is a two-storey Georgian Revival structure of rectangular plan with projecting end pavilions. It is faced with waterstruck red brick with red mortar joints and has a low- hipped roof covered with blue-gray slate. It is set on a high basement with granite faced foundations from grade level to the sill line of the basement windows.

Granite is also used for the steps which approach the three entrances on the north, east and west elevations. Brownstone is used to form a watertable at the head of the basement windows, as a belt course at the second floor sill line, as sills for the first floor win- dows, as an arched enframement for the north entry, and as a second storey balcony on the north elevation. The basement and first floor windows are trabeated and contain 6/6 double hung sash. Those of the first floor have brick lintels. The 'third floor windows are round arched, containing 6/6 sash and fixed fan lights. Interior chimneys with panelled arches pierce the hipped roof which has a slight overhang supported by exposed rafter ends. The north elevation, which contains the major entry, is symmetrically composed in three parts: a seven bay central section flanked by project- ing three bay end pavilions.

The main section has an arched center en- trance with a fixed semi-circular transom over panelled oak doors painted green. A balustraded balcony with the words "PEIRCE SCHOOL" carved in its lintel is located above the door. These central elements are flanked by three windows on each side. The roof is pierced by a broad shingled dormer which echoes the three-part composition of this elevation. Paired windows flank a central pedimented section which contains a pair of windows with an elaborate stained glass fan light. .The south elevation is almost iden- tical to the north but lacks the major entrance and balcony; the central section is instead eleven bays in width with narrow 4/4 windows occupying the central bay at the first and second storey level. The east and west elevations are identical, consisting of a porch projecting from three bay end sections.

The porches contain round arched entries with elongated round arched lights above them.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD _PREHISTORIC _1400-1499 - 1500-1599 -1600-1699 -1700-1799 7800-1899 - 1900- ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC _AGRICULTURE *ARCHITECTURE -ART -COMMERCE -COMMUNICATIONS AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW _COMMUNITY PLANNING -LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE *CONSERVATION -LAW _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE XEDUCATION -MILITARY -ENGINEERING -MUSIC _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT -PHILOSOPHY. INDUSTRY _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT -INVENTION RELIGION SCIENCE SCULPTURE -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _THEATER _TRANSPORTATION -OTHER (SPECIFY) SPECIFIC DATES 1894-1895 STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE BUILDER

Statement of significance

/ARCHITECT Stickney and Austin The Peirce School possesses integrity of setting, design, location, materials and workmanship and is significant for the formative educa- tional role it has played in the village of West Newton. Designed by the firm of Stickney and Austin in 1894-95, it was one of the first three brick, architect designed schools in the city and the first in West Newton. It was also one of the first to have its site chosen landscaped to enhance the surrounding community. The school was named for Cyrus Peirce, a prominent educator who was instrumental in Horace Mann's experimental Normal School for teachers which was located in West Newton from 1844-1853. In the late nineteenth century the Newton building inspector recommended that the city's twenty-four vernacular wooden schools be replaced by brick structures to increase fire safety.

Structures 0 The first three to be constructed were the Peirce School in West Newton, the Hyde School in Newton Highlands and the Adams School in Nonantum (now demolished). When built, they were equipped with the most modern heating, ventilating and sanitary facilities available. These three schools immediately became the largest and most important educational facilities in their respective villages. The Georgian Revival Peirce School is the second of three schools to be named for Cyrus Peirce, Newton's most well known nineteenth cen- tury educator. The first of these schools was converted to a Police Station c.1900 then demolished in 1930, and the third is a modern 1950's structure making this the major remaining building associated with Peirce.

Peirce, who began his teaching career in West Newton, was the High School principal in Nantucket when Horace Mann, asked him to manage and teach the first state supported normal school in the United States. Opening with considerable opposition in Lexington in 1839 it moved to West Newton in 1844 where it remained until 1853 when it outgrew its facilities and moved to Framingham. Peirce retired at that time and taught at the progressive West Newton English and Classical School, es- tablished by Nathaniel Topliff Allen (house--National Register), until his death in 1860.

The rest of the file

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

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Atlases 1907: 1895 City Directories 1901, 1897, 1895 City of Newton, Public Documents, 1897, 1896, 1895 Friends of the Jackson Homestead. Newton's Older Houses: West Newton (1978), p. 25 Eugene Francis Fay, Biographical Catalog of the West Newton English and Classical Schoel 1854-1893, Boston 1895 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY _ 1.75 Acres UTM NOT VERIFIED QUADRANGLE NAME UTM REFERENCES AL1,91 1311,617,8,0 ZONE EASTING 14,619,014 6 9 NORTHING QUADRANGLE SCALE BiLlLL ZONE EASTING NORTHING EL,/ LliLuL FLL RBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION LwJLili HLU LLiLdLiliLu Please refer to the attached assessor's map which is section 32, block 3.

The nominated property is outlined LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY Elsie Husher, Newton Historical Com- NAME/TITLE Candace Jenkins, with mission David National Register Coordinator Fhalds Bertam Tseck- ORGANIZATION Massachusetts Historical Commission July, 1979 STREET & NUMBER TELEPHONE 294 Washington Street 727-8470 CITY OR TOWN STATE Boston Massachusetts 2 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: STATE - LOCAL NATIONAL - As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this propertyfor inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set fort by the National Park Service.

STATE HISTORICPRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE cheu LWeslusk 2/4779 TITLE Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Commission FOR NPS USE ONLY 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER ecl Sally 9 dldthe DATE ATTEST. KEEPER OF THE HATIONAL REGISTER CHICF OP-RECIS KTHON Dane du) DATE 12/6/25 12/4/29 GPO 921-803 Property Peirce School State M2 Middorking Number/0.2,74. 2345 TECHNICAL Photos . Maps CONTROL HISTORIAN SCHON IS SKNIFICANT P THE COMMUIITY AS QUE DF TURRG ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN IN MASSVE LATE IGTL CENTRY REBULONNS PROGRAMIN NOWTON. TIIS WAS THE QUE FOK WEST NENTON. 15 1S ARSS SIGNIFALANT EOOTA 15 A REMNRER DE CHRUS PIERCE, A PROMIVENT I4C EDUKATON FOR WHen THE SCHODL WASNAMLER.

ACEMT 4 12/4/9 ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory - Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF Nde Dovste 1/4/19 ACUEPT BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2-5-80 Send-back Re-submit Entered United States Department of the Interior National Park Service WASO No. 7 DEC *6 1979 INT:2106 - 74 Newton, Mass. Peirce School CBT Architects 1979 piddesen County Photo #1 Austin Street Elevation--North Facade DEC 6 1979 CBT Architects-Both Pence School Austin Steet Elevation -NornhF Newton, Mass Peirce School CBT Architects 1979 Photo #2 Chestnut Street Elevation--West Facade 2 1979 middlesenf Counly DEC 6 1979 teirce Schol Chestmut Street Slevate Newton, Mass. Peirce School CBT Architects 1979 Photo #3 Rear Elevation--South Facade msedlnet 1979 DEC 6 1979 Feire School Rear Elvation-South Pl Newton, Mass.

Peirce School CBT Architects 1979 nudalesey County Photo #4 Rear Elevation--East Facade nAT 2, 1979 DEC 6 1979 Rear Slevation-East Photo Newton, Mass. Peirce School CBT Architects 1979 Middleser Counly Photo #5 Corner view--Austin & Chestnut Streets 0CT 2 1979 DEC 6 1979 CBT ARCHITECTS -BOSTON PEIRCE SCHOOL CORNER VIEW -AUSTIN E CHESTNUT Ploto Newton, Mass. Peirce School CBT Architects Mass. middlesen 1979 County Photo #6 Detail--Chestnut Street Facade OCT 2 UER 6 1979 Detail-Chestmutstra Phots Newton, Mass.

Peirce School CBT Architects nddeesay 1979 County Photo #7 Detail--Austin Street Facade OCT 2 DEC 1979 murc sunou Detail-Austin Street ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSACHUSETTS 6 9:3 Date Entered Name Location Partridge, Jabez, Homestead Heywood, Levi, Memorial Library Building Peirce School Gardner Worcester County Gardner Worcester County Newton Middlesex County Also Notified Honorable Paul G. Isongas Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Robert F. Drinan State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L. Weslowsk1 Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Commission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 NR Byers/bjr 12/12/79 Advisory Council On Historic Preservation 1522 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 July 23, 1980 Mr.

Edward Machado Environmental Officer Department of Housing and Urban Development Bulfinch Building 15 New Chardon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02114 Middlesep Dear Mr. Machado: On July 1, 1980, the Council received your determination that rehabilitation of the Peirce School, Newton, Massachusetts, would not adversely effect that property that is included in the National Register of Historic Places. In accordance with Section 800.6(a) of the Council's regulations (36 CFR Part 800), the Executive Director does not object to your determination. As you know, compliance with the Council's regulations is a separate process from obtaining certified rehabilitation status from the Secretary of the Interior for purposes of the Tax Reform Act of 1976.

Our concurrence to your determination of no adverse affect does not constitute or imply approval of the project by the Secretary of the Interior for tax certification purposes. It is our understanding that the project is presently under review by Technical Preservation Services and the developer will continue to consult with that office regarding this matter. As provided in Section 800.9 of the Council's regulations, a copy of your determination of no adverse effect, along with supporting documentation and this concurrence, should be included in any assessment or statement prepared for this undertaking in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and should be kept in your records as evidence of your compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and the Council's regulations (36 CFR Part 800). Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely, lan .

Tmanla Jordan E. Tannenbaum Chiéf, Eastern Division of Project Review