Nomination for Oak Square School

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

FHR-8-300 (11-78) United States Department of the Interior Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries-complete applicable sections 1. Name For HCRS use only received SEP 1 0 1980 date entered 10 1980 historic Oak Square School (use for publication) Same and/or common 2. Location street & number 35 Nonantum Street not for publication city, town Boston (Brighton) vicinity of congressional district Eighth state Massachusetts 3.

Classification code 025 county Suffolk code 025 Category district X building(s) structure site object Ownership X public _private both Public Acquisition in process being considered Status x occupied _ unoccupied work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted yes: unrestricted -no Present Use agriculture commercial X educational entertainment government industrial military museum park private residence . religious scientific transportation other: 4. Owner of Property name City of Boston School Department street & number 26 Court Street city, town Boston vicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description Massachusetts state courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Suffolk County Registry of Deeds street & number Pemberton Square Boston city, town state Massachusetts 6. Representation in Existing Surveys title Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth of Mass.

date July 1978 has this property been determined elegible? Xyes _ no federal _ state county local depository for survey records Massachusetts Historical Commission Boston, 02108 city, town state Mass. 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

The Oak Square School is situated between Nonantum and Tremont Street at the foot of Nonantum Hill in the Oak Square section of the Brighton Neighborhood of Boston. The primary facade faces Nonantum (east), a residential street of modest 20th century Colonial Revival one-and two-family houses and three-deckers typical of much of the surrounding western Brighton area. The Oak Square School was built in 1894 as a two-room schoolhouse in the popular Colonial Revival style and was enlarged in 1923 with a two-room rear addition to form the present T-shape. The school is located on a sparsely landscaped irregularly shaped lot which slopes gradually towards Oak Square. The property is surrounded by a simple cast iron fence and is largely asphalted for use as a playground. The building is set back forty feet from Nonantum Street,with rear addition and playground facing Tremont Street.

The original rectangular block, a one-story frame, clapboarded structure, painted yellow, is set on a stone foundation which varies in height from two to six feet to accommodate the building to its sloping site. The 9 to 3 bay main block measures 90 feet by 23 feet and is 35 feet high from base to slate ridge-hipped roof. Windows in the main block are fitted with nine-over-nine sash and accented by paneled, capped Tintels; small square basement windows correspond in placement to the windows in the main elevation. On the short sides, two windows have been converted to emergency exits with metal stairways leading to the ground. The block is further defined by corner boards, a water table between clapboards and stone foundation, and a modillion cornice. The 1923 addition is connected to the main block by a narrow, one-bay pavillion.

The five by eight bay addition measures 30 feet by 37 feet and rests on a gray-painted concrete foundation which varies in height from six to twelve feet. A pair of rear doors is reached by high metal stairways. The flat roofed addition is finished at the top with a simple cornice and paneled parapet. Use of clapboards, along with the same water table and corner board treatment, make the addition compatible with the main block despite a difference in height between the main block, where classroom ceiling height is 17½ feet, and the addition, where classroom ceiling height is12 feet. The balanced, classical design has as its focus a central portico supported by four sturdy Tuscan columns and reached by a broad flight of steps.

Detailing on the triangular pediment is correct but restrained: an unadorned three-part entablature, row of dentils, modillion block cornice and oculus window accented by four wooden keystones. The architect of the Oak Square School, Edmund March Wheelwright, referred to the building as "Old Colonial" in style, and references to the Georgian period are clearly evident in the doorway, with its semi-circular leaded glass fanlight and sidelights, as well as the oval The original two- further enhanced by four Tuscan pilasters positioned behind the four portico columns. The crowning feature of the schoolhouse -- an octagonal cupola fitted with buvers and topped with a copper polygonal cap -- gives the building its distinctive silhouette and increases the central focus and 18th century feeling of the structure. Behind the cupola, a large chimney connects to the building's incinerator system.

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 Areas of Significance-Check and justify below - archeology-prehistoric - community planning - archeology-historic conservation agriculture economics architecture education art engineering commerce exploration/settlement communications _ industry _ invention landscape architecture . law _literature military _ music - philosophy - politics/government _ religion science sculpture - social/ humanitarian theater transportation other (specity) Specific dates 1894; 1923 Builder

Statement of significance

/Architect Edmund March Wheelwright Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Oak Square School retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship. It is significant as one of the last and most elaborate examples of a now obsolete building type -- the small, 19th century wood frame suburban schoolhouse -- and as a representative example of the work of Edmund March Wheelwright, prominent Boston architect who is said to have set a new standard of excellence in American municipal architecture. The two-room schoolhouse, completed in 1894, was the smallest of only three wooden primary schools built by Wheelwright during his four-year term as Boston City Architect, from 1891 to 1895.

The trend toward larger masonry school buildings made the Oak Square School one of the last examples of a building type that was becoming obsolete in city school systems by the turn of the century. By the first decade of the 20th century, it was city policy to build all schools of common brick. Edmund March Wheelwright (1854-1912) studied architecture at M.I.T. and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and worked for the firms of Peabody & Stearns and McKim, Mead & White before beginning practice in Boston in 1885. As City Architect from 1891 to 1895, wheelwright designed numerous public schools, hospitals, fire houses and police stations, all maintaining a high standard of design and construction.

Remaining works from this period include two other Brighton buildings, the Police Station (1893) and the Brighton High School, now Taft Junior High (1894), as well as the Park Street subway entrance (NHL), Bowdoin School (recently rehabilitated for housing), and Fire Department Headquarters (currently being remodeled for use by the Pine Street Inn). After resuming practice under the firm name of wheelwright & Haven, he prepared plans for noted Boston public buildings including Horticultural Hall(1900) (NR), the New England Conservatory of Music (1903) (NR), Jordan Hall, the Massachusetts Historical Society (NR), and the Longfellow Bridge, as well as serving as consulting architect for the new Museum of Fine Arts on Huntington Avenue.

Because of his nationwide reputation as a designer of municipal buildings, he was often consulted by officials of other states on the design of public buildings. The 1894 schoolhouse is the third to occupy a site in the Oak Square area. The first two buildings stood in the center of the Square under the massive white oaks for which the Square is named. A sketch of what may have been the first schoolhouse shows a wooden Federal structure; the second schoolhouse, in the Italianate style, was built in 1855 and remained in use for the next 39 years. In 1892, the Boston School Committee requested a $12,000 appropriation for the removal of the school to a new and presumably less restricted and congested site.

A new lot was purchased for $6,000, but at the recommendation of the City Architect, it was decided to obtain a small additional appropriation and erect a new, "suitable and modern" building. The Italianate schoolhouse was eventually moved nearby to 16 Bigelow Street, where it was converted to a multi-family dwelling and remains today.

The rest of the file

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

Major Bibliographical References 1. Annual Reports of the School Committee of the City of Boston (Boston), for the years 1892 1893 2. Hamlin, A.D.F., FModern Planning, Sanitation,Heating and ventilation.mew odern, School Houses: Being a Series of Authoritative Articles on 10. Geographical Data ACRENGONO 1912RIFIED Acreage of nominated property Less than one UIM NUT VERIFIEU Quadrangle name - Newton Quadrangle scale 1:25000 UMT References A L19] L3 211/31210 Zone Easting L416910161810 Northing CLI Zone aingi toming Lu Lalu E DLL F Labdulaln Verbal boundary description and justification Please refer to the attached map. 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 Candace Jenkins, National Register Coordinator Jonathan Malone, Boston Landmarks Commission organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date December 1979 street & number 294 Washington Street telephone 617 727-8470 city or town Boston state Massachusetts 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national local 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 Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. State Historic Proservation oflicer signature/Bluue L.

Wealowski 8/19/80 title Executive Director, Massachusetts Historical Conmission For HCRS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register qur Keéper of the National Register Attest: ic 1 nduls fefChief of Registration date date 11/12/0 date 11/6/80 GP O FHR-8-300A (11/78) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM FOR HCRS USE ONLY RECEIVED SEP 1 0 1996 DATEENTERED 980 CONTINUATION SHEET ITEM NUMBER 8, 9 PAGE 2 Although the Oak Square School is one of the smallest remaining Wheelwright buildings, it embodies all the principles of school design and construction practiced by Wheelwright and advocated in his book School Architecture, published in 1901.

The design, described by Whee1wright as "Old Colonial, " exemplifies his preference for a classical, balanced arrangement of rooms as more economical in planning than "a picturesque and irregular disposition." Wheelwright held that the key to good design was in mass, proportion, placement of windows, and judicious use of architectural details. In an era when school systems were rapidly expanding and money for new facilities was a constant problem, Wheelwright insisted on quality construction methods and the budgeting of a small per- centage of costs for ornament to lift the building above the level of the purely func- tional. His design for the Oak Square school can thus be viewed as a continuation of the 19th century tradition which held that a beautiful school was a factor in the education of the young, a tradition which was forced to give way to considerations of economy.

In his book on Modern School Houses, written in 1910, A.D.F. Hamlin mentions the influence of Wheelwright on the design of school buildings, noting that "the last fifteen years have witnessed a great advance in the average quality of American school buildings, and that in the larger cities, and notably in Boston, New York, Chicago and St. Louis, a very.high standard of design and construction has been set and maintained by such men as E.M. Wheelwright.... Architectural historian Charles Eliot Norton also praised Wheelwright because he "made the beauty of his buildings reside in their proportions, and in the lines and arrangements of their doors and windows; he has the sense to discard superfluous ornament... which another man might have been tempted to add." 9) Bibliography continued 3. Whee]wright, Edmund March.

School Architecture, a General Treatise for the Use of Architects and Others, Boston, 1901. 4. Withey, Henry. F. & Elsie R. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased); Los Angeles, 1956. 55C 5/98 663 5115 659 657 'ASHING TON 4969 653 3/4 Es. 4E 4800 4800 4800 100 [3500 6003 4702 664/ 3695 648 WALL 574/ 7074 9889 WAL 5774 647 5808 54/9 3245 WALL 545 CHAMPNEY FIRE STATION 6090 3215 STREET STREET 425 1435-421 (Le" TOP 3 5:2794 292 4800° 13,003 (BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY BIGELOW WALL 12,482 OAK 632 SQUARE 16,607 M. B. T. A.

S3: WALL STREET WASHING ION 56,/ 29 STREET 6/8 - 6.0 4391 608 606A 606 604 555 > R E M ON T WALL 9393 3063 304 AVENUE 602 12,608 3337 WALL SQUARE SCHOOL OAK (3387 3555 55/2 38 4328 36 65 4568 2444 24 2826 8075 6/35 WALL 25,323 3471 3968 NONANTUM 3529) 3857 3463 3/36 16,600 BRECK LANGLEY 5327 WA ROAD 2444 5896 çE STREET ia 16,600 AVENUE 53/27 NAL 7072 5352 38 20 7880 49/8 4500 WL 32 279 5676 6027 4500 5327 5302 5 4500 NONANTUM 4500 56 zbbö 3038 2895 NORTH 55 3566 3018 53 3483 CRESCr Oak Square School 4980 4040 35 Nonantum St., Boston, MA Scale: 1" = 100' 5 5672 5263 UTM References 19/321320/4690680 249 SEP 1 0.1980 11,760 4050 4050 4725 088F 0 NOV 10 1980 Property Oak sprace School DUE 11/ 18/80 state MA, Suffaklorking Mumber 9/10/80/2262 TECHNICAL CONTROL Photos. 2 Maps 4 / This tuilding is sigrificant.

for tegualt, fis acbutechere, asa lone surreving HISTORIAN example gacnce trilding tupe, and foicts asbreation with topiminent aept uchited E. M. wheetunght. Duilt in 1894 thisone ster frame trüüding is a good example tatuck Anduu t the colomial Reval styled auchitectue. It is the last and mostelaborate exemmple g the amall lathcent.

wood kime lubtie schod buildings in fosten-by tuen d Hecenteu 11/6/80 subei schrs were constructed in truck ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory Review REVIEW UNIT CHIEF BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2-2-82 Send-back Re-submit Entered -1980 United States Department of the Interior - Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service sachar Snaki t, Brcto erstier Boston Landmarks Commission 1177; viewsoftfacade SEP 1 0 Photo #1oFZ {É580½ NOV 10 1980 opcheru snai t, 1agep rapgo0 Boston Landmarks Commission July, '77. view of rear frg72 northwest PHOTO #2 of 2 NOV 1 0 1980 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS Office of the Secretary of State 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 617-727-8470 MICHAEL JOSEPH CONNOLLY Secretary of State Aug 20, 1980 Ms.

Carol Shull, Acting Keeper Registration Branch Heritage, Conservation and Recreation Service DOI, W434 Washington, D.C. 20243 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Boston: Oak Square School (Local) Boston: Russia Wharf (Local) Chicopee: Polish National Home (Local) Lynn: Broad Street Historical District (State) Northfield: Main Street Historical District (Local) All have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer.

Sincerely, Candace fenkens Candace Jenkins Evaluation Director CJ/1k 481119 RECEIVED SEP 1 O 1980 $ NATIONAL REGISTER THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES DATE REC'D SEP O 1980 INDIVIDUAL RESFONSE (ATTACHED) INFORMATIVE MITERIAL SENT TELEFHONE CALL (ATTACHED) DATE ACTION TAKEN INITIALS ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER STATE MASSACHUSETTS NOV I O 1980 Date Entered Name Location Oak Square School Boston Suffolk County Also Notified Honorable Paul Tsongas Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Honorable Thomas P. O'Ne111, Jr. State Historic Preservation Officer Mrs. Patricia L. Weslowski Executive Director Massachusetts Historical Conmission 294 Washington Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 NR Byers/bjr/11/17/80 For further information, please call the National Register at (202)343-6401.