Nomination for Dorchester Pottery Works

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 historic Dorchester Pottery Works For HCRS use only received JAN 2 51985 date entered FEB 2 985 same and/or common 2. Location street & number 101 - 105 Victory Road n/a not for publication city, town Boston (Dorchester) N/A vicinity of state Massachusetts 3. Classification Category Ownership district public X building(s) private _ structure both _ site Public Acquisition object N/A in process being considered code 025 county Suffolk code 025 Status _ occupied unoccupied X work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted _ no Present Use _ agriculture _ commercial _ educational _ entertainment .

government _ industrial military _ museum park private residence religious scientific transportation _ other: 4. Owner of Property name Brian Burke street & number 101 - 105 Victory Road MA city, town Dorchester N/A vicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. street & number Registry of Deeds (Suffolk County) Pemberton Square Boston Massachusetts city, town state 6. Representation in Existing Surveys tittelPorchester/Mattapan Preservation Survexas this property been determined elegible? date 1977 # D715 _ federal _ state _county X local Boston Landmarks Commission depository for survey records city, town Boston City Hall, Boston MA state 7.

Description Dorchester Pottery Works, Boston, MA Condition _excellent good x fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one unaltered * altered Check one X original site _moved date Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

N4A The Dorchester Pottery Works is located in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston and abuts a sizeable shopping center to one side and railroad tracks to the other. The residential neighborhood across the street is largely of frame, later Victorian, single family structures.The Dorchester Pottery Works is now represented by its sole surviving structure, a brick industrial building housing the company's monumental kiln. This kiln building has been vacant for several years and had been boarded up until its recent rehabilitation. The Works formerly included a frame industrial building that was attached to the kiln building, and the Henderson House, which was used as a residence and showroom by the proprietors of the business. Recently, both of these buildings were destroyed.

The Dorchester Pottery Works kiln house is a two-story plus clerestory, five-by-five bay, flat roofed, red brick, industrial building with a red brick chimney approximately 60-feet in height angled into its east wall. The building is squarish in plan, measures approximately 45 feet by 49 feet, and the kiln house was formerly attached to the rear of the now demolished two-story frame, clapboard, industrial building which was approximately 42 feet wide by 69 feet deep and which extended up to the Victory Road street line. Characterizing the exterior of the kiln building are its segmentally arched windows (the long first floor windows had been fitted with nine-over-nine sash which have been reconstructed after the earlier ones were totally vandalized), broad rectangular ground level entrances on the south and west sides, and concrete lintels and sills.

Ornamentation is sparse and limited to the handling of the chimney with contrasting courses of yellow brick and the use of a plain brickwork cornice. Low parapet walls define the roofline on the north and south sides, and a brick roof extension on the north side allowed for the operation of an industrial pulley lift. The interior of the building is basically an open two-story space extended by a central three-by-four bay clerestory. The second floor functions primarily as a balcony level formed by an opening that is approximately 25 1/2 feet in diameter and edged with curved bolted steel. Steel columns located towards the corners of the building carry the load of the flattened arched tile roof vaults of the second floor and clerestory.

The height of the interior measures approximately 14 feet from grade to the second floor and approximately 28 1/2 feet from grade to the roof of the clerestory. Dominating the interior of the building is Dorchester Pottery's circular plan, low-domed, beehive type kiln which occupies much of the square footage of the ground level. The kiln measures, in its dimensions, approximately 30 feet in diameter and about 12 feet in height from grade to the top of the dome. At grade, the kiln's walls are approximately 4 feet thick and include an encasing wall about 4 feet and 9 inches in height. This outer wall houses nine firing NPS Form 10-900-8. (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp.

10-31-84 Far NPS uaa anly ressived date entered Continuation sheet Dorchester Pottery Works, Bostqfem number 7 Page 1 holes and the arched entry to the kiln's interior. The exterior walls of the kiln are girded with horizontal and vertical iron bands to allow for the proper structural expansion and contraction of the kiln during firing and cooling. Inside, the kiln measures approximately 22 feet in diameter. The interior space is about 10 1/2 feet high under the center of the dome, marked by the location of a small air hole, and about 6 1/2 feet high near the kiln's sides. Brick shelving lines the inner walls of the kiln which are covered with a shiny surface formed over the years, through the escaping of vaporized glazes during firing.

A grid of heat resistant tiles on the kiln's floor permits the conduction of heat, fire, and gases through an underground flu to the chimney which protrudes out of a corner of the building. Also included on the site of the Dorchester Pottery Works, on a small parcel of 4,303 square feet, was the Henderson House, the residence of the company's founder and second generation owner/operators. Unfortunately, on April 12, 1980, this Queen Anne Style, clapboard, two-story plus attic, frontfacing gable roofed house was destroyed by fire. The other frame industrial building on the site was also destroyed recently. Thus the only remaining structure is the brick kiln building.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance Dorchester Pottery Works, Boston, MA Period - prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 1800-1899 1900- Areas of Significance-Check and justify below _ archeology-prehistoric - community planning landscape architecture X archeology-historic _ conservation law agricuiture - economics literature architecture _ education military art engineering .music X commerce exploration/settlement - philosophy communications _ industry - politics/government - invention Specific dates 1914 Builder

Statement of significance

/Architect unknown Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Dorchester Pottery Works is one of the few remaining examples of industrial beehive kiln construction in the country and is an intact structure documenting early twentieth-century pottery-making technology. Significant to the city, commonwealth and region, Dorchester Pottery Works possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship. As such it meets criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places. In 1980 it was declared a Boston Landmark. The Dorchester Pottery Works was founded in 1895 by George Henderson who, prior to his settlement in Dorchester, had worked in New Haven as the Manager of the S.L. Pewtress Pottery, a stoneware factory established in 1868. By 1880, Henderson ran the Pewtress works under the name of Henderson and O'Halloran.

In Dorchester, Henderson acquired a parcel of land close to the O1d Colony Railroad right-of-way, onthe south side of Preston Street, now Victory Road. The immediate vicinity of this land was defined by the yet unfilled Tenean Creek and Barque Warwick Cove which separated the Commercial Point industrial area from the residential district at nearby Harrison Square. Preston Street offered Henderson convenient railroad access and close proximity to a fuel source at Cutter's Coal Wharf just down the road at Commercial Point, as well as a location adjacent to a prestigious residential area,formerly known as Harrison Square and now known as Clam Point. By 1896, Henderson had built a Queen Anne Style frame house and, adjacent to his residence, a two-story frame industrial building which served as the Dorchester Pottery Works.

This industrial building, which stood at 105 Victory Road until 1980, was initially used for the "Manufacture of Dip Baskets, Butter Pots, Jugs, Jars, and Flower Pots." "Clay Specialties and Large Pots (were) Promptly Made to Order." Ihe brick kiln building, originally attached to the rear of Henderson's frame pottery works, was built around 1914. The construction of this building and the large beehive kiln that it enclosed indicates the success of Henderson's business and the necessity for him to accommodate a larger volume of production. Expansion of Dorchester Pottery during the first twenty years of this century resulted in the construction of several additional buildings and sheds.

Around the time of the construction of the kiln house, a second brick pottery works building was put up on an adjacent lot, formerly #12 Neva Street, an unpaved roadway running off of the south side of Preston Street, facing today's Everdean Street, and now obliterated by the site of a modern shopping religion science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation other (specify) 9.

The rest of the file

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

Major Bibliographical References See continuation sheet 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property _ 21,730 sq.ft. Quadrangle name Boston South UMT References *L19/ 3310/900 Zone Easting 14684580 Northing Quadrangle scale 1:25,000 DLL E LULL Easting LUILL LuLL HLI Northing LLLu LILL Llilu Verbal boundary description and justification See continuation sheet List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state code county code N/A N/A N/A N/A state code county code 11. Form Prepared By Mari L. Myer, name/title Program Assistant by Rosalind Pollan Boston Landmarks Commission organization Massachusetts Historical Commission date June, 1984 street & number 294 Washington Street telephone 727-8470 city or town Boston, state MA 12.

State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national X_ state X 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 Preservation Officer signaturo Valeue A lalmage State Historic Preservation Officer title date anvary 7,1988 For HCRS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register -580 date 2-21-85 date Attest: Chief of Registration GPO 938 835 MPS Form 10-900-e.

(3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Servica National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form FOR NPS:usHany: recmived cate antered Continuation sheet Dorchester Pottery Works Item number 8 Page 1 center. By the 1930's, the Neva Street building was flanked on its north and south sides by frame additions. Dorchester Pottery's original factory building was enlarged sometime after 1918. After George Henderson's death in 1928 at the age of 65, Charles Henderson and Ethel H111 Henderson, his son and daughter-in-law, assumed control over the pottery works.

This second generation of managers and operators of Dorchester Pottery also included Ethel's brother, Charles Hill, a chemical engineer who was in charge of the glazing and later of the decoration of the company's tableware, and Nando Ricei, an Italian potter whose family had worked for George Henderson during the pottery's early Ethel Hill Henderson had been trained in all facets of stoneware pottery making by her father-in-law, and after his death was responsible for designing most of Dorchester Pottery's production. Stoneware, a kind of pottery fired under very high temperatures to produce vitreous wares that are extremely durable, heat and cold resistant, and able to withstand most corrosive chemical action, began to be produced in the colonies during the late seventeenth century.

Although stoneware enjoys a long history in New England, it developed here later than in other areas because it could not be produced with local clays. Stoneware production in New England, therefore, did not get underway until around 1740 when transport of the requisite clay from New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania had become feasible. Although it certainly had several sources of supply, during the 1950's and 1960's clay for use at Dorchester Pottery was brought in from Raritan and South Amboy, New Jersey. Until well into the 1930's, Dorchester Pottery primarily was a producer of commercial and industrial stoneware. Dorchester Pottery supplied industry and business with vessels, acid jars, vats, pitchers, and pots, and filled innumerable orders for crocks and containers for feeds, alcoholic beverages, and medicines.

- Stoneware tableware was not produced by Dorchester Pottery on any significant scale until around 1940. As recently as the 1950's, this tableware accounted for only a quarter of Dorchester's inventory, and the mainstay of the business remained its industrial and-commercial work. It was only in the late sixties and seventies that stoneware dishes became the sole products of the company, a change in production that transformed Dorchester Pottery from a small-scale manufactory into a kind of cottage industry. Charles Henderson died in 1967, and Ethel Hill Henderson continued running the business until her death in the early nineteen seventies. Subsequently, Lillian Yeaton (Ethe1 Hi1l Henderson's sister) and Charles Hill ran the business with Nando Ricci. The pottery works closed in May of 1979. The present owner is Brian Burke. OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp.

10~31-84 NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only received date enfered Continuation sheet Dorchester Pottery Works Item number 8 Page 2 Remaining on the site of the Dorchester Pottery Works is the brick industrial building located at 105 Victory Road. This building houses the pottery's monumental brick kiln, an industrial beehive-type downdraft, periodically fired kiln, which was technologically conservative when built in 1914 by , George Henderson. This kiln, reportedly constructed after Henderson's own designs, may have been a replication of a nineteenth century type used by him in New Haven.

The construction of this form of kiln, coupled with its continued productive use until its last firing in 1965, represents a living continuity of nineteenth century pottery-making technology into our own era. Dorchester Pottery's kiln is of further significance because it is probably one of the few remaining industrial beehive types in the country. In northeast Ohio, for example, where the ceramic, brick-making and pottery trades accounted, by 1910, for over forty percent of this country's production, only three extant kilns of this type remain. In addition, beehive kilns were most commonly designed as exterior structures and were not housed inside of buildings. Furthermore, beehive kilns were generally used for brick manufacture, a process that does not require particulary high temperature firings.

Dorchester Pottery's kiln therefore is important not only for its survival and uses as an example of late nineteenth - early twentieth century pottery-making technology but because it is unusual for its use in the production of stoneware which required high firings at 2,300 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Strongly demonstrating Dorchester Pottery's involvement in an early technology, is the company's continued practice, until the 1960's, of using an industrial kiln that. had to be fired with coal and wood. During the 1920's, when the company employed 28 potters, the kiln was fired monthly. Later on, in the fifties and sixties, the kiln was fired only four times a year. The process of loading, firing, cooling, and unloading the kiln took about two weeks, with the actual firing requiring fifty to sixty hours of constant attendance.

After forty hourly firings brought the temperatures up to about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, regular fifteen minute firings were necessary to : raise the heat to the higher temperatures needed for the vitrification of glazes. Estimates of the amount of fuel required indicate the firing consumed about fifteen tons of coal and four cords of wood. Because the interior of the kiln was an inferno of heat and flame, wares being fired were protected from scorching by crockery covers called saggers. The last firing of Dorchester Pottery's kiln was in 1965. Gas-fired kilns. were used briefly after the beehive was retired, but eventually the company installed electric kilns which were used for tableware production.

Dorchester Pottery's stoneware production currently enjoys a high reputation both for its continued reliance on traditional pottery-making methods and for the straightforward aesthetic of its tableware. Although this country has undergone a considerable revival of interest in craftsmanship over the last few decades, and the hand working of tableware is becoming a more usual occurrence, Dorchester Pottery is unusual in that it utilized a technology MPS Form 10-900-8- (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Servica National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Far NPS usaianiy: racsived date entered Continuation sheet Dorchester Pottery Works Item number 8 & 6 Page 3 based on handcrafting for its commercial, institutional, and industrial orders as late as the 1950's and 1960's.

Despite the use of plaster molds in the production of its industrial or commercial work, potters and not machines turned, manipulated, and raised the clay, produced the glazes, and executed the detailing and ornamentation. Tableware produced at the Dorchester Pottery Works always has been in great demand by local collectors, but recently wider recognition has been coming from scholars in the ceramics and decorative arts fields. Distinguished by its sturdy traditional forms, and its characteristic Cobalt blue glazing on white, grey, or buff, this tableware is often ornamented with decorative elements that include blueberry, pinecone, scroll, pussy willow, floral fruit, and striped motifs. Sometimes special orders of Dorchester Pottery tableware pieces were ornamented with bayberry green or golden-toned glazes.

Complete sets of dinnerware were crafted by the firm, and in the 1950's the Hendersons made claim to producing approximately 1,700 different kinds of pottery. Because of the proliferation of Dorchester Pottery buildings during the first decades of the century, and because of the standard practice at potteries to maintain a dump, there remains a strong probability for unearthing examples of the business's early production, equipment, and tools through archaeological survey and excavation. Section 6 - Representation in Existing Surveys OMB No.1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-34 .. 2) Inventory of the Historic Assets of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1977 State #D715 not determined eligible Massachusetts Historical Commission Boston, MA MPS Formm 10-900-8- OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp.

10-31-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Fan NPS: usaranty: TaCHIVacS date entered Continuation sheet Dorchester Pottery works BIBLIOGRAPHY Item number 9 Page 1 Boston Iandmarks Commission, Dorchester Pottery Works Study Report, 1980. Boston Redevelopment Authority, "Dorchester, Fields Corner District Profile",1979. Brady, Phillip, "Dorchester Stoneware Pottery Last in America", Boston Sunday Globe, November 6, 1955, 73. Bromley, George W. Atlas of Boston, Vol.5: Dorchester; Philadelphia, 1884, 1894, 1898, 1904, 1910, 1918, 1933- Doucette, Russell, (Ceramics Department, Massachusetts College of Art) Conversation regarding the Dorchester Pottery Works. April 15, 1980. Evans, Paul, "Stoneware and the Dorchester Pottery", Western Collector, May, 1968, 7-11. Gates,.

William (Curator, East Liverpool Museum of Ceramics, Ohio) Conversation regarding beehive kilns, April 17, 1980. Kovel,Ralph andTerry, The Kovel's Collector's Guide to American Art Pottery, New York, 1974- Loveday, Amos (Ohio Historical Center, Columbus, Ohio) Conversation regarding beehive kilns. April 14, 1980. Michael, George, The Treasury of New England Antiques. New York, 1969. Myer, Susan, (Ceramics Department, Smithsonian Institution) Conversation regarding the Dorchester Pottery Works, April 15, 1980. Oberg, Doris, Conversation regarding the Dorchester Pottery Works, subject of illustrated lecture. April 17, 1980- Pollan, Rosalind, "Harrison Square Report", Boston Landmarks Commission Project Completion Report, July 1979. Ransay, John, American Potters and Pottery, Clinton Mass. 1939.

Ray, Marcia, An Encyclopedia of Pottery and Porcelain for the American Collector- New York, 1974. Roueche, Berton, "Reporter At large, The Last Lap", The New Yorker, March 13, 1954- MPS Form 10-900-0- OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Dorchester Pottery Works Continuation sheet Item number 9 Fan NPS: usaiany: racaived Ctrel date entered 2 Page Slade, Marilyn Myers, "For a Legend, (Dorchester Pottery), A New Life?", Boston Herald Magazine, October 12, 1979. United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, The Pottery Industry, Washington, D.C. 1915- Watkins, Lura Woodside; Early New England Potters and Their Wares. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1950. NPS Form 10-900-e.

(3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form FaR NPS UsBIanTy: racsived. date antered Continuation sheet Dorchester Pottery Works Item number 10 1 Page Verbal Boundary Description and Justification: Dorchester Pottery Works, Ward 16, Assessor's parcel numbers 245 and 246. Beginning at the northwest corner of the property and running easterly along the southern curb line of 101-105 Victory Road; thence turning at a right angle and running south along the side lot line of said property; thence turning at a right angle and running westerly along the back lot line of 101-105 Victory Road; thence turning at a right angle and running northerly, then northwesterly along the side lot line of 97 Victory Road until the point of origin. OM8 No. 1024-0018 Exp.

10-31-84 erchester ecuiomen t ottery Works DORCHESTER POTTERY WORKS Boston, Massachusetts Photo Credit: B. Matzkin c/o Paul Dobbs Mass College of Art Boston, MA Pottery Works equipment View: Photo #1 DORCHESTER POTTERY WORKS Boston, MA Photo Credit: B. Matzkin c/o Paul Dobbs Mass. College of Art Boston, MA View: Interior of kiln building Photo #2 IMPORTED GORDON chestes DORCHESTER POTTERY WORKS Boston, MA Photo Credit: B. Matzkin c/o Paul Dobbs Mass College of Art Boston, MA kiln View: Photo #3 DORCHESTER POTTERY WORKS Boston, MA Photo Credit: B.

Matzkin c/o Paul Dobbs Mass College of Art Boston, MA Exterior View: Photo #4 33 36 38 7,474 WALL CENTRAL ROAD 4080 6000 40,.00 5004 4000 59 63 24,725 3911 39/1 10 HILL GREEN 3500 75 42 5500 3 500 13,027 25,435 6592 6592 50 6580 6580 54 STREET 5126 5693 5049 5369 104 108 96 100 VICTORY 91 4304 7357 WALL -; 1580 81 85 4908 110 730 9000 BLANCHE 8000 74 18 00 18000 76 18 100 1800 78 800 8 1 800 82 800 18 00 84 1800 1800 11800 33 1800 1744 1744 3956 STREET PARKING 458 6 4073 4940 54940 [5035 STREET 20 STREET 22,250 185 1922 18 5 185/ 3702 30 1922 00 34 38 1922 40 1851 42 441922 11851 IPARKING 46 STREET 6629 MORRISSEY 69,345 Dorchester Pottery Works Boston (Dorchester), MA UMT References: 19/330/900/4684/580 scale: 1" = 100' N1 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Dorchester Pottery Works Suffolk County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: sample Lrequest JAN 2 5 1985 Working No.

Fed. Reg. Date: Date Due: _ /21/85 27,8 Fatered in Action. 2-21-85 Metionel Regtater -RETURN. _REJECT - Federal Agency: - -appeal -NR decision Recom./Criteria Reviewer - Discipline- Date see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: _technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? yes - no 7. Description Condition - excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one - unaltered altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one - original site moved date _ 8.

Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national state _local State Historic Preservation Officer signature date title 13.

Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Signed - Date _ Phone: Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Dorchester Pottery Works 105 Victory Road Boston (Dorchester), MA Photo # 1 of 3 View: front (eastern) facade Credit: Paula Mierzejewski, BLC Negative: Boston Landmarks Commission Boston City Ha1l Dorchester Pottery Works 105 Victory Road Boston (Dorchester) MA Photo #2 of 3 View: north elevation Credit: Paula Mierzejewski, BLC Negative : Boston Landmarks Commission Boston City Hall Dorchester Pottery Works 105 Victory Road Boston (Dorchester) MA Photo # 3 of 3 View: south elevation Credit: Paula Mierzejewski, BLC Negative: Boston Landmarks Commission Boston City Ha11