Nomination for Grover, Emery, Building

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form10-900 (Rev. 8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form RECEIVED OMB No. 1024-0018 JUL 2 4 1987 NATIONAL REGISTER (Form 10-900a). Type all entries. 1. Name of Property historic name other names/site number Emery Grover Building (preferred) Needham High School 2. Location street & number city, town state Massachusetts code 1330 Highland Avenue Needham 025 county Norfolk 3.

Classification Ownership of Property Iprivate IX public-local J public-State public-Federal Category of Property X building(s) district site structure object N/A not for publication N/A vicinity code 021 zip code 02192 Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing buildings sites structures objects 1 Total Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register 0 Name of related multiple property listing: N/A 4. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this [XI nomination Lrequest for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the In my opinion, the propertymeets Idoes nor meet the National Register criteria, [ soo continuation sheet.

National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. Vaemue demase Signature of ceritying official Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officepafe July 20,1957 Massachusetts Historical Conmission State or Federal agency and bureau Inmy opinion, the propertymeets [ -does not meet the National Register criteria. See continuation sheet. Signature of commenting or other official Date State or Federal agency and bureau 5. National Park Service Certification I, hereby, certify that this property is: Hentered in the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined eligible for the National Register. See continuation sheet. determined not eligible for the National Register. hatered in tae DilmeBgen 1aooai 2osiotus 5/10/87 removed from the National Register.

Jother, (explain:) fusomanre o tho kooper Date of Action 6. Function or Use Emery Grover Building, Needham, Massachusetts Historic Functions (enter categories from instructions) Current Functions (enter categories from instructions) Education, Secondary School Educational, Administrtion 7. Description Architectural Classification (enter categories from instructions) Second Renaissance Revival Materials (enter categories from instructions) foundation walls. roof _ other. granite brick slate Describe present and historic physical appearance. The Enery Grover Building is located at 1330 Highland Avenue in Needham, Massachusetts, on the primary thoroughfare between the town's two primary villages, Needham and Needham Heights. It was built in 1898 as the town's high school. The mixed-use neighborhood cpmbines residential and small conmercial establishments near the town hail.

To the south is St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church (1965-1966), and to the north the site of a more recent high school (1924), now occupied by Town House condominiums (1984). building is set back about 75 feet from Highland Avenue, with a semi-circular The Emery Grover Building was built in the Second Renaissance Revival style and designed by Boston architects Whitman and Hood. It is a yellow brick, two-story building on a raised granite basement under a low hipped roof of monson granite and measures 66 by 102 feet. Cubic masing was emphasixed with strong horizontals articulated at cornice, belt courses, and foundation, with period inspired detailing at edges and openings.

The primary west facade features a projecting central pavilion three bays wide, approximately 3/5th of the full width, with the placement on the first floor level of two semi-elliptical windows on either side of a large arched entrance, and six arched windows on the secand floor. The architectural surround of windows and entrance is a carefully articulated brick arch, each decorated by a large keystone. The impost blocks are a part of the belt courses at all upper levels. An additional granite belt course defines th level of the first floor. n either side of the central pavilion are tw windows on each floor with brick lintels and keystones. Above the central pavillion in the hipped roof are three dormers.

The center dormer has three windows and is decorated by a white painted wooden pediment with volutes on either side, all of which originally supported a large circular clock, which has been removed. [X See continuation sheet NPS Form 10-900-e (8-88) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page - 1 - OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Emery Grover Building, Needham, Massachusetts The east (rear) of the building echoes the pattern of the facade's projecting central pavilion with three large arched windows on the first floor. slender arched windows on the second floor are false windows, filled in with orick with the exception of the four top semi-eliptical sections. On each o1 the north and south sides of the building is an entrance protected by a porch with arched opening and granite steps.

The interior of the original high school had three classrooms and offices for the superintendent of schools, the principal, the school committee, and the teachers on the first floor. On the second floor in the center, which would be the area contained within the projecting central pavilion as seen from the outside, was a large auditorium seating 275 and a stage placed against the rear wall of the building. Also on the second floor were two classrooms, a reci tation room, and a room to be used as a library. On the third floor were laboratories and darkrooms, and in the basement, heating plant, manual training facility, and restrooms. The interior on both floors has been altered - with the creation of office areas formed by temporary partitions in about Archaeology While no archaeological sites are recorded within the property several have been reported that are in close proximity.

It is likely that sites may have been present, but the intense level of development and small size of the property suggests that the likelihood of significant prehistoric survivals is These factors also suggest that the potential for significant historic sites is low. Most of the towns early development appears concentrated west of the town center or along the Charles River. This area was not intensively developed until the middle of the nineteenth century. This property was built in 1898 and may contain occupation related features which could add to the understanding of the students social and cul tural development during the period. 8. Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

Emery Grover 3u1Tding, Needham, Massachusetts Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: nationally -statewide Xlocally Applicable National Register Criteria WA Criteria Considerations (Exceptions) -c Areas of Significance (enter categories from instructions) Architecture Community Plannin and Development Education JD -D -G Period of Significance 1898-1924 Signiägant Dates Cultural Affiliation N/A Significant Person N/A Architeean dnd Hood, Boston, Massachusetts State significance ofproperty, and justify criteria, criteria considerations, and areas and periods of significance noted above.

The Fmery Grover Building, Needham, built in 1898 to serve as the town's first high school, retains integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, and association with the development--at times fractious--of Needham in the late 19th century. The building is architecturally significant as an imposing example of the Second Renaissance Revival style. The Enery Grover Building thus fulfils Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level. Iwice in its history the town of Needham has been torn apart by disagreements and arguments over the site of a public building. Ihe first of these, the argument between the east and west ends of the town over where the mee t inghouse should stand, began in the eighteenth century, lasted a hundred years, and literally tore the town apart when in 1881 the west end was incorporated as the town of Wellesley.

The second argument, which began even before the first had ended, concerned where the town's first high school building should stand. It began in 1863 when the town first officially considered the need for a separate high school building, lasted until 1898, and still simmered for years thereafter. At that time the town of Needham consisted of two competing villages: Highlandville (now Needham Heights) to the north, and Needham Plains (now the present town center) to the south, with much empty land between them. Over the years, the two villages had developed distinctly different characteristics. Highlandville was essentially an English village, populated and controlled by the English knitters who had migrated from England to set up their knitting shops and build their hames in the north end of town, some of them arriving before the Civil War.

In 1875 there were thirty-eight separate knitting shops in the town, and most were in Highlandville. They were a clannish group, and a strong, sometimes acrimonious, rivalry grew up between them and the people of "the Plains, " which was still a Yankee village, catrollod by des populated and largely controlled by descendants of the original Yankee settlers. Highlandville was becoming an industrial community, while "the Plains" still bore the traces of its agricul tural beginnings. [X See continuation sheet 9.

The rest of the file

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

Major Bibliographical References Emery Grover Building. Needham, Massachusetts Clarke, George D., The History of Needham. Cambridge: University Press, 1912 Needham Town Records, Needham Free Public Library. Needham Historical Society files. Previous documentation on file (NPS): preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested previously listed in the National Register previously determined eligible by the National Register designated a National Historic Landmark recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # Jrecorded by Historic American Engineering Record # 10.

Geographical Data Auade oropen Quad: @ I.1 acre Scale 1:25000 ATM Referencis A LL 1516,2,0l Zone Easting L4518,314,1,0 Northing CL -See continuation sheet Primary location of additional data: [X State historic preservation office Other State agency Federal agency _Local government JUniversity ]Other Specify repository: MHC #54 Zone Easting Northing D L ] See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description Westerly by Highland Avenue by 187 ft. mora or less; Northerly by the newly constructed Town Houses by 253 ft. more or less; Easterly by Oakland Avenue by 175 ft. more or Southerly by land of the Roman Catholic Church (St. Joseph's) by 263 ft. more or less. All as shown on Assessors plan No. 53, dated July 1975. See continuation sheet Boundary Justification The lot described above is that historically associated with the property. ] See continuation sheet 11.

Form Prepared By name/titeMrs. Warner B. Hartford, Needham Historical Commission, Chair, with Claire Dempsey organization Massachusetts Historical Comnission street & number 80Boylston Street -datphone- A8ri] 2727-8770 city or town Boston _ stateMassachusetts zip code 02116 NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Emery Grover Building, Needham, Massachusetts Page - 1 The rivalry between the two villages took many forms, the most visible among OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 green (now Avery Square). Highlandville demanded and got a bandstand for its green. This rivalry reached its bitter peak in 1883, when the question arose as to where the new high school should be built.

Highlandville chose a site for the building within its traditional limits, and "the Plains" picked another, well within its own limits. It was only after the appointment and dissolution of one building committee, a court injunction, and the appointment of a second building committee that the problem was resolved. The resolution came only when John Moseley, a public-spirited landowner, offered to donate to the town as a site for the high school a plot of land almost equidistant between the sites favored by the two villages. The building committee submitted its majority report in the 1898 Annual Town Report. This report listed Whitman and Hood as the architects and F. G. Colburn and Co. as the builders. However, on the same page the Treasurer says that he paid $570.36 to one "Mr.

Brigham, " the architect engaged by the first building committee who had been dismissed by the second committee. It is therefore not possible to discern which architect was responsible for the design of the exterior. The majority report listed the cost of the building, $32,923, "seventy-seven dollars less than the original appropriation." The report noted: "It (the High School) is well adapted to the purposes for which it was designed. Its exterior appearance is attractive, al though rigid economy of ornament was imposed by the limits of the appropriation for its cons truction. it has been visited by many persons acquainted with high=school architecture and construction and declared to be unexcelled by any other high school building erected in Massachusetts for an equal amount of money." However, a 47-page minority report was submitted by John Titus, a member of the building committee.

Mr. Titus set the theme for his report by stating that the building commuttee was "a body conceived in sin and delivered in iniquity." The attack includes accusations of bid-rigging, illegal collusion in the award of contracts, political cronyism in the dismissal of one architect and the hiring of another, with studied hints of malfeasance. The last fifteen pages of the minority report examine the completed structure and list the faults in its design and construction. Mr. Titus was leading citizen and lawyer in Highlandville, and Mr. Pope, chairman of the Building Committee was a wealthy landowner in the Plains. There is little doubt that the personal and public feud between Mr. Pope and Mr. Titus was a continuation of the Highlandville-Plains feud. continued NPS Form 10-000-e (8-86) OMB Approval No.

1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 8 Page 2 Emery Grover Building, Needham, Massachusetts The building housed all high-school activities until 1924, when increased enrolIment required a larger building, and the second high-school building was erected on an adjacent plot. The building was then used to house special and overflow classes. And it was at this time that it was given its present name, in honor of Judge Emery Grover, who had been a member of the school committee for twenty-four years, from 1884 to 1904. The building has held the administrative offices of the school depar tment since about 1972.

8700/393 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Grover, Emery, Building Norfolk County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: -sample LJrequest Nitered ix Nationaa a Working No. JUL 2,4 1987 Fed. Reg. Date: - Date Due: _ 8 20/87-2/2/87 va Action: ACCEPT 8-20-87 -RETURN _REJECT _ Federal Agency: _ LJappeal -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 J 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 title date 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to. Signed. - Date - - Phone: - GPO 918-450 Comments for any item maybe continued on an attached sheet Emery Grover Blag. 1330 HighlandAve. Needham, MA Kenneth Watson; Dec.1985 142 Hillcrest Rd. No.lofz West Facade KENNETH E.

WATSON NEEDHAM, MA 02192 NEEDHAM HI Need Missing Core Documentation Property Name Grover, Emery, Building County, State Norfolk, Massachusetts Reference Number 87001393 The following Core Documentation is missing from this entry: Nomination Form X Photograph #2 USGS Map Emery Grover Building 1330 Highland Avenue Needham, mA 02192 MAY (TOWN 1882) STREET. HLSON 12381°4i. EE EMERY GROVER PLAN 52 SCHOOL BUILDING (TOWN1878) 1360 Soceo church HIGHLAND 154.00 26867 9.F. 39449 SF TOTALAREA GaT. 2623 OAKLAND SEE POOI REG PLAN SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION BUIL DING Town of Needhom 46155 Sp.f (TOWN1966) - so.ft. 1500 sart - 399 AVENUE L- 196.75 HIGH LAND SCHOOL BUILDING THIS HAS BEEN REMOVED AND PRIVATE TOWN HOUSES 9= 777.32 1292 AVENUE SCHOOL HAVE BEEN CONSTRUCTED - TOWN OFNESOHAM 101296 SF (TOT) AVENUE.

ON THE SITE, DURING 1983-1984 60 188.71 =G PLAN 1923-45 SB OWN OF CENAN $20.00 L3.Q 154.00 TOWN 25E22 NYJOHA AVE, 161.30 OAKLAND *052-L ASSESSORS PLAN NO. 53 SCALE. 1 IN.-40FT JULY 1975 J.D. MARR,JR - TOWN ENGINE ER 635 543137 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of State Michael Joseph Connolly, Secretary Massachusetts Historical Commission Valerie A. Talmage Executive Director State Historic Preservation Officer July 20, 1987 Carol Shul1 National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, D.C. 20013-7127 Dear Ms.

Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Boston (Jamaica Plain), 17 Cranston Street Boston (West Roxbury), Westerly Cemetery, Centre Street Boston, Timothy Hoxie House Needham, Emery Grover Building, 1330 Highland Avenue All have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 30-75 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. Comments received to date are attached to the nomination form. Sincerely, Betry Friedherg Betsy Friedberg Na tional Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission JUL < 4 So/ Enclosur e 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470