Nomination for New Riding Club

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 (3-82) OMB No. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 United States Department of the Interior National Park 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 NPS use only received JUL 2 1987 date enteredAUG 20 1987 historic The New Riding Club and or common same 2. Location street & number 52. Hemenway Street N/A - not for publication city, town Boston N/A vicinity of state Massachusetts 3. Classification Category Ownership district public X building(s) X private .structure both site Public Acquisition object _ in process being considered code 025 county Status X occupied _ unoccupied work in progress Accessible - yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted X no 4.

Owner of Property (A) The Mews Liniied Partnership name (B): Badminton and Tennis Club (A) 597 Tremont Street street & number (B) Hemenway Street Suffolk code 025 Present Use _ agriculture _ commercial educational entertainment - government industrial . military museum park private residence religious scientific transportation Xother: social city, town Boston - NMicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state Massachusetts courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Suffolk County Registry of Deeds Suffolk County Courthouse street & number Boston Massachusetts city, town state 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Inventory of Historic Assets of the Comnonwealth of Massachusetts title BLC Survey of The Fenvas this property been determined eligible?

- yes no date 1984 _federal X state _ county _ local depository for survey records city, town Boston Massachusetts Historical Conmission and Boston Landnarks Conmission, City Hall Massachusetts state 7. Description Condition excellent - good -fair _ deteriorated ruins - unexposed The New Riding Club, Boston, Massachusetts Check one X unaltered -altered Check one X original site _ moved date Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The New Riding Club building, Boston, stands at the southeast corner of Hemenway and Norway Streets in an area of early twentieth century apartment buildings. The Tudor Revival/Queen Anne style building occupies all of its lot, which slopes south and eastward, creating an above-ground basement at the rear (south). The building possesses two facades (north and west elevations) that are faced with tan brick above a red brick basement, while rear elevations (south and east) are faced with common red brick. Trimmings consist of red brick (facades only) and rock-faced sandstone. The structure is enclosed by a flat roof, the north and west elevation of which are steeply pitched roofs broken by numerous gables trimmed with half-timbering and rough, pebbled stucco.

its west slope, the pitched roof has three major gables set over projecting pavilions at the lower stories; between the south and center gables is a single dormer enclosed by three small gables. Between the center and north gables is a single gabled dormer. All facade gables are decorated with ornamental half-timbering with stuccoed panels. The north elevation has a wide central dormer with three gables; flanking the center are two smaller dormers set halfway up the plane of the roof. A corbelled brick cornice encircles the building at the head of the second story on the facades and at the roofline on the rear elevations. Windows are a symmetrically placed and vary in size and configuration; individual sash units are wood-frame ranging from 1/1 to 20/20. All windows in masonry openings have sandstone sills; those on the two facades also have rock-faced sandstone lintels.

The principal facade (west elevation) faces Hemenway Street and is nearly symmetrical about a central three-bay pavilion. The central pavilion (2 1/2 stories) is flanked by a two-bay section (north, 2 stories) and a three-bay section (south, 2 stories), which terminate in identical end pavilions (2 1/2 stories). The corners of the pavilions are trimmed with red brick forming quoins, as are window openings. with a panelled doorway and two tripartite windows (1/1) at the first story, a End pavilions are identical, each containing three arched windows (3/3) at the first-story, a group of four windows (12/12)with six-pane transoms in a corbelled bay at the second story and an oriel with diamond-pane casements in the gable. three evenly spaced windows (6/6) at the firststory and a projecting gabled dormer with three windows (20/20) at the second story.

Near the ridge of the roof are two shed dormers, each with five-pane lights. continued NPS Form 10-000-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form The New Riding Club, Boston, Massachusetts Continuation sheet Item number OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 7 Page 1 The north elevation faces Norway Street and is nearly symmetrical around projectinq central pavilion (one story) flanked by four-bay sections (east, Four storles and west, 2 1/? storles).Masonry and gable detalls resemble those of the principal facade, although somewhat simplified. The central pavilion contains three arched windows (two stories high) flanked by a pair of narrow rectangular windows (blocked), which rise from the basement to a ac the fhvst Story are aetre wt htoec (9/9) flank f ay tre narrow windows (blocked).

At the west end of the elevation, a modern garage door has been installed at an original doorway. West of the central pavilion at the second story are four windows (4/4); at the attic is a half-timbered dormer with three windows (15/15) and two gables. The section east of the central pavilion is identical to the foregoing description except at the first story where this section has two sets of paired windows (blocked) and, at the elevation's east end, two sets of square light (blocked). The east elevation (rear) faces an alley (Whipple Street) and is built of common brick. Most of this elevation, set on a slope, is four low stories high, having been designed as a stable. South of the gable (northeast corner of the building), this elevation is 29 bays long with evenly spaced windows, one per bay. All but three 3/3 windows and one 6/6 window at the second story are blocked.

The gabled section of this elevation contains six unevenly spaced windows. At the south end, a wide opening has been cut for a garage door, while next to it a similar modern door has been installed in an original opening. Near the center of this elevation are two more large plywood doors set in original openings with arched heads. Toward the north end are four Targe blocked windows, one of which appears to have heen cut in the twentieth century as a door. The south elevation is largely concealed from street view, having a party wall at its first story. Upper stories are dominated by five arched windows (blocked) that are two stories high: at the east corner, a broad, segmental arch (blocked) now contains a door. Paired rectanqular windows (blocked) are set in segmental arches arranged asymmetrically at the second, third, and fourth stories.

Finishes are unornamented, resembling those of the east elevation. The former New Riding Club building is divided internally into unequal thirds consisting of clubrooms, changing rooms and storage areas (west), an open riding ring now used as tennis courts (center), and a former stable (east). The former riding ring occupies the largest part of the structure and is separated from clubrooms by a wood-and-glass partition, while the former stable is separated from the rest of the building by a brick firewall originally pierced by two internal doors at the level of the ground floor. continued NPS Form 10-900-e (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places InventoryNomination Form The New Riding Club, Boston, Massachusetts Continuation sheet Item number OMB Approval No.

1024-0018 7 2 Page Between 1934 and 1985 the entire structure was owned by the Badminton and Tennis Club, which used only the former riding ring and clubrooms. Unable to find a a use for the former stable since 1937, the Badminton and Tennis Club sold that portion of the structure (east of the fire wall) to the Old Mews Limited Partnership for rehabilitation in 1985. During the course of the subsequent certified rehabilitation, work was performed on the stable only, and included the removal and replacement of existing floorings, infill of the firewall between the stable and tennis club area, and removal of the horse ramp at the north end of the structure. Contemporary residential units were then constructed. The other sections of the building remain unchanged from their condition prior to the stable's adaptive reuse to apartments.

The riding ring, enclosed by a wooden rail, now holds tennis courts. clubhouse dressing rooms continue to serve their original purpose; their beaded tongue and groove moldings survive.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance The New Riding Club, Boston, Massachusetts Period prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 .1800-1899 1900 Areas of SignificanceCheck and justify below -. archeology-prehistoric community planning archeology-historic conservation _agriculture economics X architecture education art engineering commerce exploration/settlement communications industry invention - landscape architecture.__ religion law literature military _ music -- philosophy -politics/government science sculpture X social/ humanitarian theater _ transportation other (specify) Specific dates 1891-1892 Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect Willard T. Sears The New Riding Club Boston, and its attached stable possess significance as a well-preserved example of Tudor Revival/Queen Anne style architecture as well as historical associations with a prominent Boston architect and with a Boston social club. The New Riding Club retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and and C of the National Register on the local level. An outstanding and rare local example of half-timbered Tudor Revival/Queen-Anne style architecture, the New Riding Club preserves nearly all the elements of its original design, including half-timbering, projecting gables, sandstone sills and lintels, red brick quoins, and beltcourses.

The New Riding Club was built on a site previously occupied by a brick industrial building owned by the Boston Water Power Company when the area around Hemenway Street (then Parker Street) was part of the Gravelly Point cross dam/mill complex. Restrictions on the development of the site for a riding club and horse stable were specified by deed to insure that no entrance for horses or vehicles be erected on Parker Street (former name of Hemenway Street) and that the southerly wall of the building be erected within one year of September 21, 1891. The club apparently was not completely finished for several years, and although the Boston Directory for 1892 lists The New Riding Club, the organization's by laws of 1895 suggest that the building was still under construction. Built in 1891-1892, the club building was designed by Willard T.

Sears (1837-1920), at that time a principal with Charles A. Cummings, of the prominent Boston architectural firm of Cummings and Sears. Sears first worked in Boston in the 1850s in the office of Gridley J. F. Bryant. In the early 1860s, he formed a partnership with Cummings, which continued until Cummings' retirement in 1895. Like other Boston firms of the 1870s, Cummings and Sears was active in the reconstruction of downtown Boston following the 1872 fire. Included among Sears' best-known designs are the Chapel in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner House (now the Gardner Museum).

A major contracting firm in the Boston area, Woodbury and Leighton, the builders of the New Riding Club, were in charge of the construction for several landmark buildings in Boston including the Boston Public Library, First Church of Christ Scientist (Renaissance Revival Building), the International Trust Building, and the Boston YMCA. The Fenway area in which the New Riding Club is located began to be developed in the 1890s. Although it had been envisioned as an affluent residential area of large townhouses, by the early twentieth century it was rapidly acquiring a mixture of cultural and educational institutions interspersed with apartment buildings. This pattern of use has remained to the present. continued 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 stper South than one acre Quadrangle name UT M References L9 131278ZP 145/3,919,70 Zone Easting Northing CLyLLILJ ELULLILU GLULLILLI Quadrangle scale 1:25,000 JLliLu Zone Easting Northing DLU LLILLL LLILL FLILLILLL LLILLL LLLILLL LLil Verbal boundary description and justification The nominated property includes only that property shown as 52 Hemenway Street on Boston Assessors' Map 23N-11E. List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state N/A code county code state code county code 11. Form Prepared By name/title Kin Withers Brengle/(Revised by) Christine Scott Beard organization Architectural Conservation Trust date March 1987 street & number 45 School Street Boston telephone state 617-523-8678 Massachusetts 12.

State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national - state X local 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 Hiltort Preservation OMicor signature Valerie laemage sion ixecutive Director.

title State Historic Preservation Officer dato juley 15,1987 For NPS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register peloses JNtorad em Matdouel Iogioter date 8/20/87 faksopor of the National Register Attest: date Chief of Registration GPO 911-399 MPS Form 10-800-8 (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form The New Riding Club, Boston, Massachusetts Continuation sheet Item number OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 8 Page The New Riding Club, for which the building was erected, was organized in the autumn of 1891. The building included clubhouse facilities, a stable, and a ring and offered services for the grooming, shoeing, feeding, exercising, and veter inary care of members' horses.

Its membership was comprised of socially prominent Bostonians who were able to make use of the club's stables, which were convenient to the new bridle paths through The Fenway. of the New Riding Club included Henry M. Whitney, Robert Treat Paine, A. Lawrence Rotch, and Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Albert G. Baxter (d. 1905), the president of the club lived at 144 Huntington Avenue, near west Newton Street. Early in his career, Baxter worked as Superintendent of the Phoenix Copper Mine at Eagle River, Michigan, and later, was in the lumber manufacturing business in Boston and St. Johns, New Brunswick. Baxter was wel1 known as an avid outdoorsman and was a daily horseback rider. The club remained active until the Depression, when its membership began to diminish.

In 1934, the New Riding Club closed and the facilities were sold to the Badminton & Tennis Club, which has occupied the building since. Within the past year a certified rehabilitation of the building has been undertaken. Archaeological Significance The New Riding Club building occupies all of its lot, and there is no evidence for the presence of archaeological deposits which meet any of the National Register Criteria of significance. NPS Form 10.000-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form The New Riding CLub, Boston, Massachusetts Continuation sheet Item number OMB No.1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only recelved date entered 9 1 Page 9. Major Bibliographic References Damrel1, Charles S., A Half Century of Boston Buildings. Boston, 1895.

Herndon, Richard, Boston of Today: A Glance at its History and Character istics. Boston, 1892. New Riding Cluh Annual Reports: 1899-1934. Withey, Henry F., & Elisie Rathburn, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects. L.A., 1970. Boston Landmarks Commission Building Inventory Form. The Fenway Survey.

SGATE 69/3 6240 6240 7229 EAST FENWAY 14 1 6 50 92 1107 MARY S3IUN The New Riding Club Boston, Massachusetts Boston Assessors' Map 23N-11E Scale 1" = 200' The New Riding Club indicated by cross-hatchin{ 1108 BOYLSTON TISA 10,982 13,3/8 819E PUBLIC 3600 9+L5 PARKING 37 13742 12,000 22 4000 4000 4000 BOSTON CON SERVATORY OF MUSIC 1985 1760 1760 (1760 11760 1760 32,00 BOSTON 8000 CONSERV ATORY MUSIC31 C 5045 HAVILAND 20 10 7437 7430 5860 1762 4420 4037 425 ,090 ,2 7497 STF 5640 3360 3000 3000 3000 3070 3000 3000 13000 3000 3000 ,3000 3000 3600 5940 6397 U 3825 3400 DND 1866 T1g 1760 NORWAY STONEHOLM 5402 103 1760 1840 112 1840 1840 1840 1840 1840 11840 18 2000 4621 WHIPPLE L1 13,655 535 9g HO TTOBT106TiOT 122095 2057 2028 3730 12 HIGH ,000 TRADE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 13790 4593 BURBANK 4977 3318 3950 3950 HEMENWAY +s3 43g 49 18,929 35 10 D 5188 5/8- 87001394 WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET New Riding Club Suffolk County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: L sample -request Working No.

JUL21 1987 Fed. Reg. Date: ee Date Due: 820/87 -4/4/82 intered in tee Action: 8-20-57 Matlosal Zegister - RETURN _REJECT Federal Agency: . LJappeal LJ 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 J excellent good fair deteriorated J ruins unexposed Check one -unaltered altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph J completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one -original site J 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 J Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Signed._ . Date .

- Phone: GPO 918-450 Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Parking Oph PIZZA -SUBS SPAGHETTI Coke BILLY THE NEW RIDING CLUB OF BOSTON 52 HEMENWAY STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN PFEIFFER OCTOBER, 1985 ACT, 45 SCHOOL STREET, BOSTON, MA PHOTO 1 OF 2 VIEW: LOOKING NORTHEAST AT WEST ELEVATION OF THE NEW RIDING CLUB THE NEW RIDING CLUB OF BOSTON 52 HEMENWAY STREET BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN PFEIFFER OCTOBER, 1985 ACT, 45 SCHOOL STREET, BOSTON, MA PHOTO 2 OF 2 VIEW: LOOKING SOUTHEAST AT NORTH ELEVATION OF THE NEW RIDING CLUB P635 549131 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of State Michael Joseph Connolly, Secretary ECE JUL 2 1 190 Massachusetts Historical Commission Valerie A.

Talmage Executive Director State Historic Preservation Officer July 12, 1987 Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of the Interior Na tional Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Wash ington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Iwo Boston properties are being submitted: Congress Street Fire Station, 344 Congress Street New Riding Club, 52 Hemenway Street, HPCA #0618-84-MA-85-0799 Cancord, Mott Shaw, Thamas Estate, 317 Gar field Road, HPCA #10297MA Southbr idge, Southbridge Town Hall, 41 Elm Street Wa l tham, Lawrence, Phineas House, 257 Trapelo Road All have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been are attached to the nomination form.

Sincerely, Betsy Friedberg betay Friedhery National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Conmission BF/1s Enclosure 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470