BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
FORM B* - BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 80 BOYLSTON STREET BOSTON, MA 02116 62 AREA JAN 0 2 1990 FORM NO. 93 Town Swansea, Mass. MRA SWANSEA Address Stevens Road at Bark Street Historic Name Bark Street School Photo (3"x3" or 3"x5", black and white) Indicate address of property on back of photo. Staple to left side of form. Sketch Map: Draw map showing property's location in relation to nearest cross streets and/or geographical features. Indicate all buildings between inventoried property and nearest intersection(s). Indicate north (see attached map) Use: Present elementary school Original primary school DESCRIPTION Date 1905 Source School Committee Report for 1905 Style Colonial Revival Architect Louis G. Destremps & Son Exterior Wall Fabric shingle Outbuildings none Major Alterations (with dates) ca.
1930 -- shingled rear addition Condition excellent Moved Acreage Setting _ Date -- less than one acre of total 64-acre lot open lot with playgrounds in rear -- building situated close to street UTM REFERENCE 19 320080 4624000 USES QUADRANGLE Fall River, MA-RI 1967/1979 SCALE 1:25000 Recorded by K. Flynn, K. Valente/K. Broomer Organization Swansea Historical Commission Date May 1986/October 1989 NATIONAL REGISTER CRITERIA STATEMENT (if applicable) Bark Street School possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, and association. It meets Criterion C on the local level as a wel1-preserved example of a Colonial Revival schoolhouse with a sympathetic addition at the rear. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE Describe important architectural features and evaluate in terms of other buildings within the community.
Bark Street School is the only frame Colonial Revival school in Swansea, a town dominated by brick school buildings. The original two-room, center-hall schoolhouse of 1905 has a compatible rear addition of two classrooms designed ca. 1930. One story with a cobblestone foundation, continuous shingled walls, and a hipped roof, the school is capped with a square cupola with louvered openings and a pyramidal roof. The influence of the Prairie style is suggested by the low horizontal lines, wide eave overhang, and bands of windows on the side elevations. All windows contain 6/6 double-hung sash. The center entry with round-arched transom is shielded by a shed-roof overhang on oversized triangular knee braces. The rear addition, which incorporates design elements of the original building, differs from the original only in its concrete foundation.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE Explain the role owners played in local or state history and how the building relates to the development of the community. The oldest continuously used school building in Swansea, Bark Street Schoo1 was built during a period of rapid suburbanization in the southeastern section of town in the SEEAEE The first school on the site (present on an 1895 map) was sold for $40.00, moved around the corner of Stevens Road to Bark Street, and converted for use as a residence. The School Department's Building Committee abandoned the idea of replacing the earlier school with another one-room schoolhouse, settling instead on a two-classroom design in anticipation of future development in the surrounding neighborhood. The school was designed by Louis G. Destremps & Son and built by Edgar W. Hardy for $2880.00.
Bark Street School was one of ten schoolhouses in Swansea at the time of its construction. Intended as a primary school for a maximum of 80 pupils, Bark Street School proved to be of inadequate size by the 1920s, when roughly 100 primary and grammar school students occupied the building. The large rear addition, similar in design, scale, and materials to the 1905 building, was constructed ca. 1930. Verbal Boundary Justification: The school building occupies only a fraction of the 6.25-acre The nomination extends only to the open area immediately surrounding the school, comprising less than one acre. The balance of the property consists of playfields developed later in the 20th century, and woodlot. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES Helen Pierce interview, Swansea, 2/88. Bristo1 County atlas (Everts & Richards), 1895. Annual Reports of the Town Officers of the Town of Swansea. 1904 and 1905.
8/85 N8 'om 100000 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number Page Swansea MRA Bristol County, MASSACHUSETTS Bubaksefdiva Sevier Cover 1. Anthony, David M., House OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Date Listed Sontored 1a tao Aiccept Beray Sunge 02-16-91 Vat1onad Ragtetepeeper ShemaDyen 2/16/50 Attest Zatered 1a tha 2. Anthony, Harold H., House Natlonad dostetes Réeper Aelou Ajun 2/66170 3. Bark Street Sckool intered 1n the Hatioral Hagleter Attest /kéeper Auluneßyun 8/6/90 Attest 4. Barneyv111e Historic District Piatoroa IBostotes Köoper Atelmßgen 2fiv/50 Attest 5. Bend of the Lane intered 1a tbe Nationad Ragietes tkeeperAilmByund 1/16/50 Attest 6. Brown, John, IV, House antered in tat National Registes Reeper AllanBgun 316k0 Attest 7.
Buffington, DEacon,John, Hougetered in the Hationad Regietex LKeeper stelupge 3116k0 8. Church of Christ, Swansea Attest /Keeper antered in the National Regiator AelunsBgu 2/16/50 9.
Cole, Benjamin, House Attest Akeeper Entered in the National Register Aeaupyan 2/10150 Attest 10/ Colony Historic District lgeseolra Rarion JaKeepert Dertuze 02-16-90 Attest UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Bark Street School NAME: MULTIPLE Swansea MRA NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Bristol DATE RECEIVED: 1/02/90 DATE OF 16TH DAY: DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: 2/02/90 DATE OF PENDING LIST: DATE OF 45TH DAY: 2/16/90 REFERENCE NUMBER: 90000062 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: N PDIL: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: COMMENT WAIVER: N YACCEPT _RETURN ABSTRACI/SUMMARY COMMENTS: PERIOD: PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: N _REJECT 2/16/90 DATE Entered in the Natlonal Register RECOM./CRITERIA REVIEWER DISCIPLINE DATE DOCUMENTATION see attached comments Y/N see attached SLR Y/N CLASSIFICATION count _resource type STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION FUNCTION historic current DESCRIPTION architectural classification materials descriptive text 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 BIBLIOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHICAL DATA acreage UTMS verbal boundary description boundary justification ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION _sketch maps OTHER COMMENTS _USGS maps photographs Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Phone Signed Date _presentation BarkSt.
School sher SwünsearmA. Bark street School (MHC#93) 68 Steveus Road Swausea, Mass. MRA 1986 Viewsw PROPERTY MAP TOWN OF SWANSEA 1961 /REVISED 10/82 BRISTOL COUNTY. MASSACHUSETTS JAMES W. SEWALL COMPANY SCALE 1 INCH = 100 + FEET OLD TOWN. MAINE FOR ARSESSING PURPORES ONLY7O MHC#93 68 STEVENS Rd. Bark street School STEVENS ROAD 1482 Parking, ,!S) 1416 151.3 BARK :003_ 200° 15: 260 16.61 256 T22 252 128.36. 7A 122 STREE Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000296