Major Bibliographical References Bibilography (Cite the books, articles, and other sources used in preparing this form on one or more continuation sheets.) Previous documentation on file (NPS): Primary location of additional data: - preliminary determination of individual listing (36 - State Historic Preservation Office CFR 67) has been requested X Other State agency - previously listed in the National Register - Federal agency [X previously determined eligible by the National Local government Register HPCA #11295MA University designated a National Historic Landmark - Other recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey Name of repository: # Boston Public Library recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # Peter Faneuil School Name of Property Suffolk, MA County and State 10.
Geographical Data Acreage of Property 0.61 acres (less than 1 acre) UTM References (Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.) 1119 Zone 3 2 Easting 8 14 4,6916,4,0 Northing 3 Zone Easting Northing 2 4 - See continuation sheet Verbal Boundary Description (Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.) Boundary Justification (Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.) 11. Form Prepared By name/title_Wendy Frontiero, Preservation Consultant, with Betsy Friedberg, NR Dir., MHC organization_ Massachusetts Historical Commission street & number - 80 Boylston Street date November 1994 _ telephone_(617) 727-8470 state MA zip code_02116 city or town Boston Additional Documentation Submit the following items with the completed form: Continuation Sheets Maps A USGS map (7.5 or 15 minute series) indicating the property's location.
A Sketch map for historic districts and properties having large acreage or numerous resources. Photographs Representative black and white photographs of the property. Additional items (Check with the SHPO or FPO for any additional items) Property Owner (Complete this item at the request of SHPO or FPO.) name Peter Faneuil Limited Partnership street & number 434 Jamaica Way Boston (Jamaica Plain) city or town - telephone_ (617) 552-7230 state_MA zip code_02130 Paperwork Reduction ActStatement: This informationis being collectedfor applications tothe National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Publicreportingburden for thisform is estimatedto average 18.1 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division,National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Projects (1024-0018), Washington, DC 20503. NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number - 7 Page - Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts 7.
DESCRIPTION The Peter Faneuil School, dating from 1909-1910, is located in the Beacon Hill section of downtown Boston, on a site occupying the full distance between Joy and South Russell streets. The immediate neighborhood is characterized by 3- to 5-story, attached, brick residential buildings (rowhouses and small apartment buildings), with scattered institutional and commercial structures. Fronting on Joy Street, the school is a four-story red-brick building with decorative cast-stone trim. Its eclectic, turn-of-the century architectural style features straightforward Classical Revival organization, classical- and Tudor-influenced elaboration around the doorways, and patterned surface ornament characteristic of the "Tapestry Brick" style.
Beacon Hill is a remarkably harmonious area of predominantly brick rowhouses, with styles ranging from 18th-century Federal to early 20th-century Neo-Federal and Neo-Classical. The north slope of Beacon Hill, on which the Peter Faneuil School stands, contains the oldest free-standing houses as well as the largest number of apartment buildings in the district. The Peter Faneuil School site consists of a 0.61-acre parcel between Joy Street--one of the few through-streets on Beacon Hill--and South Russell Street. It is located almost halfway up a long block between Cambridge Street on the north and Myrtle Street on the south. Cambridge Street, a main commercial thoroughfare, forms the northern edge of the Beacon Hill neighborhood. In order to create the flat site needed for an elementary school yard, the present parcel was carved into the steep slope of the hill.
The East Lot of the school yard is therefore 1 to 10 feet lower in elevation than adjacent Joy Street, while the West Lot is 1 to 10 feet higher in elevation than neighboring South Russell Street. Architectural Design The Peter Faneuil School is a flat-roofed, rectangular building with a symmetrical, three-part organization. Its structural system consists of brick bearing walls and steel beams. The school building extends the full length of its lot, abutting residential structures on the north and south property lines. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 RECEIVED 4 NOV 16 G Section number < 7 Page - 2 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suftolk CGEEY RESOURCES DIVSON NATTONAL PARK SERVICE Massachusetts Each of the principal elevations (east and west, facing the streets) contains three main classroom blocks of equal width (four window bays). These three blocks are separated by, and project from, narrow intermediary bays that contain the minor and major entrances, with circulation behind. In contrast to the individual, punched-window treatment of the classroom blocks, the intermediary bays contain a single tripartite window on each level above the doors. All windows consist of multipaned wood sash. Two plain brick chimneys are symmetrically placed on the interior of the building, within the end blocks; the chimneys rise from basement mechanical rooms to the roof.
Cast-stone trim divides the building horizontally into four layers: ground floor, first floor, combined second and third floors, and parapet. At the top edge of the building, a continuous brick parapet is outlined by copper coping. The parapet contains a recessed panel over each of the five divisions of the facade. Over the center pavilion, the parapet forms a low pediment with a flat, cast-stone disk within the tympanum. The parapets of the end blocks are slightly stepped. The Peter Faneuil School's pier-and-spandrel construction features substantial brick pilasters framing the three projecting blocks of the structure, which contain narrow piers within. This framework is enlivened by a variety of decorative brickwork and cast-stone ornament.
Brick patterning includes running-bond walls on the ground floor, first floor, and parapet; six rows of running bond alternating with a header course on the second- and third-floor walls; basket- weave spandrel panels between the second- and third-floor windows; a continuous band of soldier-and-header-course bricks running along the top of both the first and the third floors (forming the window headers there); and brick headers trimming the parapet's recessed panels. Cast stone is used for belt courses above the ground floor, first floor, and third floor; a discontinuous entablature wraps the narrow intermediary bays and the outer corners of the building.
Cast stone is also found as window sills; as the bases and caps of piers and pilasters; as decorative trim around doorways and the major entry bays; as individual ornamental pieces; and as tiny corner blocks on the recessed parapet panels, above the second-floor windows, and below the third-floor windows. Small plaques that appear to be marble punctuate the spandrels between the second and third floors. On the three wide classroom blocks, these plaques are all diamond-shaped; on the minor entry bays, they are square (except for a central, circular plaque on the Joy Street facade). (continued) 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 - Page - 3 OMB Approval No.
1024-0018 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts The Joy Street elevation is the building's most formal, containing the major entrance into the school. The central pavilion of the Joy Street facade also contains two urnlike cast-stone ornaments centered above the second and third floors; these elements originally functioned as mounting brackets for a tall, vertical flagpole. A shorter, modern flagpole is now mounted horizontally between the two floors. In the narrow bay just to the north (or right) of the central pavilion on the Joy Street facade is the school's main entrance. Reached by a short flight of steps, a double doorway with a segmentally arched transom is framed by cast-stone molding with alternating quoin blocks and a keystone ornamented with a scroll bracket.
A cast-stone panel, with a narrow entablature and scroll and floral ornament, announces the name "PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL, ," and surmounts this doorway. Above this door, a two-story window bay contains tripartite windows with transoms-- rectangular on the second level and segmentally arched on the third level--which are separated by a flat cast-stone panel with the date "1909." A continuous architrave of cast stone encloses both the second- and the third-level windows. Surmounting the entire bay is an oculus window, framed again by cast-stone trim, with four keystones. Two secondary entrances on Joy Street access the ground floor of the classroom blocks. In the narrow southern bay, the girls' entrance is a small rectangular doorway framed by quoins and topped by a high entablature, all of cast stone. The keystone of the doorway supports a bust of a periwigged man--presumably Peter Faneuil.
Placed within a hemispherical recess, this sculpture is surrounded by molded trim and oak leaf foliage, all of cast stone. The boys' entrance, at the edge of the Joy Street facade on the northern classroom block, is also highly elaborated in cast stone. Its quoined architrave is surmounted by a high, semicircular door hood, which is supported by a pair of scrolled brackets with acanthus leaf ornament and guttae. Within the tympanum of the door hood, foliated ornament flanks an elaborately formed cartouche marked with the letter F. The South Russell Street elevation is, in general, a mirror image of the Joy Street facade, with the bust of Peter Faneuil ornamenting the boys' entrance (here with a rectangular transom above), and the semicircular door hood at the girls' entrance.
The major building entrance on this facade, which is at grade level, contains a segmentally arched, tripartite window over the double doorway, but is otherwise a simplified version of the major Joy Street entrance: lacking the continuous molded architrave of Joy Street, gauged brick lintels (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 - Page - Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts with cast-stone spring blocks and keystones surmount the segmentally arched windows of the ground floor and third floor here; the marble plaque between the second- and third-floor windows is blank; and there is no oculus above. As noted above, the short end walls of the Peter Faneuil School abut neighboring structures.
The alternating patterns of brick coursework and the belt courses between floors repeat on these walls, which are otherwise relatively plain. Both end walls are interrupted at their center by a narrow, recessed bay. Each of these bays contains narrow windows that originally lit the wardrobe closets of the classrooms inside. The interior plan typically contains six classrooms on each floor, joined horizontally by a wide central corridor and vertically by two stairways. The Joy Street entrance has a small vestibule with a terrazzo floor, decorative brick panels on the side walls, cast-stone trim, and a wood interior door frame with sidelights and transom.
On all levels of the building, the central corridor retains its terrazzo floor, and metal stairs are enclosed by a decorative metal railing; all of these areas (and the ground level as well) feature a high wainscoting of white glazed brick. In general, interior wall surfaces were originally plaster, with simple wood trim at the windows, doorways, baseboard, wainscot rail, and cornice. Like many other pre-World War II schools, the plan of the building is simple, straightforward, and compact. A short central corridor on each floor connected the classrooms and two wide stairways. Typical of the period, each classroom was designed with a full wall of windows for natural lighting and ventilation, along with a blackboard wall, a large wardrobe closet, and other built-in storage closets.
The school originally contained 17 classrooms on its upper three floors; three of the rooms were designated as a kindergarten, a manual training room, and a music room. A large office occupied a corner of the first floor, with a small teachers' workroom and a nurse's room occupying intermediary bays between the classrooms. The ground floor contained separate facilities for boys and girls in the end blocks, including a large playroom and toilet facilities serving the entire building. Heating and mechanical rooms occupy the center of the ground floor. Site Design The landscaping of the Peter Faneuil School site was designed to complement the relatively formal quality of the Joy Street elevation and the more informal nature of the South Russell (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 - 7 Page 5 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts Street side. Each yard is lined by a cast-iron picket fence and was originally paved with brick but has been resurfaced with concrete. The Joy Street or East Lot retains a narrow sloping bank, originally landscaped with trees and shrubs but now paved with concrete, that curves around the south and east sides of the property and is retained by a low concrete wall. An early rendering of the Joy Street elevation shows recessed gates, on axis with the major entrance, comprised of brick piers with contrasting trim; these gates do not exist today.
Along South Russell Street, the north half of the West Lot was originally designated as a boys' play yard, while the south half was reserved for the girls' play yard. The two play yards, terraced to follow the slope of the hill, are elevated above the street, and supported by brick retaining walls with concrete caps. A pair of brick piers with domed concrete caps and decorative concrete infill panels frame a gateway into the lower, northern half of the lot; one pier of identical design survives at the upper, southern end of the lot. Short, discontinuous lengths of brick wall with a concrete base and cap help serve as retaining walls on the property lines, at the north and south end of the West Lot and at the south end of the East Lot. The history of these walls and fences is unknown, although the surviving brick piers resemble those shown in the early rendering.
The Peter Faneuil School property has experienced remarkably few significant changes, with the exceptions of resurfacing of the yards and loss of portions of the perimeter fence. The building is currently being rehabilitated for housing, according to plans reviewed and approved by the SHPO for Tax Act certification. A new infill building will be constructed along Joy Street, while the South Russell Street yard will be maintained for recreational use. Archaeological Description While no prehistoric sites are located on the school property, it is possible that sites are present. Seven prehistoric sites are located in the local area (within one mile).
In general, however, the potential for significant prehistoric survivals is low because of historic period development and also because of the locational characteristics (slope, drainage, distance to water) of the property, which are not particularly favorable for prehistoric site locations. The potential for significant historic archaeological survivals on the school property is also low. Due to the parcel's strong association with Boston's 19th-century African-American (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 7, 8 Page _6, 1 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts community, an intensive archaeological investigation of the Peter Faneuil School site was conducted in 1993.
This work included a survey of existing conditions, evaluation of project impacts, historic research, subsurface testing in three areas affected by construction (the site of the new building along Joy Street, the portion of the existing east playground between the Faneuil School and the proposed infill building, and the southern half of the west playground on South Russell Street), laboratory analysis, and preparation of report. Six trenches, totaling twenty-six square meters, were excavated. These trenches were located for the best opportunity to reveal historical structures and their rear yards, where privies or wells might be found.
Although remains of three structures and some intact cultural deposits were found, these were not considered to be archaeologically significant, nor was it felt that additional archaeological excavation would result in sufficient archaeological data to justify nomination to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D. (end) 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Peter Faneuil School possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Significant on the local level, it meets Criteria A and C of the National Register. The Peter Faneuil School is notable for its role in the transformation of Boston's school system at the turn of this century, reflecting new educational theories and practices as well as the city's rapidly expanding population.
In addition, the site exemplifies the two-hundred year evolution of the north slope of Beacon Hill from agricultural to residential and institutional uses, and the change in local population from free African-Americans to European immigrants. The property is also a well-preserved example of public school architecture of its period, demonstrating a sophisticated synthesis of functional and aesthetic themes. Criterion A Beacon Hill was largely used for pasture land, with a couple of ropewalks on the north slope, through most of the 18th century. In 1792, plans were initiated for high-style development on the south slope of the hill, quickly propelled by construction of the new State House there (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 - Page - 2 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts beginning in 1795. At about the same time, housing for lower-income workers began to appear on the north slope, with a mix of small, free-standing frame houses (examples of which remain on Smith Court) and more common brick rowhouses. The north slope is particularly distinguished by its early 19th-century houses and institutional buildings associated with Boston's free black community. The Peter Faneuil School lot is a combination of several historical parcels, many of which were created in the 18th century. Along Joy Street, this site was the home of members of Boston's prominent community of free African-Americans during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
In contrast, South Russell Street was primarily occupied by Anglo-Americans throughout its development. In the 17th century, the entire block on which the Peter Faneuil School stands was pasture land belonging to Thomas Buttolph. Development began in the early 18th century with a ropewalk on the western side of Joy Street, followed by division into house lots in the 1730s. A network of passageways provided access to the interior of the block, which was relatively wide. The historical lots that comprise the site of the Peter Faneuil School include a parcel representing the first sale of land on Joy Street to a black man, in 1767. From the 1780s through the first decades of the 19th century, the lots were further subdivided, and a number of black artisans and laborers bought land for their homes and businesses here.
The land was relatively inexpensive, and the location was advantageous for its proximity to the North End neighborhood, where African-Americans had previously settled; to the waterfront, where many of the men worked; and to service jobs with the wealthy families living on the south slope of Beacon Hill. Many of the free black families here were founding members of the African Meeting House (1806; NHL), a focal point of the community, which is located up the hill just south of the Peter Faneuil School site. As a center for religious, educational, and political activity during the 19th century, this area housed one of the country's largest and most influential communities of free blacks. Single and double houses of both frame and brick construction were erected on the present school parcel.
Along both Joy and South Russell streets, most of the original buildings dated to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Joshua Bennett, a merchant in the town of Billerica (northwest of Boston), purchased several of the Joy Street lots between 1843 and his death in 1865. Most of the historical houses remained standing at least until 1874, but by 1885 the interior of the block had been cleared (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 Page - Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts and only the structures abutting Joy and South Russell streets remained.
Between 1895 and 1909, four temporary schoolrooms appeared on the interior of the lot; the buildings remaining along both street edges were removed in 1909 for construction of the new Peter Faneuil School. By the late 19th century, the north slope of Beacon Hill was usually identified with the congested immigrant neighborhood of the West End, located mainly to the north of Cambridge Street. A blend of Italian, Polish, Jewish, Irish, African, and Ukrainian residents were crowded into old rowhouses and new apartment buildings, and increasing numbers of school-age children strained the existing educational system. The evolution of Boston's schools is long and illustrious. The city's first public school was the Latin School, established in 1635 for the primary purpose of preparing boys for college.
(Girls were first admitted to Boston public schools in 1789.) In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, writing schools were organized for instruction in such subjects as reading, grammar, and geography. These schools developed by the mid-19th century into traditional grammar schools, providing instruction in a wide range of academic subjects. The first primary school for children between four and seven years old was established in 1818, and remained more or less distinct from the grammar schools until 1906. The first half of the 19th century also witnessed the first high schools for girls and boys not going on to university; the addition of drawing, music, sewing, and physical education programs; a separate school for African-American children on Beacon Hill (abolished in 1855); new high schools outside of downtown Boston; and adult-education classes.
The second half of the 19th century was characterized as "a period of reconstruction and enlargement, of radical changes, and the inauguration of system" (Annual School Report, 1906: p. 11). The position of Superintendent of Schools was established in 1851; compulsory age limits for school attendance were set; new high schools, a school for the deaf, and industrial schools were founded; the first kindergarten (one of the first in the country) was established; the nine-grade system was introduced; efforts were made to reduce class sizes (from a standard of 56 pupils--and sometimes as many as 70 pupils--per teacher); the first appropriation for playgrounds was made; manual training became compulsory for students from elementary through high school; and unified methods of supervising and managing schools were instituted.
The turn of this century witnessed a concerted reassessment of traditions and new attention to (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 Page - Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts planning for the future. In light of emerging technologies, materials, cultural changes, and educational theories, school administration was streamlined and made more efficient; new heating and lighting systems and evolving curricula resulted in new school building types; huge population increases demanded many additional schoolhouses; and ideas as diverse as the Montessori method of education and appropriate paint colors for classrooms were examined for their contribution to the improvement of learning.
The first temporary school buildings were authorized in 1900 (they housed about 5% of all pupils in the Boston public school system in 1904), followed in 1901 by the authorization of $1 million for the construction of new school buildings--the first of many such authorizations in that decade. In 1906, a Board of Superintendents and an office of Business Agent were established, which promptly acted to improve school service. New initiatives included greatly strengthening the merit system for appointing teachers and ensuring their proper supervision and training; combining the nine grades of the traditional primary and grammar schools into eight-grade elementary schools; reorganizing the high school curriculum and structure; and testing every child in the public schools for sight, hearing, or other disabilities that might affect his or her schoolwork.
In 1907, the hiring of school nurses was authorized, teachers were given a larger role in determining educational policies, the course of study for elementary schools was revised, and reductions were mandated in the maximum number of students in elementary school classes (from 48 in 1907 to 46 in 1908 and 44 in 1909). In 1909, experimental health or open-air rooms were first established, and a manual for public school playgrounds was issued, directing greater activity and systematization in physical education. The history of the Peter Faneuil School clearly reflects the spectrum of educational and cultural changes of this period. Congestion in the West End school district, of which the Faneuil School was a part, was a serious problem in the opening years of the 20th century.
In 1907, the Faneuil School was included in $1 million of bonds authorized for six new school buildings, five of them at the elementary level, to supplement 64 existing elementary schools in the city of Boston. An intense period of school construction followed: of the 221 school buildings that were operating in Boston at the time of a 1953 study, more than half were built between 1900 and 1920 (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1953). Even today, structures from these two decades comprise approximately one-fifth of all operating school facilities. Construction of the Peter Faneuil School apparently began in 1909, but was not entirely (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 Page - Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts complete until 1910. Built at a total cost of just over $216,000, the school featured 17 classrooms, including a kindergarten, a manual training room, and a music room. The design also included a spacious administrative office, a small teachers' workroom, a small nurse's room, and, on the ground floor, playrooms and toilet rooms. As described in Section 7, outside were three separate paved areas for play and exercise--one large yard fronting Joy Street, and two separate play yards along South Russell Street. Throughout its period of significance, the Peter Faneuil School served a high-density, immigrant neighborhood with kindergarten through sixth grades.
No significant additions or internal architectural changes are known to have been made to the building in this period. The 1953 master plan did, however, recommend unspecified renovations, citing the school's lack of designated areas for administration, library, auditorium, gymnasium, play area, and cafeteria. Changing demographics dramatically affected the Peter Faneuil School after World War II. Increasing suburbanization drew many families away from the Beacon Hill and West End neighborhoods that the school served, and the West End was totally cleared by urban renewal in the late 1950s. This pattern of declining enrollment led to the closing of the Faneuil School in 1989. Like many Boston school buildings, the Peter Faneuil School was named for an early colonial leader and prominent citizen.
Peter Faneuil, a wealthy Huguenot merchant, was at one time known as the richest man in Boston. He is perhaps best remembered for building Faneuil Hall (1740-42; NR and NHL), which he gave to the town as a marketplace and public meeting hall; it gained the nickname "Cradle of Liberty" as the site of numerous Revolutionary events later inthe 18th century. The Faneuil School buildingis remarkable for memorializing its namesake not only in its appellation but also in its design, notably the ornamentation of its secondary entrances (see Section 7, Architectural Design). Criterion C Completed in 1910, the Peter Faneuil School is a fine example of its period, utilizing the latest teaching philosophies, construction technology, and aesthetics.
In fact, a mid-20th- century study of the Boston school system (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 1953) offers a strikingly similar design as the exemplary school building of the 1910s: a horizontal brick structure with cast-stone/concrete trim, raised basement, flat roof with a low parapet that (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts Page - 6 is pedimented over the entry bay, and modest eclecticism in a mix of Classical Revival, Tapestry Brick, and Gothic styles.
The Peter Faneuil School resembles in many ways what the 1953 study called the typical Boston school building: standing on a 0.5-acre to 0.9-acre site, in a mixed residential/industrial area, built between 1900 and 1920, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 stories high, containing ten to fourteen rooms, steam-heated, with toilet rooms located in the basement, and encompassing a small (by current standards) amount of outdoor recreation space. Like many other pre-World War II schools, the plan of the building is simple, straightforward, and compact. A short central corridor on each floor connected the classrooms and two wide stairways. Typical of the period, each classroom was designed with a full wall of windows for natural lighting and ventilation, along with a blackboard wall, a large wardrobe closet, and other built-in storage closets.
The Peter Faneuil School was officially designed by the firm of Kelley & Graves, although it is often attributed to James T. Kelley alone. Kelley was responsible for the design of a number of public buildings and many distinguished city and country houses, particularly in Boston's prestigious Back Bay neighborhood. Among his more prominent works are the Swampscott (Mass.) Public Library; the Lynn (Mass.) Institute for Savings; Brewster Academy in Wolfeborough, NH; and the Swampscott (Mass.) house of Professor Elihu Thomson, now the town's administrative offices (1889; NR and NHL). Born in the Roxbury section of Boston, Kelley began his architectural career after high school in the office of Sturgis & Brigham, a prominent Boston firm (1866-1886) known for its High Gothic Revival-style work.
Sturgis & Brigham's portfolio included the Church of the Advent on Beacon Hill, the original Museum of Fine Arts building in Boston's Copley Square, the Public Library and Town Hall in Fairhaven, Mass., and numerous houses for well-to-do families in the Back Bay. Kelley rose to the position of head draftsman for Sturgis & Brigham. In the mid-1880s he opened his own office (in his Beacon Hill home). Of Kelley's architectural influences, one biographer noted that he "was... deeply interested in the history and art of France and Italy and had been abroad many times" (Withey, 1970: 335). Kelley retired from practice in 1926, and died in 1929. Apparently an architect of modest reputation in his own time, Kelley is featured in Withey's Biographical Dictionary of (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (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, 9 Page 7,1 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts American Architects; an obituary appeared in the Boston Society of Architects' monthly Bulletin, and a short news report of his death was published in the Boston Globe. Kelley's loose association with Harold S. Graves has been recorded for the years 1910, 1917, and 1918, but Kelley worked mainly on his own. Very little else is known of Graves, who worked largely as a sole practitioner from 1911 through 1952, or of the collaboration between Kelley and Graves aside from the Peter Faneuil School. Despite the prevailing conservatism and restraint of institutional architecture of its time, the Peter Faneuil School displays a subtle yet poetic expressiveness.
Its lively surface ornament, skillfully elaborated entryways, and careful articulation of massing combine to make a distinctive architectural landmark. (end) 9. Bibliography Beacon Hill Architectural Commission. "Guide to Walking Tour and Brief History of Beacon Hill." Prepared for the National Conference on Architectural Review, Landmarks and Historic Districts, Boston, April 23-26, 1970. Boston Architectural Club. Yearbook. Boston, Mass.: 1910. Boston Globe. "James T. Kelley, Hub Architect, Dies." January 5, 1929. Boston Public Library, Fine Arts Department. Architects File (James T. Kelley, Harold S. Graves, Kelley & Graves, Sturgis & Brigham). Boston Public Schools, Department of Planning and Engineering. Card file; also "Descriptive Schedule of Permanent School Buildings, January 1, 1933." Boston School Committee. Annual Report. City of Boston Printing Department: 1905-1915.
Center for Field Studies, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Boston: "Look to the Schoolhouses..." April 1953. The Finance Commission of the City of Boston. A Chronology of the Boston Public Schools. City of Boston Printing Department. 1912. (continued) NPS Form 10-900-a (8-86) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 Section number 9. 1l Page 2,1 Peter Faneuil School Boston (Suffolk County) Massachusetts Kelley & Graves. Construction documents: "Peter Faneuil School; Elementary School (-) Phillips District." 1909. Massachusetts Committee for the Preservation of Architectural Records. Directory of Boston Architects, 1846-1970. Cambridge, Mass.: 1984. Seasholes, Nancy S., David E. Clayton, and Ricardo J. Elia.
Archaeological Investigations at the Peter Faneuil School Site on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Office of Public Archaeology, Boston University; Report of Investigations No. 124: June 1993. Withey, Henry F. and Elsie Rathburn Withey. Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased). Los Angeles: Hennessey & Ingalls, Inc., 1970. (end) 10. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Boundary Description The boundaries of the Peter Faneuil School property are indicated by a heavy line on the accompanying map, which is entitled "The Peter Faneuil School, Beacon Hill; Site Plan, 1990." Boundary Justification The boundaries encompass the entire 0.61-acre school property known as the Peter Faneuil School site. The property includes the school building, the paved lot adjacent to Joy Street on the east, and the paved playground adjacent to South Russell Street on the west.
The nominated property is bounded to the north and south by residential structures dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. These are a mixture of single- and multifamily buildings, mostly attached rowhouses. The boundaries clearly distinguish the school property from these adjacent residential properties. (end) L STREET STREET IRVING STREET MYRTLE STREET FIRE STATION, FANCULL SLEM.SCH CAMBUDGE STRE STREET Perpe 100. 200 300 SCALE HALE-BARNARD CORPORATION & ROGERSON HOUSE Titie The Peter Faneuil School, Beacon Hill SITE PLAN Scale 1"=100 -0 Date 9-1-90 Chia-Ming Sze Architect Inc.Architects & Planners 326 A Street / Boston, Massachusetts 02210/(617) 451-2727 PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL, 60 JOY STREET BOSTON, MASS. PHOTO VIEWS 1272 u euL yr PETER FANEUIL SCHOPL - BOSTON -MASS- JAMIS T KELLEY MAROLOS CRAVES ARCHITECTS af...
14: porgtio a PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL, JOX AND SOLTH PUSSELL STREETS. James T. Kelley, Architect PUBLIC LIBRARY PETER.
FANEUIL SCHOOL, 60 JOY.ST., BOSTON, MASS:: JOY STREET (EAST) ELEVATION from BOSTON ARCHITECTURAL CLUB YEARBOOK, 1910 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET REQUESTED ACTION: NOMINATION PROPERTY Faneuil, Peter, School NAME: MULTIPLE NAME: STATE & COUNTY: MASSACHUSETTS, Suffolk DATE RECEIVED: 11/16/94 DATE OF 16TH DAY: 12/16/94 DATE OF WEEKLY LIST: DATE OF PENDING LIST: 11/30/94 DATE OF 45TH DAY: 12/31/94 REFERENCE NUMBER: 94001492 NOMINATOR: STATE REASONS FOR REVIEW: APPEAL: N OTHER: N PDIL: REQUEST: N SAMPLE: DATA PROBLEM: N LANDSCAPE: N LESS THAN 50 YEARS: N PERIOD: N PROGRAM UNAPPROVED: N SLR DRAFT: N NATIONAL: N N N COMMENT WAIVER: N ACCEPT RETURN ABSTRACT / SUMMARY COMMENTS: REJECT 12/110/94. DATE Entered in the National 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 descriptior boundary justificatior ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION/PRESENTATION sketch maps USGS maps photographs -presentation OTHER COMMENTS Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to Phone Signed Date TER FANEUIL SCHOOL, 60 JOY STREET, BOSTON FFOLK Co., MASS.
OTO 6y WENDY FRONTIERO, APRIL 1994 PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL, 60 JOY STREET, BOSTON SUFFOLK CO., MASS. PHOTO 6Y WENDY FRONTIERO, APRIL 1994 NEGATIVE FILED WIth PHOTOGRAPHER JOY STREET (EAST) ELEVATION PHOTO #2 74 PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL, CO JOY STREET, BOSTON SUFFOLK CO., MASS. PHOTO 6y WENDY FRONTIEPO, APRIL 1994 NEGATIVE FILED With PHOTOGRAPHER JOY STREET (EAST) ELEVATION, DETAIL PHOTO #3 04 PETER FANEUIL SCHOOL, 60 JOY STREET, BOSTON SUFFOLK CO., MASS. PHOTO 6y WENDY FRONTIERO, APRIL 1994 NEGATINE FILED WEth PHOTOGRAPHER SOUTH RUSSELL STREET (WEST) ELEVATION PHOTO #4 74 RECEIVED 413 * COMMISSIONA S BTHCRACHAY NOV 16 1994 LSVE CHEATE INTER AGENCY RESOURCES DIVISION 1 Cornon\altih o ket NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 17 November 1994 Carol Shull 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 please find the following nomination form: Peter Faneuil School, 60 Joy Street, Boston (Suffolk County), Massachusetts, 02114. The nomination has been voted eligible by the State Review Board and has been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were notified of pending State Review Board consideration 60-120 days before the meeting and were afforded the opportunity to comment. With the understanding that a waiver of the customary 15-day Federal Register commenting period is necessary to assist in the preservation of the Peter Faneuil School, the Massachusetts Historical Commission respectfully requests that the commenting period be waived (36 CFR 60.13 (a)) .
Sincerely, Betay Friedheg Betsy Friedberg National Register Director Massachusetts Historical Commission enclosure CC: Wendy Frontiero, Preservation Consultant Carol Chirico, Boston Landmarks Commission John Bok, Peter Faneuil Limited Partnership Thomas Menino, Mayor, City of Boston Janice Chadbourne, Fine Arts Dept., Boston Public Library Massachusetts Historical Commission, Judith B. McDonough, Executive Director, State Historic Preservation Officer 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4802 (617) 727-8470 Fax: (617) 727-5128 TDD: 1-800-392-6090 Office of the Secretary of State, Michael J. Connolly, Secretary
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