Built in 1910. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1980. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“The William Lloyd Garrison School is a historic school building at 20 Hutchings Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Built in stages between 1910 and 1929 and named for abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, it is a high-quality example of period school architecture, noted at the time for its state-of-the-art features.”
Wikipedia article William Lloyd Garrison School, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 206 National Register listings in Suffolk County · listed in 1980 · category: Building · built in 1910, by Newhall & Blevins · one of 5 National Historic Landmarks in Suffolk County.
National Register reference number.80000674- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
What happened here
An account from the chapter on Boston city, The inset identifies its exact
source book and publication year.
IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history.
Illustrations: State House and the Monument (in 1811), 64; the Monument from the corner of Temple and Derne streets, 65 ; the Monument and the Thurston House, 65; Beacon Street and the Common (in 1804-1811), heliotype, 65; Boston from Breed's Hill (in 1791), 66; the Faneuil-Phillips House,
IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history. It is difficult to deal justly with ways of living which are not widely different from those that surround us. We miss the salient contrasts which lend themselves to picturesque de¬ scription, and are tempted to look for exceptional occurrences to brighten a narrative, rather than for facts which are truly symptomatic of taste and thought. Were it possible to go back four-score years, or even a century, and mingle with those then conducting the town, we should not feel among strangers. In many respects their ways were counterparts of our own. In certain directions, indeed, we might note a narrowness of range and a contraction of outlook, while envying the vigor of speech and de¬ cisiveness of action which seemed the outcome of the limitations. When Massachusetts took her place in the sisterhood of States, the gigantic up¬ heaval of the French Revolution had not taken place. The prophets whom her capital was to raise up to demand the redemption of human society, each with his panacea for its sad ailments, had put in no appearance. The tyranny of England had been broken by an heroic effort, and any further redemption which society might need would be provided by those who VOL. iv. - i.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 69 fires within 5 miles of Garrison, William Lloyd, School between
2015 and 2020, burning about 48 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Recreation and ceremony
39
Smoking
14
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
12
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Arson/incendiarism
2
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 15,185 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Garrison, William Lloyd, School between 1810 and
1975: 6,285 Plantae, 4,379 Fungi, 3,513 Animalia, 511 Chromista, 212 Protozoa, 202 Bacteria, 83 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, A B Seymour and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
9 workings within 5 miles of Garrison, William Lloyd, School: 7 plants, 1 unknown, 1 past producer.
7 still produce. What was taken out: Iron, Lead, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Boston, the town this property stands in, in 64 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 37 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 7 lightning, 7 flood.
The reports record 1 death and 9 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
A 50 year old man was struck by lightning while walking in an area known as the Sugar Bowl in South Boston. Lightning struck him in the head, passing through his back and exiting his feet. He collapsed in cardiac arrest and was revived and hospitalized for several days before dying from his injuries.
A 29 year old male and a 29 year old female were knocked unconscious when lightning struck them at Thomas Park, where the pair were watching the July 4th fireworks. They regained consciousness prior to the arrival of EMTs, but unable to feel their legs and were transported to Brigham and Women's Hospital.
In Boston, two cars were stuck in flood waters on Corey Road. Storrow Drive was closed due to flooding at the Mass Avenue and Longmeadow Bridges. Several other roadways in the city experienced significant flooding.
Numerous trees and wires and several utility poles were downed throughout Boston, including in Boston Common. Several trees were downed onto cars throughout town, though no injuries resulted. One tree was downed onto a building on Corey Road. The Automated Surface Observing System at Logan International Airport in Boston, MA (KBOS) recorded sustained wind speeds of 47 mph and wind gusts up to 68 mph.
Multiple trees and wires were downed throughout Boston, including on Barstow Street, Forrester Street, Washington Street, Houston Road, and Keith Street. Trees were downed onto cars on Forrester and Washington Streets. A portion of a chimney was blown over onto Keith Street.
The National Weather Service at Logan International Airport recorded a wind gust to 60 mph as a severe thunderstorm moved across the city of Boston. Scaffolding was blown down at government center and some large trees were blown down in Revere and Winthrop. One damaged a house in Winthrop and a tree limb and electrical wires fell onto an auto. The occupants of the auto were not injured.
At 546 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported two trees down on Belden Street in the Upham's Corner section of Boston. Also, two trees were down on Hamlet Street including one down on three cars. A tree was down on Willis Street. A tree was down on wires on Taft Street.
At 3:26 PM EST, heavy rain caused the intersection of Lewis and Marginal Streets in East Boston to be flooded and impassable. At 3:36 PM EST a car was trapped in floodwaters at Clark and Stockton Streets in Chelsea. At 3:38 PM EST several cars were trapped in floodwaters on the McClellan Highway, Condor Street and Putnam Street in East Boston.
At 5:05 PM EST several cars on Child Street and Boynton Street were trapped in flood waters as high as the car doors. At 5:10 PM EST a car was trapped in flooding on Columbia Road at Bodwell Street, and Ceylon Street was impassable at Quincy Street due to flooding.
A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds onto a car at the intersection of Bakersfield and Stoughton Streets. Another tree was downed onto a car on Columbia Road.
8 papers published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 0 issues,
0 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
2,604 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
The Garrison School is located within a block of Franklin Park, the large "country park" of Olmsted's Boston system. Its lot runs between Hutchings and Brookledge Streets, two attractive residential blocks typical of the area around Franklin Park. The Garrison School was constructed in four building stages over a period of nineteen years, but it was planned from the beginning for future expansion and forms a coherent whole. It is a two-story brick building, fronting on a courtyard, with an assembly hall at an angle to the main complex. The roofs are pitched, with the exception of the assembly hall roof, which is flat. The original wing, the one closest to Elm Hill Avenue, was built in 1910.
Plans published in the Schoolhouse Department Reports at that time show space for an additional wing parallel to the first one, to be connected on the Brookledge Street side by an assembly hall. Instead, an L-shaped wing was added to the original block in 1918 and was extended in 1929. The assembly hall was built in 1922 and was connected to the main complex by a one-story passage. The architects of the original block, the L-shaped wing and the assembly hall were Louis Chapell Newhall and Albert H. Blevins. The 1929 extension of the 1918 wing was designed by A.J. Carpenter.
In massing, general composition, fenestration and stylistic details, Newhall and Blevins were influenced by English Tudor protogypes, a style which they also employed in the courtyard apartment buildings that they were designing in the Boston area at the same period. The courtyard elevations of the Garrison School are by far the most interesting, with steep gables displaying cartouches, English medieval-type windows and buttress-like detailing on the first story. A. J. Carpenter continued the same detailing on his 1929 extension.
/ÄRCHITECT 1910-29 Newhall and Blevins STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Garrison School retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, work- manship and association. Constructed between 1910 and 1929, it is a significant example of the work of awell-known early twentieth century Boston architectural firm, Newhall and Blevins,and is a good example of contempory school planning philsophy. Louis Chapell Newhall opened an architectural firm in Boston after his return from Europe on a Rotch Travelling Fellowship in 1900. His partner, Albert H. Blevins, continued to practice after Newhall's death in 1925. Newhal1 and Blevins designed many public and private buildings, including the East Boston Municipal Gymasium and the Third Congregational Church in Cambridge.
The work of the firm in Cambridge has been documented thoroughly by the Cambridge Historical Commission and is featured prominently in the Commission's publications. Newhall and Blevins were particularly noted for the design of courtyard apartment buildings; in Cambridge they designed 10 Dana Street, 83 Brattle Street and One Waterhouse Street. Between 1900 and the Great Depression, Boston built an unprecedented number of schools for its rapidly growing population of children. The construction of these buildings and the selection of architects were supervised by a Commission in charge of the Schoolhouse Department. Of the three Commissioners, at least one was usually a prominent Boston architect.
Several new schools were built each year, many, like the Garrison, planned for future expansion, and additions were built to existing schools. Architectural standards were high, and the best types of interior plans of the period were used. Boston's activity in school building in the first three decades of the 20th century was paralleled elsewhere in the United States.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 80000674, 17 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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