Durfee, B.M.C., High School

B.M.C Durfee High School is an imposing three and a half story granite building occupying an entire city block bounded by Rock, Cherry, High, and Locust Streets. Erected in 1886 from designs by George A. Clough, Durfee High School is prominently situated near the proposed Highlands Historic District overlooking Mt. Hope Bay, just north of downtown Fall Its setting, together with a steep hippedroofand five story clock-tower, make the structure a dominant element in the landscape and a key Fall River landmark. The most concise description of the building was that written by the architect upon its opening and published three years later in B.M.C. Durfee High School, Fall River, MA, Fall River, 1889. It is still remarkably accurate. .

hat er tgn benthc tchi ecr up, The building occupies a commanding position, with spacious grounds about it. The area of the building is 20,500 feet. The exterior walls of all four elevations are built of granite, surmount ed with steep plated roofs, and the whole treated in a modern ren- aissance style. The principal features of the architecture are brought out in a clock-tower an observatory tower, and a central pavilion with steep roofs. The main features (two towers and central pavilion) are arranged across the front, between heavy projecting end pavilions, and are tied together at the bottom, from one to the other, with a massive The clock tower at the south end is mainly of granite, terminating with a copper spire or finial.

The clock dial is 114 feet above the grade; below, and yet above the roofs, is an open belfry with a chime of bells. The north tower occupies a symmetrical position with that of the south, but is of less height and is surmounted with an astronomical cupola, fitted with telescope.

/Architect George A. Clough, architect Norcross Brothers, builders Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The B.M.C. Durfee High School, designed by Boston architect George Clough, possesses ESEEE integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and workmanship. In the quality of design and materials, it is emblematic of late nineteenth century Fall River's wealth and civic pride and reflects the city's commitment to meet the educational In addition to its civic and architectural significance, the school also has strong associations with one of Fall River's most important families; the Durfee's. Thus the school meets criteria A, B, and C of the The building was given by Mary Brayton Durfee Young in memory of her son, Bradford . Mathew Chaloner Durfee.

Durfee, a native of Fall River and area resident, died in 1872, at the age of twenty-nine. The Durfee family was prominent in the establishment of Fall River's industrial base with the establishment of the Fall River Iron Works in 1821. In giving the building, Mrs. Young was responding both to the needs of the city, whose thirty-year old high school was overcrowded and about to be enlarged, and to the desires of her son, who hoped that his estate might assist the youth of the city to be instructed in the "chemical, physical, and mechanical sciences, which enter so largely into the industries of Fall River." Thus, the school was endowed by Mrs. Young with $50,000 for these puxposes.

The principal orator at the dedication on June 15, 1887 (the 44th anniversary of Durfee's birth) was Reverend Roswell D. Hitchcock, President of the Union Theological Seminary in New York, who summed up the special role that Durfee High School would play in the life of Fall River.