Daniels, Charles A., School

The Charles A. Daniels School, Malden, is located about one half mile east of Malden Square, the center of this densely built suburban industrial community five miles north of downtown Boston. The school occupies an irregularly shaped lot of about 3 1/2 acres and faces west onto Daniels Street. Eastern Avenue, a major east-west roadway through Malden, bounds the lot to the north, while Willow Street curves to the east and south. The school stands in an area of mixed single and multifamily residential buildings, and, along Eastern Avenue, commercial and light-industrial properties. Two parks, Kierstead and Tartikoff Parks, are to the northeast and south of the school property, respectively, while the mid 20th century First Church of the Nazarene is sited across Daniels Street to the south.

Built in 1906, the Daniels School is a monumental Tudor Revival-style red brick structure, H-shaped in plan, with finely detailed limestone and granite trim. It was designed by the Boston architectural firm of Brainerd and Leeds. The building rests on a foundation of brick and granite block. Its three-story, gable-roofed main block is flanked by symmetrical two-story wings with flat roofs and stepped parapets. An elaborate granite entryway dominates the main facade. Windows, for the most part 6/6 sash, rest on limestone sills or are united in groups of three, four, or five beneath limestone lintels or projecting hoods.

While granite the watertable separating the basement from the first story, limestone is used for the cornice encircling the entire structure at the second story, and a band of coping along all rooflines. main block's curved and stepped gable ends are interrupted by four ventilation stacks with multiple flues defined by panel br ickwork, and distinctive round-arched caps. A carved finial surmounts each gable end.

(in one paragraph) Builder/Architect Brainerd & Leeds The Charles A. Daniels School, Malden, retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Constructed in 1907, the building is a monumental brick structure with well-executed Tudor Revival-style detailing. In its H-shaped plan, prominent site, and ample fenestration, the school reflects concern for the most popular educationa1 theories of the period; it is the work of the influential Boston architectural firm of Brainerd and Leeds, known throughout the region for their fine institutional designs.

The building's construction reflects the dramatic increase in Malden's population in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the town saw a rapid transition from quiet agricultural community to one of the Boston area's most prosperous and active industrial centers, extensive program of public and private buildings--institutional, residential, and commercial--accompanying that industrialization. The only example of its style amongst Malden's institutional buildings, the Daniels School thus fulfils Criteria A and C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level. Malden, located only five miles north of the city of Boston and sited at the boundary of the MysticRiver valley and the Middlesex Fells highlands, saw rapid growth during the second half of the 19th century.

The opening of the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1845 north across the Malden River (a tributary of the Mystic River) assured the town's transformation from tranquil agricultural hamlet to prosperous industrial town, and prompted suburban and commercial growth around Central Square. Along with the introduction of the horse-car railroad (1858) and a landing wharf at Sandy Bank on the Malden River (1847), the steam car railroad facilitated passage to Boston and brought new industries to the town.