Metropolitan Water Board, Chestnut Hill Low Service Pump Station, Beacon Street, Boston, Suffolk County, MA. Surveyed as HAER MASS,13-BOST,81-, with 1 photograph and a 395-word written history.
“Encouraged by the good results being obtained by the Metropolitan Sewerage System/ the Massachusetts legislature of authorized the State Board of Health to make investiga- tions for a metropolitan water supply.”
Written record, HAER MASS,13-BOST,81- survey. Machine-read text.
surveyed by the federal HAER program as HAER MASS,13-BOST,81- · the record runs 395 words · one of 264 surveyed structures published for this county.
1 photograph from the federal survey record, Library of Congress.
Source document Quoted word for word from HAER MASS,13-BOST,81-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.
Encouraged by the good results being obtained by the Metropolitan Sewerage System/ the Massachusetts legislature of authorized the State Board of Health to make investiga- tions for a metropolitan water supply. The Metropolitan Water Act of 18 95 was a landmark piece of legislation. Like the Metropolitan Park Commission Act of after which it was largely modeled, it recongized the mutual and interconnected needs of the separate towns and cities of the metropolitan region. Careful planning and rationalization of water supply, pumping, and distribution facilities was the only way in which the increasing demands of all the communities could be met.
In addition to providing for a new high-service system, the Board of Health found that the existing 47-year-old Cochituate system was insufficient to supply many of Boston's new high-rise buildings. In addition, the slower conduit flow encouraged the growth of algae. Accordingly, the Board recommended that pressure be increased by pumping the water from Chestnut Hill another 29 feet higher to a new distributing reservoir at Spot Pond. The new low-service pumping station, built 500 feet northeast of the high-service station, was designed by Metropolitan Water Board: Chestnut Hill Low Service Pumping Station HAER No. MA-23 (Page 2) Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge, and was completed in The exterior classical facade is of Indiana limestone with a base of pink Milford granite.
Inside were three vertical triple- expansion steam pumping engines built by the Holly Manufacturing Company of Lockport, New York. In the first full year of its operation, the low-service station pumped about 71 percent of the total amount of water supplied by the Metropolitan Works. References: Metropolitan Water Board, Fifth Annual Report, January 1, Boston: Wright & Potter, Sixth Annual Report, January 1, Boston: Wright & Potter, Transmitted by Jean P. Yearby, from data compiled by Peter Stott
| Brighton, Massachusetts | The place record: every map, photograph and survey of this town. |
| Suffolk County, Massachusetts | 165 topographic sheets across the county. |
| Library of Congress record | The original filed report, and the sheets the survey produced. Those published here appear above. |
The federal surveyors worked through Brighton building by building. These are the other structures they measured and filed a report on, longest report first.
| Sheet | Structure | Survey | Report |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Boston Water Works | HAER MASS,13-BOST,75A- | 1,953 words |
 | Boston Water Works | HAER MASS,13-BOST,75- | 454 words |
 | Boston Water Works | HAER MASS,13-BOST,75B- | 99 words |
 | Milestones HH & II | HABS MASS,13-BRI,2- | 24 words |
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