Watertown Arsenal, Building No. 652, Arsenal Street, Watertown

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Building 652 is significant as part of a major World War I construction program for a new erecting shop {Building HAER No. MA-20-E) and additions to other buildings and an important support building to the former Watertown Arsenal's industrial operations. It is a contributing element in the Watertown Arsenal Historic District which is considered eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. WATERTOWN ARSENAL, BUILDING NO. 652 HAER No. MA-20-W (Page 2) PART

Descriptive Information

Building the Pump House erected in is sited on the southwestern boundary of the Army Materials Technology Laboratory, three feet from the fence line along North Beacon Street. The rectangular, 10 ft, by 20 one-by-two-bay building is oriented with its facade facing northwest. It is set into the hill slope at the rear (northeast) with only 2 ft. 8 in. of the southeast elevation visible about grade. Concrete retaining wing walls fan out along the steep slope from the rear corners of the building. The building's red brick walls laid up in Flemish bond with black glazed headers rise from the concrete foundation to a flat, built-up roof with concrete coping, copper flashing, and a small, square ventilation opening.

Two corbelled courses edge the top and bottom of recessed bays on three elevations. The entrance, facing northwest, has a wood door with three panels in the lower half and four-light glazing above. The three windows, two on the southwest and one on the southeast, are 12- light, metal frame with wire mesh glazing, concrete lug sills, and concrete lintels. The doors and windows are now boarded up. The interior is a single room with painted concrete and brick walls and a plastered ceiling pierced by three square, steel framed openings that once held ventilation equipment. The roof rafters have been sistered. Electrical switch boxes on the northeast wall are all that remain of equipment on this level.

In a pit below the floor, the building contains intake cribbing and once held pumping machinery. PART II HISTORICAL INFORMATION Building 652 was erected in at a cost of as part of a major World War I construction program involving a new Erecting Shop {Building HAER No. MA-20-E) and additions to Building 43, the Smith Shop (HAER No. MA-20-C); Building 36, the Projectile Shop; and Building 60, the Power House (HAER No. MA-20-V). The improvements were intended to meet requirements for manufacturing 16-inch seacoastguns and armor-piercing projectiles (Mather The present building replaced an earlier wood pump house structure on the same site. Construction specifications of directed the contractor to retain the existing foundation and keep equipment in operation during construction.

Building 652 was one of two buildings used to pump water from the Charles River to cool air compressors and steam generating machinery in Buildings 60 and 64. Compressed air was distributed via underground tunnels to the various testing and fabricating shops within the Arsenal and was an important component of the manufacturing process. Steam heat was provided to Arsenal buildings via tunnels as well. All equipment is said to have been removed when the building was closed in the although some pumping equipment may remain below ground. PART 111 SOURCES OF INFORMATION A. Plans and Drawings Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Facilities Engineering, Watertown, Massachusetts. B. Historic Views Army Corps of Engineers, New England Division, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Photographs (5 volumes: to Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Library, Watertown, Massachusetts. Foster Notebooks, files, and historic photographs (nineteenth century to WATERTOWN ARSENAL, BUILDING NO. 652 HAER No. MA-20-W (Page 3) Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Photo Lab, Watertown, Massachusetts. C. Bibliography Adams, Virginia H. Historic American Engineering Record Addendum to Watertown Arsenal: HAER Nos. MA-20-C, D. E. F, G. and Documentation for Watertown Arsenal: HAER Nos. MA-20-R, S, T, U # Prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England Division, Waltham, MA and the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. Anon.

Specifications for the Construction of an Erecting Shop, Tunnel and Coal Conveying Apparatus, and Alterations and Additions to the Smith Shop, Projectile Shop, Power House and Coal Pocket, including Plumbing and Heating and certain Track and Grade Work, at Watertown Arsenal, Watertown, Mass., May 3, Watertown: Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Library. Baylies, Libby Watertown Arsenal (Gun Carriage Manufacturing Complex} Draft National Register of Historic Places Nomination. Unpublished typescript. Watertown: Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Library. Burns, Libby Baylies and Betsey Bahr Historic American Buildings Survey of the United States Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center. Watertown, Massachusetts HAER No. MA-20.

Washington, Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Dickson, Tracy C. History of Watertown Arsenal, Watertown, Massachusetts. Unpublished typescript. Watertown: Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Library. Dobbs, Judy A History of the Watertown Arsenal 1 Watertown: Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center. E.G. & G. Idaho, Inc. USATHAMA (U.S. Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency) Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection for the Armv Materials Technology Laboratory. Idaho Falls: Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Foster, Laurence S. U.S. Army Materials Research Agency Annual Historical Summary, 1 July June Unpublished manuscript.

Watertown: Technical Information Center, AMRA, 15 August Mather, John History of the Watertown Arsenal. Unpublished manuscript. Foster Notebook. Watertown: Army Materials Technology Laboratory, Library. WATERTOWN ARSENAL, BUILDING NO. 652 HAER No. MA-20-W (Page 4) For additional sources, consult Burns and Bahr previously submitted to the Library of Congress as HABS/HAER documentation for Watertown Arsenal, HAER No. MA-20. PART IV PROJECT INFORMATION The Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL Inc.) was retained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England Division to prepare HAER and HAER documentation for the Watertown Arsenal. The documentation was conducted in April, May, and June by the PAL Inc. project team including Virginia H.

Adams, Senior Architectural Historian, Catherine Vieth, Assistant Architectural Historian, and Maureen A. Cavanaugh, Preservation Planner. The large format photography was completed in May and June by Robert Brewster of Warren Jagger Photography, Inc., Providence, Rhode Island. WATERTOWN ARSENAL, BUILDING NO. 652 HAERNo. MA-20-W (Page 5) LOCATION MAP (USGS BOSTON SOUTH, MAI Scale: WATERTOWN ARSENAL, BUILDING NO. 652 HAER No. MA-20-W (Page 6) LOCATION MAP WITHIN WATERTOWN ARSENAL (Source: E.G. & G. ' 1SATHAMA report, WATERTOWN ARSENAL, BUILDING NO. 652 HAER No. MA-20-W (Page 7) FLOOR PLAN SKETCH fence NORTH BEACON STREET %