Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex, Fire Control Observation Station, Cliff Road, Humarock Peninsula Hanscom Air Force Base, Scituate

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Cliff Road, Humarock Peninsula Hanscom Air Force Base Scituate Plymouth County Massachusetts The Fire Control Observation Station (Building No. 38) is located within the Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex at latitude longitude which is the approximate center of the structure and was determined using Google Earth on April 25, There is no restriction on the release of this data to the public.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The Fire Control Observation Station was designed by the Army Corps of Engineers as of a resort-style cottage enveloped around a three-story concrete tower to camouflage the presence of a military structure at Fourth Cliff. The use of summer cottages for camouflage was a standard tactic for the design of coastal defense observation structures prior to World War II, but the station building at Fourth Cliff is one of the few examples of such a technique that is extant and intact today. Description: The Fire Control Observation Station is shown as Building at Site 1- A on construction documents, site plans, and in original drawings.

12 The station is approximately 900 south of the Fire Control Observation Tower, 550 south of Battery and 73 west of the perimeter fence that surrounds the annex parcel. The cottage portion of the building was originally used as a barracks and is to the west. It is a wood-frame, wood- sided, front-gable, 1.5-story building that is three bays wide and three bays deep. The primary entrance on the south fa ade. Openings on the cottage hold eight-over-eight, double-hung wooden window sash, or modern fiberglass doors. The tower is on the east side of the station for a clear view of Massachusetts Bay, Cape Cod Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, and is three- stories tall and 35 -0 high, set on concrete footings. It measures 14 -0 x 23 -0 at the base and is two bays wide on the first and second levels.

The 1 War Department, Army Corps of Engineers, Location No. 114-Site 1-A. Observation Station. Plans and Section in 5 Sheets. Drawn by Desmond & Lord, Architects & Engineers, Boston, Mass. January 2 Gerald W. Butler, Plan of Fourth Cliff, Scituate, June 6, FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, FIRE CONTROL OBSERVATION STATION HABS No. MA-1357-C (Page 2) third story is 14 -0 x 14 -0 and a single bay wide. The concrete floors of the tower are 6 thick; walls are 12 -thick reinforced concrete and scored on their exterior to resemble wood siding. A single narrow band in the east elevation of the tower s second level is inset with a non-historic wood and plexiglass fixed-pane sash. Entrance to the tower is through the interior space of the cottage. The building is set on concrete footings.

Roofing material on both the cottage and the tower are asphalt shingles. The south fa ade of the cottage holds a centered main entrance inset with a modern fiberglass door and accessed by a gabled porch roof that is supported by two wooden posts set on a wooden platform. The entrance is flanked by two openings that hold eight-over-eight, double-hung, wooden window sash. The south elevation of the tower wall is recessed and slightly east of ridge of the cottage roof; a single false window inset with a lookout window is centered in this concrete wall. The shortened roofline necessitated by the eastward facing lookout results in a saltbox profile at this elevation. The east elevation, parallel to Cliff Road, served as the primary observation point from the tower.

A full length, pent-roof porch supported by wooden posts set on a concrete pad shelters a first-floor centered false entrance flanked by two false window openings. The openings are sealed with wood paneling and painted to resemble a door and multi-pane window sash; a rectangular three-pane lookout window is inset in the top half of each window. Board and batten shutters shown in drawings are no longer in place. 3 The second level holds a gable-on-hip roof that shelters a band of six non-historic wood and plexiglass sash; two sash wrap to the east end of the north and south elevations. The observation tower projects through the slope of the gable roof. An upper band of three narrow openings hold plexiglass and wood sash, with one sash at the east end of both north and south elevations.

The windows are shaded by a narrow pent roof the encircles all four elevations of the tower. A narrow band of concrete supports the hipped roof of the tower. An interior concrete chimney flue extends from the north end of the roofline. The first floor of the west elevation is pierced by three evenly spaced openings that hold eight-over-eight, double-hung, wooden window sash. The roof slope on this elevation holds two gabled dormers inset with wooden louvers. The second and third levels of the tower project beyond the sloping saltbox roofline. A small lookout window inset with three fixed panes of glass is centered in the tower on this elevation.

The north elevation of the building a false opening inset with wood paneling and a small lookout window within the east side of the second story of the building. An offset gabled entrance holds a fiberglass door and a window opening on the west side of this elevation. 3 War Department, Army Corps of Engineers, January FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, FIRE CONTROL OBSERVATION STATION HABS No. MA-1357-C (Page 3) The interior west portion of the building s first floor holds a single large room with slanted ceilings; this room is finished with drywall and used for seasonal storage and a workshop. A three-person latrine, hot water tank, and shower that are shown in original drawings are no longer in place; a tiled bathroom is now at the northeast end of the first floor.

Wooden steps on the east side of the room ascend to a half-height doorway centered within the knee-wall of the east elevation. A wooden door set within this opening leads into a sub-level of the tower and a stair to the upper floors of the building. The tower interior consists of concrete walls, floors, and ceilings. Conduit for utilities is affixed to the walls and ceiling within each level, and original lighting fixtures are centered in the ceilings. Pipe railings border the stairwells. The first tower level includes lookout windows on the north and south walls; open-riser wooden stairs ascend southward along the west wall. The second level is divided into two spaces by a gypsum-block partition wall.

Both the north and south rooms of this level contain a concrete octagonal pedestal that is 3 -3 across and 8 tall, set into the floor in front of the band of windows within the east wall. Three metal bolts used for attachment of a sighting apparatus remain in place. The third tower level is reached by stairs and a trap door operated with a pulley mechanism. The space is a single bay wide and deep. A band of three narrow sash span the east elevation at eye-level, with a single sash wrapping to the north and south elevations. A single octagonal concrete pedestal is set in the center of the room. The roof lookout is accessed by a wooden ladder and trap door.

4 History: The Fire Control Observation Station at the south base end of the former Forth Cliff Battery Site was constructed to work in tandem with the five- story Fire Control Observation Tower at the north base end. The station was equipped with two depression position finders on the second story with view axis set at 77 -0 above mean low water A third DPF on the third level of the building was set to 85 -0 The coordinates gathered by the three were combined with those taken from the tower and transmitted by telephone to the plotting room of Battery 208 to calculate positioning data for enemy vessels off the coast of Massachusetts. Data was then forwarded to the gun emplacements for the firing of the battery artillery. 5 .

Following construction by the Army Corps of Engineers, the building was transferred to the Army on November 6, for and was rated 4 U.S. Army Engineer Division, New England Corps of Engineers. Document No. in Report of Completed Works Seacoast Fortifications, Harbor Defenses of Boston, Massachusetts. Corrected to On site at Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex of Hanscom Air Force Base, page 1. 5 U.S. Army Engineer Division, Document No. page 1. FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, FIRE CONTROL OBSERVATION STATION HABS No. MA-1357-C (Page 4) as conspicuous at yards as a cottage, 6 meaning that it was visible at that range, but not as anything other than another vacation resort among many.

Barracks were contained within the west side of the building, with fire control activity and equipment on the east side. The building is now used for storage, and all position-finding equipment has been removed. Wood and plexiglass sash were set into the window openings in 1999.The east porch of the building was replaced in and the entire exterior was repainted in A new asphalt roof was installed in 6 U.S. Army Engineer Division, Document No. page 3. FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, FIRE CONTROL OBSERVATION STATION HABS No. MA-1357-C (Page 5)

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

A. Original Architectural Drawings Architectural plans and drawings for the site dating from to the present are held in the Engineering Division Offices, Hanscom Air Force Base, Bedford, MA. Drawings specific to the Fire Control Observation Station are listed below. War Department, Army Corps of Engineers, Location No. 114 Site 1-A. Observation Station. Details and Sections in 5 Sheets. Drawn by Desmond & Lord, Architects & Engineers, Boston, Mass for Harbor Defences [sic] of Boston, United States Engineer Office. January -- Location No. 114 Site 1-A. Observation Station. Elevations & Details in 5 Sheets. Drawn by Desmond & Lord, Architects & Engineers, Boston, Mass for Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office. January -- Location No. 114 Site 1-A. Observation Station.

Plans & Sections in 5 Sheets. Drawn by Desmond & Lord, Architects & Engineers, Boston, Mass for Harbor Defenses of Boston, United States Engineer Office. January Harbor Defences of Boston, Location No. 114 Site 1-A. Observation Station. Elevations & Details in 5 Sheets. Drawn by Desmond & Lord, Architects & Engineers, Boston, Mass. January. B. Bibliography 1. Primary and Unpublished Sources Kierstead, Matthew and Nancy Tinker, Fourth Cliff Battery, National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Massachusetts Historical Commission SCI.A: Fourth Cliff Recreation Area, Massachusetts Historic Inventory Form. Boston: --- SCI.137: Fourth Cliff Fire Control Station, Massachusetts Historic Inventory Form. Boston: U.S.

Army Engineer Division, New England Corps of Engineers. Document in Report of Completed Works Seacoast Fortifications, Harbor Defenses of Boston, Massachusetts. Corrected to On site at Fourth Cliff Recreational Annex of Hanscom Air Force Base. 2. Secondary and Published Sources Butler, Gerald W. Military Annals of Nahant, Massachusetts. Nahant, MA: Nahant Historical Society, FOURTH CLIFF RECREATIONAL ANNEX, FIRE CONTROL OBSERVATION STATION HABS No. MA-1357-C (Page 6) Grigorieff, Paul. A Brief History of Coastal Defense, Coast Defense, Accessed April 3. Maps and Aerial Images Butler, Gerald W. Plan of Fourth Cliff, Scituate, June 6, National Environmental Title Research (NETR). Accessed April

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS MA-1357-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This Project was completed by AECOM on behalf of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as a component of the Fence to Fence Environmental Compliance Services contract to support the USAF at Joint Base McGuire- Dix-Lakehurst, NJ; Hanscom AFB, MA; New Boston NH; and Rome Labs, NY. Photography by Rob Tucher took place March 29 through April 4, fieldwork was conducted by AECOM at the same time. The initial report was presented for review to the USACE, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) Installation Support Services (ISS), and Hanscom Air Force Base personnel in May