Download FORM B - BUILDING

FORM B  BUILDING
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Assessor’s Number
USGS Quad
23-001
Area(s)
Form Number
Natick
Town:
WAY.196
WAYLAND
Place: (neighborhood or village)
Wayland Center
Photograph
Address:
41 Cochituate Road
Historic Name: Wayland High School
Uses: Present:
municipal offices
Original: educational - school
Date of Construction: 1935
Source: town histories
Style/Form:
Colonial Revival
Architect/Builder:
Charles M. Baker, architect
Frank I. Cooper, consulting architect
Exterior Material:
Foundation: concrete
Topographic or Assessor's Map
Wall/Trim:
brick
Roof:
asphalt
Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Veterans War
Memorial (WAY.902) northeast of building.
Major Alterations (with dates): Additions – gym wing on
north side – 1948; classroom wing on south side – 1951;
reconfigured on interior for town and school departments –
1974.
Condition:
Moved: no | x |
good
yes | |
Date n/a
Acreage: five acres
Setting: Residential/institutional neighborhood at town
Recorded by: Gretchen G. Schuler
center, large town-owned parcel at edge of wetlands, near
th
early 20 C. dwellings and Trinitarian Church. Athletic
fields behind and on side of building. Two driveway entries
to Town Building – one from Cochituate Road and one from
Pelham Island Road.
Organization: for Wayland Historical Commission
Date (month / year): January 2013
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET
WAYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
41COCHITUATE ROAD
Area(s)
Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
WAY.196
__x_ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate the characteristics of this building in
terms of other buildings within the community.
The third Wayland High School, now the Wayland Town Building, is located in Wayland Center on a parcel of
land that has frontage only on Cochituate Road, but has a second access over another town-owned parcel
from Pelham Island Road. The building was placed on the north part of the parcel. Wetlands run along the
north, south and west edges of the parcel. The driveway entry from Cochituate Road approaches the original
front of the building where there is a modern entrance and parking for a limited number of vehicles. This
driveway circles around the building on the westerly side joining with the Pelham Island Road access drive and
ends on the south side where there is a large parking lot, a greensward within the U-shape formed by the
building and its wings, and several entrances to the multi-faceted building. Athletic fields run along the east
side of the building. Designed by architect Charles M. Baker in the Colonial Revival style, the large brick
building consists of a main block with bricked-in entry on the north side, wings that were built in two phases
(first as part of the original construction and added to in 1948 and 1951 as connectors to additions of those
years), and two large additions – one on the west side housing a gymnasium and cafeteria and one on the east
side housing additional classrooms, now offices. The red brick building has no basement due to the high water
table and rests on a slightly raised concrete foundation. Certain architectural elements are carried out on all
parts of the building, in particular the windows as well as the alterations. Throughout the building modern
windows have been inserted in the brick openings and have single light casement pairs topped with a transom.
Each window opening is marked by a lintel of brick footers and a cast concrete sill. The square monumental
pilasters used on the principal elevation (north) rest on rudimentary bases and have molded caps.
The Colonial Revival school building began with the 11-bay, two-story central part of today’s Town Building
and part of the flanking wings. It has a cupola on top. The north side had the slightly projecting main entry,
which has been filled in with brick but retains its Georgian Revival casing with broken pediment carried by
narrow pilasters. Four monumental pilasters frame the three middle bays (the bricked-in entry and a window
on each side). On each side of the outside pilasters there are four window bays up and down. The south side
of the central block has been altered to accommodate main entries from the large parking area on the south
side. The two bays on each end of this original block have been altered with a two-story enclosed stair hall.
Each has a pediment, an entry door, windows and a foliated cast concrete plaque. A blind oculus with four
keystones is in each gabled peak of the original building. The central block has an exterior end chimney on its
east end. The cupola has four stages: a square box that straddles the ridge and has three panels of louvers
on the north and south sides and three recessed panels on the east and west sides, all topped with a
balustrade of three X-panels on each side; a square box that sits inside the first larger one; a tall open stage
with one arched opening on each side, corner pilasters and a projecting cornice; and a copper dome with spire.
The wings that were part of the original construction are four bays wide and project slightly in front of the main
block on the north side and on the south side are about two window widths deeper than the main center block.
Each has a cast concrete cornice and parapet wall with flat roof. The wing on the west side of the central block
has a projecting enclosed flat-roofed entry porch with paired modern doors set into a Colonial Revival casing
with pilasters carrying a deep entablature and molded projecting cornice. Monumental columns are near each
corner of the north elevation but not on the south elevation. Each wing was extended forming a connector to
the large additions built in 1948 and 1951. The connectors are recessed from the wings on the north elevation
and on the same plane as the original wings on the south side. The connector on the east end has a main
building entry on its north side with wheelchair accessibility and a sign placard over the door which reads
Continuation sheet 1
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
WAYLAND
41COCHITUATE ROAD
Area(s)
Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
WAY.196
“Wayland Town Building.” The 1948 and 1951additions have gabled roofs with a north-south orientation
perpendicular to the east-west gabled roof of the original central block. Elements of the original construction
were carried over to the additions. The gymnasium has monumental pilasters articulating the three bays – a
central bay with a former arched opening now bricked-in and an oculus above; and end bays with no openings
and paired pilasters near the corners. Each of the two gable peaks has flush board siding, a lunette window
with radiating muntins. There are two chimney stacks that rise above each roof slope near the south end.
Attached to the east wall of the gymnasium is a one-story hipped-roof addition with five 6/6 window bays
punched into the east wall and one in the south wall. The arched entrance tucked into the corner of the east
wall has been filled with a modern glass double door and arched transom light and provides access to this
gymnasium/cafeteria addition. The classroom addition on the east side of the building complex (1951) has a
north elevation that also is tied to the rest of the architecture with monumental pilasters and a flush board
gabled peak with a louvered lunette (which is repeated on the south end of this addition). There are seven
window bays on this elevation – five in the center and one outside of each pilaster. The east side of this twostory addition has 27 window bays set in groups of five except for the ends where there are three windows on
the south end and four on the north end of the east side. Four wide rectangular stacks containing HVAC
straddle the ridge and are aligned with the groups of five window bays. On the west side facing the
greensward there are two sets of five bays and an entry. The south end is divided into three bays with
wheelchair accessibility to the centered entry which is a pair of glass doors set into a Colonial Revival casing.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history.
Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants played within the community.
In 1722 when the town of Sudbury was divided into two Precincts, Wayland was the east precinct and had its
own school on the east side of the river. Although education was mandatory by law from the General Court,
records are scarce until the precincts became separate towns in 1780. East Sudbury, as Wayland was known
until the name change in 1835, was divided into six school districts in 1781 and by 1805 each had a new
school house, five of which were brick. A major shift in the school system occurred in 1854-55 when the first
High School (55 Cochituate Road) was built. Primary schools continued to educate younger students. In 1873
the first consolidated Cochituate School was built with primary and intermediate grades on the first floor and
older students upstairs. Crowding and rundown buildings led to another building boom in 1896 when Francis
Shaw contributed funds to help build a new Center High and Grammar School next to the first high school
which was sold to the Odd Fellows. (The Center School, built in 1896, was demolished in 1978.) About a
decade later, discussions began about improving the Cochituate School which resulted in demolition of the
1873 wood-frame building and construction in 1910 of the brick Colonial Revival Cochituate School (106 Main
Street). Now there were two schools each housing multiple grades. By the 1930s both were overcrowded; yet
there were years of discussions about whether a high school should be located in Cochituate or in Wayland
Center. Eventually it was decided to use part of a 35-acre parcel that had been given to the town in 1911 and
was situated behind the Trinitarian Church, the first High School/Odd Fellows Hall and the Center School (no
longer extant).
The economics of cities and towns in this time between two world wars and following the stock market crash of
1929 meant that towns and cities had to rely on federal assistance for the first time in the US history. Thus
once the town had settled on a location this building was constructed as a new high school with the help of a
federal grant. The building committee tried to use Wayland residents whenever possible. While the architect,
Charles M. Baker was from Framingham, local resident Frank I. Cooper was consulting architect. Ernest
Damon, who later would become police chief, was the clerk of the works. Although plans were for a building
with a basement, the final construction was for a four-classroom building with no basement due to the high
water table, all to accommodate 250 students. The plans showed a central building of colonial design with two
small wings. Additional wings were built – a gymnasium and cafeteria wing on the north side in 1948 and a
classroom wing on the south side in 1951.
Continuation sheet 2
INVENTORY FORM B CONTINUATION SHEET
WAYLAND
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
41COCHITUATE ROAD
Area(s)
Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
WAY.196
Charles M. Baker (1873-1942), architect for the Wayland High School (1935) now Town Building, lived in
Framingham where he maintained an office as well as one in Boston which he had opened in 1908. He
generally designed in the Colonial Revival style and was architect for many schools and other community
buildings. Several examples are found in Southborough – the Peters High School Annex (1929 – later
converted to a police station); Framingham’s John Maynard School (1916), Melrose’s Theodore Roosevelt
Grammar School (1924) and the First Parish Church (1926) in Framingham Center.
In 1960 when the new high school on Old Connecticut Path was completed, the high school students moved
from this building and it became the junior high school for seventh and eighth grades. This lasted until 1972
when a new Junior High School, now the Middle School, was constructed farther south on Cochituate
Road/Main Street near Cochituate Village. In 1974 a Municipal Building Planning Committee recommended
and eventually oversaw renovation of this building for town and school department use. The renovation was
completed by 1978 and the building continues to be used for town departments, school administration, and a
senior center. Many town programs also use the gymnasium regularly.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Atlas/Maps: 1946 Brooks (Wayland High School).
Emery, Helen. The Puritan Village Evolves. Canaan, NH: Phoenix Publishing. 1981.
Wayland Historical Society. File on School Construction. Video of program on Wayland’s High Schools Then
and Now 1855-2012.
Wolfson, Evelyn and Dick Hoyt. ed. Wayland A to Z: A Dictionary of Then and Now. Saline, MI: McNaughton &
Gunn, Inc. 2004.
http://ktmatison.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/on-the-trail-of-architect-charles-m-baker-1874-1937/
South Elevation
Continuation sheet 3
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
WAYLAND 41Cochituate Road
Area(s)
Form No.
WAY.196
National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form
Check all that apply:
Individually eligible
Eligible only in a historic district
Contributing to a potential historic district
Criteria:
A
Criteria Considerations:
B
C
A
Potential historic district
D
B
C
D
E
F
G
Statement of Significance by__________Gretchen G. Schuler_______________________________
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
The Wayland High School, now Wayland Town Building, is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic
Places as part of a Wayland Center Historic District. It is an important link in Wayland’s educational history.
The property retains integrity of location, setting, design, materials, craftsmanship, feeling and association.
Continuation sheet 4