FORM B BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Transcription

1 FORM B BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Photograph Assessor s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number UMASS No. 80 Williamsburg N/A AMH.126 Town: Amherst Place: University of Massachusetts Address: 144 Hicks Way Historic Name: Chapel/Old Stone Chapel Uses: Present: Academic Original: Chapel and Library Date of Construction: 1885 Source: University of Massachusetts Facilities Dept. Style/Form: Romanesque Revival Architect/Builder: Stephen C. Earle Exterior Material: Foundation: Pelham Granite Topographic or Assessor's Map Wall/Trim: Pelham Granite / Longmeadow Sandstone Roof: Slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: None Major Alterations (with dates): None Condition: Good Moved: no X yes Date Acreage: Total Campus Acreage: 1,348 Acres Setting: Located at the historic core of the University campus, directly north of Building #115 Memorial Hall (built 1920), east of Building #171 Goodell (built 1934) and southeast of Building #129 South College (built 1885). Recorded by: W. Maros/C. Weed/C. Beagan Organization: VHB/Pressley Associates Date (month / year): May 2009 Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form.

2 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 Chapel is a 2½-story stone Romanesque Revival structure with an approximately square footprint and a four-story bell tower at its southeast corner. According to Adams and Adams, the Chapel was not planned for exclusive use as a religious building; instead, the Massachusetts Agricultural College administration intended the building to serve as a multi-purpose structure that would include a cabinet of natural history collections, a chapel for lectures and religious services, and a library and reading room. The Chapel is constructed of gray Pelham granite, with red-brown Longmeadow sandstone trim and a gray slate roof. Random sections of the roof have distinctly contrasting shades of gray slate, which appears to be the result of many localized slate replacements over the years since the building was begun in The four-sided steeple of the bell tower is clad in granite and has sandstone trim, similar in appearance to quoins, along the long edges of its tapered four sides. Most of the building s trim is executed in sandstone, although the prominent dog-tooth blocks in the gable peaks are made of granite, with a few sandstone dog-tooth blocks set at points where the dog-tooth trim and sandstone stringcourses intersect. In general, the Chapel has continuous sandstone stringcourses above and below each story s windows. At the first story level, these sandstone stringcourses also serve as the window lintels and sills, while at the basement story the stringcourses include the basement window lintels. Other sandstone trim includes round arches over doors and windows; circular frames for round windows of varying sizes; and incidental trim in the bell tower, gables and gable returns. The bell tower consists of four stories or stages: (1) an entry porch, described below, (2) a square tower with four bands of brownstone trim, a narrow 1/12 window with a semicircular transom and a panel with brownstone dentils, (3) an open-air, round-arch belfry framed by Romanesque columns and (4) a four-sided steeple that is set diagonally onto the top stage of the square tower. The base of the steeple contains a gable peak on each face of the square tower, and a clock face with Roman numerals is set into each of the four gable peaks. The tower and steeple are rich in brownstone trim, including window arches, lintels and sills, as well as projecting downspouts at the level of the clocks. The steeple has a metal weathervane at its top, with what appears to be glass ornamentation or lightning-control devices. The main entry is in the base of the bell tower on the Chapel s east elevation, within the recess of a very shallow porch that has a front gable. The doorway is framed by short Romanesque columns with primitive capitals, which support a double-layered round arch. Both the columns and the arch are sandstone. The entry features a double-leaf, frame-filled door of tongue-and-groove matchboards, which has a long rectangular upper panel and two different-size lower panels in each leaf. Overhead, the door has a semi-circular leaded-glass transom that contains square panes, with a double row of lozenge-shape panes around its perimeter. A sandstone panel in the gable peak above the bell tower door contains a high relief carving of a right arm holding a sword, which is an emblem of the Massachusetts State Coat of Arms and symbolizes the State Motto Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem ( By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty. This arm and sword symbol is also part of the Massachusetts State Seal and the Massachusetts State Flag. The granite cornerstone, located on the south side of the main entry, displays the building s construction year, 1884, with the middle numerals 88 intertwined at the center of a carved quatrefoil frame, while the initial numeral 1 and the final numeral 4 are Continuation sheet 1

3 in the quatrefoil s left and right lobes, respectively. The upper lobe of the quatrefoil contains the letter A, while the lower lobe contains the letter D, representing the Medieval Latin abbreviation for Anno Domini (In the year of the/our Lord). At the north side of the bell tower door, the east elevation s dominant feature is a 2½-story front gable section of the Chapel that has a buttress at either end. This section contains five evenly spaced 6/6 sash windows in its first story and three round arch windows in the gable peak. The gable peak s central window is exceptionally long, with a 9/9/9 triple sash. The flanking windows are 6/9 sash. All three windows in the gable peak have semi-circular transoms with radiating glazing bars. The first story of the narrow wall space between the bell tower and the front gable section contains both a slender 1/1 window and a small square single-pane window. The wall space between the front gable section and the buttress at the north end of the east elevation contains a 6/6 window and a small ¾-circle single-pane window. The north elevation s dominant feature is a projecting 2½-story front gable section that has a buttress at either end and a very large round window at the center of its gable peak. The round window s glazing bar pattern is complex, consisting of a central square panel that is embedded in larger diamond-shape frame, with curved triangular pieces fitted between the diamond and the rim of the round window opening. The glass appears to be colored. A very narrow arched window is set to either side of the large round window, at a height just below the round window s sandstone frame. The gable section s first story matches the east elevation, with five evenly spaced 6/6 windows. The wall space between the front gable section and the buttress at the east end of the north elevation contains a 6/6 window and a small ¾-circle single-pane window. The wall space between the front gable section and the buttress at the west end of the north elevation has a different window configuration, consisting of a small 1/1 window and a small circular window. The different window treatments of the east and west ends of this elevation reflect the fact that the west end has a lower roofline, which consists of a hip roof that wraps around to the west elevation, where this corner of the Chapel contains a minor entry porch. The west elevation has a dominant front gable section that matches the east elevation s front gable section in terms of size, window arrangement and materials. The west elevation also contains two entry porches, which have been given very different treatments by the architect, relative to the functional importance of each entry. The west elevation s minor entry porch, located at the north end of this elevation, has a doorframe with a strong resemblance to archaic post-and-lintel construction. This archaic and rough-hewn appearance is consistent with the doorway s status as the lessimportant entryway on this side of the Chapel. Here the architect has added a minimal amount of Romanesque-period refinement to the design, by using three rough-hewn granite stones instead of a single primitive post on either side of the frame. A simple round window with sandstone trim is set above the doorway. The west elevation s major entry porch, located at the south end of this elevation, has a more full-blown Romanesque-Revival design. This more sophisticated design, similar to the design of the bell tower entry in terms of its size, brownstone trim and recessed entryway, was used by the architect to signify that this is the main entryway for this side of the building. However, because the east elevation s bell tower entry is the prime doorway into the Chapel and this entry porch on the west elevation is only the second-best doorway to the building, this porch has only one row of brownstone arch trim over the doorway, and no brownstone columns. Two small round arch windows are located to the south of this porch. The south elevation was not photographed in September 2008, due the presence of nearby mature trees whose foliage blocks opportunities for full-elevation photography until the onset of winter. Historic photographs on file at Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst, also have trees in the foreground but show that this elevation contained a large round window in its gable peak, and evenly spaced windows in its first and second stories. The second story windows had round brownstone arches. In addition, the wall space between the front gable section and the buttress at this elevation s west end contained a small round window below the roof eave and two different sets of paired small windows with round arches. Continuation sheet 2

4 Landscape Visual/Design Assessment The Chapel is located to the north of Memorial Hall. On the north side of the building is lawn that slopes down to a paved plaza associated with the DuBois Library. To the west, the building is bordered by a bituminous concrete walk and bike path. Two circular planters on the path serve as vehicular control and mark the approach to the Chapel. Vegetation between the building and walk consists of lawn with scattered deciduous trees, evergreen shrubs, and perennials. On the south and southwest sides of the building, vegetation consists of lawn with deciduous trees. Pole lights are located at all four corners of the building orthophotograph of the Chapel (center) and surrounding landscape, north is up (MassGIS). Continuation sheet 3

5 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. Overview The University of Massachusetts, Amherst was chartered as the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1863 but did not accept its first class until As one of two land grant universities in Massachusetts, the university s original mission was agricultural education. Its mission, however, evolved within the first 20 years in response to the changing needs of the United States. While agriculture remains, even today, a mainstay of the University s mission, the University now also supports engineering, science, education, and liberal arts colleges and departments. A full historical narrative of the University of Massachusetts from its founding to 1958 is contained in the survey report. This narrative was prepared in 2009 by Carol S. Weed, Senior Archaeologist with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. Shown below are selected highlights from the text of the full historical narrative, along with additional information pertinent to the specific building that is described in this Massachusetts Historical Commission Building Form. This section contains: (1) highlights of the historic periods in the development of the University of Massachusetts, leading up to and including the period when the building was constructed, (2) information about the university in the decade when the building was constructed, (3) information about the circumstances that led to the construction of the building, along with information about its architect, if known, and (4) an analysis of the historic landscape of the building : Administration and Initial Campus Layout As the educational mission evolved in the years after 1863, so did the university s approach to its facilities and its landscape. There was no accepted plan for the layout of the college, despite the preparation of various plan proposals in the 1860s, including separate proposals from the country s preeminent landscape planners, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, who had formerly worked together on the winning design for New York City s Central Park. Neither Vaux s plan, nor Olmsted s plan to create a campus around a central green, were accepted by the University Trustees : The Early Growth In the absence of a coordinated plan, the Trustees put existing buildings that were acquired with the campus land into service as agricultural laboratories. Campus development for several decades after 1863 was sporadic and focused on the construction of individual buildings to meet specific functional needs of the fledgling university. It was not until after 1900, during a period of rapid student population growth and resultant new building construction, that the University Trustees again sought proposals for comprehensive campus planning. In 1912, a professional landscaping publication reported that Warren H. Manning, formerly affiliated with the Olmsted firm, had spent over four years preparing a comprehensive plan for the University Trustees. The Trustees had considered it imperative for the college to plan harmonious development that would conserve the beauty of campus grounds while meeting the needs of a growing student population whose expanding range of activities was unprecedented. Manning s plan designated three distinct sections of the campus, the Upland, Midland and Lowland Sections. Each section was intended to be the locus of specific functions, with clusters of purpose-built structures to serve those functions. For example, one section would be designated for faculty, women s and horticultural facilities. A second section would contain administration, research, science and student life (dormitory, dining hall, and sports) facilities. The third section would be dedicated to poultry, farming and sewage disposal facilities. Although Manning s Upland, Midland, and Lowland sections are not fully realized, it is apparent that discipline specific groupings were developed. Building clusters, especially those related to agriculture, administration, and the hard and earth sciences (physics, chemistry, and geology) continued to expand through the present day. Continuation sheet 4

6 The decade was marked at the Massachusetts Agricultural College by a series of building initiatives that were meant to address the inadequate capacity, or the accidental destruction by fire in one situation, of the first group of structures that had been erected by the Trustees in In each case, the expansion or replacement of these structures was perceived as essential to support both current functions and ongoing growth of the college, which had grown from 111 students in 1884 to 173 students in 1890, representing a 56 percent increase in student population in only six years. In the 1891 Annual Report, the Trustees attributed this growth to the free scholarship act of 1883, which provided for 80 free scholarships each year for MAC students, and the creation of the student labor fund in 1888, which enabled half the students at MAC to work and pay for a college education that they could not otherwise afford. The Chapel The 1867 Chemistry Laboratory building also provided space for chapel and drill hall functions, but by 1869 when the building was expanded and renamed College Hall, the enlarged structure additionally contained the Agricultural Experiment Station. Over time, the University s experiment station program grew to such a degree that the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture requested that the chapel space be given over for the experiment station s exclusive use. In response to the pending displacement of chapel services from College Hall, Professor Goodell and University President Greenough sought and obtained $25,000 from the Massachusetts Legislature in 1884 to construct a new building that would house a natural history collection, a chapel for lectures and religious services, and a library and reading room. Architect Stephen C. Earle of Worcester was selected to design the new Chapel building. Earle ultimately designed or renovated approximately 70 buildings in Massachusetts, including the Grand Army of the Republic Hall in Worcester (1876), Christ Church Cathedral in Springfield (1876), the Norton Public Library (1887) and the Worcester Art Museum (1897). Within five years of the Chapel s completion, the building held approximately 10,000 books in its library. The building also contained the University President s office and a 600-person auditorium where graduation ceremonies were held. The building was technologically innovative in that it was equipped with electrical lighting. The Chapel exterior was restored in , including a complete re-building of the tower. The stone veneer of the tower had separated from the brick and rubble infill and brick interior wall and was in danger of collapse. In addition corrosion had swelled the iron railroad rails used to reinforce the tower steeple at the points directly above and below the clock faces creating structural instability at these points. The rubble and brick core of the upper section of the tower was demolished and replaced by a steel reinforced cast concrete core and the reconstructed stone veneer was tied back to the reinforced concrete core by stainless steel cleats placed at one foot intervals. Each layer of stone had notches cut into the stone for the cleats and each cleat was tied into the reinforcing bar and cast in place into the concrete core which was cast after a segment of stone wall about three feet high was assembled. The original Meneely bell frame was found to have been cut into the structure of the tower and greatly weaken and damaged the integrity of the structure. Care was used to mark, preserve and re-use the stones in their original locations. Unusable damaged stones were replaced by stone from the original source, the old Massachusetts Agricultural College quarry in Pelham, MA. The quarry, still owned by the University, is located on the east side of Buffam Road, Pelham and is identified by the Pelham Assessors as Map 10, Lot 9. Replacement brown stone of very similar grain color and strength to the original Longmeadow brown stone was obtained from a quarry in Utah. The original 10 troy Meneely bells ( were recast by Royal Ejjsbouts bell foundry ( in the Netherlands and 32 new bells (43 total) were added, housed in a new bell frame engineered into the structure of the new tower. The 3½-octave carillon includes a new keyboard installed at the time of restoration. Continuation sheet 5

7 The bell Old Aggie, that chimed for the first time in 1892, was restocked as a swinging bell and hung in the new bell frame making it the 43rd bell in the tower. Old Aggie is not a part of the carillon but is the tower clock bell. The restoration project won the highest preservation award granted by the Massachusetts Historical Commission in Landscape Analysis The buildings to the west of the Campus Pond were historically organized along two circulation routes, neither of which is extant. The eastern façade of buildings closest to the pond, including the Chapel and Memorial Hall, were organized along Olmsted Road/Ellis Drive overlooking an open space indicated as Front Slope on a 1901 campus plan and the Campus Pond. Olmsted Road/Ellis Drive was an historic tree-lined street that curved along the west side of the campus pond, connecting to North Pleasant Street at both its northern and southern ends. The western façade of the buildings faced an extension of Lincoln Avenue (no longer extant). Historically, the northern terminus of the Lincoln Avenue axis was occupied by North College (no longer extant), which stood on the approximate site of Machmer Hall (1957). The southern axis of Lincoln Avenue was obstructed by the construction of Whitmore Hall in Historically, Lincoln Avenue was tree-lined and featured some open lots interspersed with athletic fields. The historic Chapel (1885) landscape featured scattered evergreen and deciduous trees with vines on the building s façade. Vegetation surrounding the building respects the historic character of the landscape; however, the setting was dramatically changed in 1971 with the construction of Du Bois Library to the north, which is out of scale with the surrounding buildings. The historic approach to the Chapel from the southern end of the pond remains intact and the walk along the rear of the building is close to the historic location of Lincoln Avenue. BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES, Anno Domini ( Landscape Plans for College Grounds. Park and Cemetery. V.22, November 1912., Massachusetts Facts: State Symbols (Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Citizen Information Service, David L. Adams and Lynne E. Adams, Massachusetts Memories: UMass Amherst History (Amherst, Collective Copies, 2008) Richard Nathhorst, Personal communication to VHB 11 May 2009 concerning the restoration of the Chapel Continuation sheet 6

8 Figures Detailed Map Continuation sheet 7

9 Chapel, view southwest, September 2008 Continuation sheet 8

10 Chapel, view southwest, September 2008 Continuation sheet 9

11 Chapel, detail of main entry in northeast elevation, view southwest, September cornerstone is at left of entry porch, carving of arm holding a sword is in gable peak of entry porch Continuation sheet 10

12 Chapel, detail of 1884 cornerstone adjacent to main entry in the southeast elevation, September 2008 Continuation sheet 11

13 Chapel, view northeast, September 2008 Continuation sheet 12

14 Chapel, pre-1892 Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Continuation sheet 13

15 Chapel, c Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Continuation sheet 14

16 Chapel, no date (early 20 th century) Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Continuation sheet 15

17 Chapel, 1918 Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Continuation sheet 16

18 Chapel, 1918 Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Continuation sheet 17

19 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Community Property Address MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING UMASS AMHERST Building # Hicks Way 220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Area(s) Form No. 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 Potential historic district Criteria: A B C D Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G Statement of Significance by: Rita Walsh and Walter Maros, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here. First established in 1863 under the provisions of the Federal Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, the University of Massachusetts Amherst retains a significant collection of buildings dating from its first period of operation as the Massachusetts Agricultural College ( ). These include, but are not limited to: substantial brick and masonry classroom, laboratory, research and administrative buildings dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, barns and stables related to its function as an agricultural college, pre-existing wood frame buildings (including two 18 th century buildings [117, 118]) incorporated into campus functions, the power plant [107], the Chancellor s House [124], and the Old Chapel [126] and Memorial Hall [112], historic centerpieces of the campus. The historic buildings from the Mass Aggie period for the most part are concentrated in three areas: (1) an arc that extends west to east between the Mullins Center and the Northeast Residential Area, including the Grinnell barn complex [109, 110, 111], Blaisdell [108], the power plant [107], Flint [104], Stockbridge [105], Draper [103], Goessmann [106], and West [114] and East [113] Experiment Stations; (2) a smaller grouping that includes, Wilder [115], the University Club buildings [117, 118], Clark [116] and Fernald [119]; (3) and the group of South College [128], Old Chapel [126] and Memorial Hall [112] at the center of the campus. Other individual buildings [including 120, 124, 125] also survive outside these areas. Although the campus has expanded significantly in and around the Massachusetts Agricultural College core, both individual buildings and groups of buildings that still convey their relationship to each other as part of the Agricultural College are campus plan, are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under criteria A and C at the state level. The University of Massachusetts Amherst also retains a significant collection of buildings dating from , which is a period characterized by the expansion of the school s mission and physical plant that began in the 1930s with its name change to Massachusetts State College. At this time, the Trustees made a concerted effort to modernize and increase campus facilities, through the post-world War II mid-20 th century period when there was unprecedented growth in the size of the university student population and a concurrent growth in specialized academic research and degree work.

20 Significant buildings that were constructed to meet the University s needs between 1931 and 1958, as well as significant buildings predating 1931 which have no prior Form B on file with the Massachusetts Historical Commission, include (listed in order of construction date): [UMass 58]; Hatch Laboratory, built 1891 [UMass 118]; Clark Hall Greenhouse, built 1907 [UMass 84], French Hall Greenhouse, built 1908 [UMass 105]; French Hall, built 1909 [UMass 104]; Waiting Station Shelter, built 1911 [UMass 63]; Apiary Laboratory, built 1911 [UMass 74]; Hicks Physical Education Building, built 1931 [UMass121]; Hicks Physical Education Cage, built 1932 [UMass 122]; Thatcher House, built 1935 [UMass 30]; Research Administration Building, built 1939 [UMass 579]; Lewis House, built 1940 [UMass 28]; Butterfield House, built 1940 [UMass 5]; Greenough House, built 1946 [UMass 24]; Chadbourne House, built 1947 [UMass 6]; Mills House (New Africa House), built 1948 [UMass 29]; Skinner Hall, built 1948 [UMass 128]; Gunness Laboratory, built 1949 [UMass 91]; Brooks House, built 1949 [UMass 4]; Hamlin House, built 1949 [UMass 25]; Knowlton House, built 1949 [UMass 26]; Marston Hall, built 1950 [UMass 92]; Paige Laboratory, built 1947 [UMass 6]; Hasbrouck Laboratory, built 1950 [UMass 124]; Baker House, built 1952 [UMass 3]; Crabtree House, built 1953 [UMass 12]; Leach House, built 1953 [UMass 27]; Worcester Dining Hall, built 1953 [UMass 85]; Arnold House, built 1954 [UMass 2]; Durfee Range, built 1955 [UMass 96]; Van Meter House, built 1957 [UMass 32]; Machmer Hall, built 1957 [UMass 111]; Student Union, built 1957 [UMass 131]; Wheeler House, built 1958 [UMass 33]; and Johnson House, built 1959 [UMass 36]. The recommended University of Massachusetts Amherst historic district meets Criterion A for its association with the ongoing mission of this state university to meet the educational requirements of a rapidly changing world. From the inception of the University in 1863 as the Massachusetts Agricultural College, through the current day, the Trustees have sought to provide educational programming and facilities that would enable students to advance the practice of agriculture and a steadily increasing host of other fields, meet the needs of a rapidly-industrializing world, and succeed in leading a post-industrial information and technology-based economy. The historic district also meets Criterion C for its stock of buildings and landscape features whose forms and functions reflect the evolving and expanding mission of the University in the 95 years between its 1863 founding and 1959 (1959 being the 50 year cut-off for National Register consideration). A number of architects, landscape architects and planners of local, regional and/or national prominence were involved in the design of the individual buildings and the overall plan of the current University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. The aggregate efforts of these design professionals produced a distinctive public university campus landscape, primarily of the mid-19 th to mid-20 th century, which is unique in Massachusetts. Despite the loss of certain buildings and landscape features up to the present time in 2009 and incremental physical changes seen in new window, door and roofing replacements, as well as siding replacements in a small number of buildings, the district retains integrity of location, setting, design, feeling, association, workmanship, and materials.