Classical Revival

Baker Free Library // 1914

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In 1912, Congressman Henry M. Baker, cousin of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, left in his will, $10,000 and the land next to his family home to the Town of Bow for the creation of a public library for his hometown. Architect, William McLean formerly of the firm, McLean and Wright, who specialized in library designs of the early 20th century, was selected to furnish plans for Bow’s new library, which employs a sort of Classical Revival/Beaux Arts design, similar to many Carnegie libraries of the time. As the town grew, the library has been expanded.

Thayer Memorial Library // 1868

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One of the four stately brick buildings framing the Lancaster Town Common in Lancaster, Massachusetts, is this brick and brownstone building, the historic town library. The story of the town’s first purpose-built library building began in 1866, when wealthy resident, Nathaniel Thayer offered $5,000 to the town for the erection of a new library in his hometown. Quickly, a committee of residents, led by Mr. Thayer, worked to acquire land from the First Church of Christ in Lancaster and hire architects Ryder & Harris of Boston to furnish plans for the new building, which was set to be a library and Memorial Hall dedicated to the 39 Lancaster men who died fighting in the Civil War. Nathaniel Thayer ultimately donated two-thirds of the final cost of the building, believed to be nearly $30,000, in addition to his already established $5,000 for books. The building was updated later with the addition of a children’s room in 1929, a gift of Mrs. Bayard Thayer in memory of her son, another Nathaniel Thayer. The Classical/Renaissance Revival style building stands out for its unique central brownstone pedimented bay with engaged columns and balcony over the main entrance. 

People’s Savings Bank // 1913

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Built in the mode of a Greek temple, the former People’s Savings Bank was built in 1913 on a prominent site overlooking Market Square in the East Side neighborhood of Providence. Designed by the Providence-based architectural firm of Clarke & Howe, the handsome marble-faced two-story bank showcases the bold, yet clean proportions found in many Classical Revival style institutional buildings of the early 20th century. The People’s Savings Bank was established in 1851 and after decades of growth, built this structure to show customers the prosperity and stability of their institution. After a series of bank acquisitions and mergers in the 20th century, the building was eventually acquired by the Rhode Island School of Design, who had the building converted into studio space and later into the college’s hardware store. Yes, you heard that right… Talk about adaptive reuse!

Woodrow Wilson School // 1932

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The Woodrow Wilson School, now Dr. William W. Henderson K-12 Inclusion School, is located at 18 Croftland Avenue in the Ashmont neighborhood of Dorchester. The school was built in 1932 to accommodate increased development and population growth in the immediate area in the interwar period and was designed in a blending of Classical Revival and Art Deco styles, both popular at the time for such academic buildings. The building was named for Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), the 28th President of the United States and was designed to comfortably accommodate 1,600 students. Architect, John Matthew Gray designed the building to conform to a plan drafted by the City of Boston in 1923 to standardize all new school construction down to the precise dimensions of windows and hallways. The permitted flexibility for hired architects was strictly on the exterior, where architects were free to create individual character in the designs of entryways, auditoriums, and exterior architectural styles and decoration. The entry of the Woodrow Wilson School depicts Art Deco motifs including lettering and inlaid carved panels over the door of a child reading and a child holding a globe. The school was renamed the Dr. William W. Henderson K-12 Inclusion School after the innovative educator of the same name.


Forbes Public High School // 1924

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The former Forbes Public High School in Westborough, Massachusetts, is an excellent example of a civic building in the Classical Revival style. Built in 1924 for a growing suburban community, the building was constructed as the town’s high school with the grounds and substantial funding donated by Francis and Fannie Forbes, life-long residents of town with Francis having roots going back to the earliest settlers here. The building was permitted in late 1924 and plans were drawn by the firm of Ritchie, Parsons & Taylor. who designed the large school with stone and brick construction, large arched windows, and pilasters breaking up the bays. Inside, the new building had 14 classrooms, a gymnasium, a shop room, and cooking rooms, all with fine carved woodwork. After WWII, Westborough further consolidated its schools, and built a new High School nearby. This building was repurposed as the Forbes Municipal Building, containing city offices and the Police Department headquarters.

Westborough Public Library // 1908

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The Westborough Public Library is a handsome, two-story, masonry building with additions to showcase the growth and importance of the library to the community. This building was constructed in 1908, replacing a small space in the first floor of the old Town Hall (since demolished) as the community’s first purpose-built library. The structure was designed by architect Penn Varney, who specialized in civic buildings in New England. The Classical Revival style building is constructed of buff brick with stone trimmings. Of particular note, the quoined arched entry and pediment with central wreath motif, add much to the design. The library was eventually outgrown, and in 1980, an addition was added to the rear, in a style taking cues from the main building, but clearly of its time. The Town of Westborough about to undergo a restoration and renovation to the library, including a new roof, HVAC systems, interior renovations and the restoration of the 1908 windows.

Former Somerville District Courthouse // 1925

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The former Somerville District Courthouse at 19 Walnut Street in Union Square, is a two-story masonry building constructed in 1925. While much smaller and less ornate than other courthouses, the small building is significant as the first courthouse built in the young city and an architecturally significant example of a Classical Revival style civic building designed by architect Charles R. Greco. The building served as the Somerville District Courthouse until the late 1960s, when the legislature authorized a new district courthouse. The City of Somerville purchased the old courthouse in 1969, and the building has housed offices for the City’s Recreation Commission since that time. Interestingly, the building was used for the filming of a courthouse scene in the 1980’s “Spencer for Hire” TV detective show.

Somerville National Bank // 1908

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This altered, yet significant building on Bow Street in Somerville’s Union Square commercial district, was built in 1908 as the Somerville National Bank. The Somerville National Bank was chartered in 1892 and was the city’s first and only local bank until the 1930s. After nearly two decades of renting space in another building, the bank hired the architectural firm of Gay & Proctor, to furnish plans for this handsome suburban bank building. Constructed of brick with stone trim, the building originally featured a large, arched window at the facade, which was replaced by a more contemporary opening. Classical Revival details remain, from the monumental gable pediment with dentils, to the parapet with classical moldings. The bank has been repurposed into mixed use space, with a cafe on the ground floor and yoga and wellness studio above.

Rockland Memorial Library // 1903

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The Rockland Memorial Library in Rockland, Massachusetts is one of the most architecturally and historically significant buildings in the town. The Classical Revival style library was built in 1903 and is the Town of Rockland’s first purpose-built library structure. When Rockland separated from adjacent Abington in 1874, much of the collection became housed in a commercial building, which was consumed by fire in 1890, taking much of the collections with it. Although funds were raised soon after the fire for a permanent home for the library, its construction was made possible by a grant of $12,500 from Andrew Carnegie in 1902, as part of his nationwide gift to cities and towns for libraries. The handsome structure is constructed of brick, granite, and terra cotta, and was designed by the Boston-based architectural firm of McLean & Wright. The most interesting features of the building include the rooftop dome containing skylights and capped by a finial and the projecting entrance with pediment, quoins, and engaged Ionic columns.

Old Rockland High School // 1908

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Rockland, Massachusetts, was incorporated in 1874 as the result of a dispute over the construction of an expensive school building in Abington Center in 1871 and the belief that East Abington could develop into a more successful industrial community if separate from Abington. By the turn of the 20th century, there were approximately 900 children in Rockland between the ages of 5 and 15 who were being educated in the local school system, largely comprised of first- and second-generation immigrants, arriving to the area to work in shoe manufacturing. Many smaller, schools dotted the landscape until a larger, consolidated school was built 1892. Decades later, prosperity and a growing population necessitated a new school, and the architectural firm of Cooper & Bailey, designed the town’s first brick school building. Classical Revival in style, the building features a prominent pediment supported by two, two-story Ionic columns and dentilated cornice. The building is now a community center – housing a day care, pre-school and meeting spaces for Girl Scouts. The building also housed Rockland’s senior center prior to the construction of a new senior center elsewhere in town. It suffers from deferred maintenance and is in need of some attention.

New England Fireproof Construction Co. Apartments // 1917

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One of the most unique and architecturally pleasing buildings in Brookline has to be these apartments on Egmont and St. Paul streets that break the mold of traditional brick or wood-frame apartment houses. Built in 1917 by the New England Fireproof Construction Company as an example of how cheaper cement material can be used effectively and beautifully to design and construct high-quality housing. The company hired architect G. Bertram Washburn to design the buildings which utilize concrete block and cast concrete details with the facades embellished with pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals, engaged balusters, and modillioned and corniced entrances decorated with a lion’s head over each doorway. Additionally, a special touch is the recessed wells in the facade which not only break up the massing of the building, but provide additional light and air into the apartments inside. 

Central Falls Police Station and Courthouse // 1914

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Built jointly by the city of Central Falls and the state of Rhode Island, this Classical Revival style building originally contained both the local police station and a district court house. The symmetrical building was designed by William R. Walker and Son, a Providence design firm, who specialized in large, civic and commercial buildings. The gray brick building is trimmed with limestone and stands three-stories under a hipped tile roof capped by decorative cresting. In the 1970s, the courthouse moved out and the entire building came into the ownership of the City of Central Falls and is today owned by the Central Falls Redevelopment Agency, which frankly worries me about the future of this important building. Does anyone know about plans for the building? 

Adams Memorial Library, Central Falls // 1910

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When Stephen L. Adams, a public-spirited citizen and a member of the school committee in Central Falls, Rhode Island, passed away in 1900, he left a bequest to provide for the erection and maintenance of a library building for his community. It would take years until a site in the center of town was acquired and contracts were written for designing and building the city’s first purpose-built library. Architect, William H. McLean of the firm McLean & Wright were hired to furnish plans, which is supposed to have been modified from a number of prototypes for small-town libraries supplied to set standards by the Carnegie Corporation in conjunction with its endowment of such facilities in cities and towns throughout the United States. While this is not a Carnegie Library, it does mimic many design elements found in similar libraries by the corporation. The Adams Library in Central Falls is Classical Revival in style and built of light brick with limestone trim with a symmetrical facade dominated by a columned, pedimented portico.

Temple Court Apartments // 1912

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Constructed in 1912, Temple Court at 15 Lynde Street was erected on the site of two earlier buildings during a period of great population growth in Salem. The parcels here were acquired by Aroline C. Gove (1857-1939), a prominent local property-owner and developer between 1908 and 1911. Ms. Gove was a prominent Salem citizen and daughter of notable inventor and businesswoman Lydia Pinkham. With a business-oriented mindset like her mother, Aroline hired architect Harry Prescott Graves of Lowell to furnish plans for an apartment building on this site. Completed in 1912, the apartment building, known as Temple Court, included 36 units with two-, three-, and four-room suites with a live-in janitor. The building is unique for Salem as a courtyard style building, more common in Boston and Brookline. The building’s large mass is broken up by its setback with the U-shaped form and central landscaped courtyard, series of projecting octagonal bays, and multiple entrances. Temple Court was converted to condominiums in the 1980s.

Colonial Theater Building // 1899

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One of my favorite buildings on Boylston Street in Boston is the ten-story Colonial Theater Building, a landmark Classical Revival style structure of stone. Built in 1899, the Colonial Theater replaced the original Boston Public Library building (1855) which was demolished by 1898, and relocated to Copley Square. The Colonial Theater was designed by famed theater architect, Clarence Blackall and is said to be the oldest, intact theater in Boston. The theatre first opened its doors for a performance of Ben-Hur on December 20, 1900 with a sold out show. Ben-Hur operated with a cast and crew of 350 people and featured eight live horses on stage in full gallop during the chariot race scene, with the play being so mechanically and technically extraordinary it was featured on the cover of Scientific American. While cheekily named the Colonial Theater, the interior theater spaces were anything but. The spaces originally contained murals and Baroque style finishes, many of which remain today. Beyond the 1,700-seat theater, the building contained between 250-300 professional offices. The building is owned by Emerson College, who underwent a massive restoration project of the building with Elkus Manfredi architects. Allowing the oldest Boston theater to shine again!