Quincy, Mass. Historical and Architectural Survey

205 Beale Street (Wollaston School)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Captain Richard Wollaston, a soldier of fortune who is thought to have sailed from London to Massachusetts on the ship Unity, established in 1624 a small settlement to be known at Mount Wollaston in what is now a section of Quincy. This settlement could have been a trading post, fishing station, or simply winter quarters for his charges, group of indentured servants. Despite the fact Wollaston stayed only a few months, the entire neighborhood, including the Wollaston School, is named for him.

Although the present Wollaston School was erected in 1913, its roots go back to 1870 when "a new settlement at Taylor's Hill called Wollaston Heights was started." (Edwards, p. 141). After several temporary buildings. the old Wollaston School, which stood diagonally across the street from the present structure in what is now a park, was completed in 1873 at a cost of $15,616.61. Little is recorded of this early building except a later four room addition was designed by George A. Avery, a Boston architect. An area resident, however, recollects it clearly in a poem that appears in the 1982 Closing Report of the Wollaston School: "I remember the building - / It was gray/ And wooden,/ And peaked, Victorian style./ I like to think/ That there was woodbine/ Hanging from it/ ... "

The architects of the $166,450 Wollaston School of 1913, McLean & Wright, were well known in Quincy. Either together or individually, William H. McLean and Albert Hayden Wright had designed the Gridley Bryant School, 111 Willard Street (1896); probably the Massachusetts Field School, Rawson Road (1896); the Cranch School, 270 Whitwell Avenue (1900), the Adams School, Abigail Avenue (1913) and would further design the Squantum School in 1919. The Wollaston School is closed at the present time but there are persistent discussions concerning its re-opening.

BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
William Churchill- Edwards, Historic Quincy, Massachusetts, 1957. p. 141.
City of Quincy, Quincy Public Schools. Closing Report of Wollaston School.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy: 350 years, 1974, p.51.
--------, "Wollaston of Mount Wollaston." The American Neptune. Vo1. XXXVII, no. 1, January 1977, p. 5-25.
Paul Robert Lyons, Quincy: A Pictorial History, 1983, p. 17.
Original plans, Maintenance Department. Quincy Public Schools.
Quincy Patriot Ledger, Tercentenary Edition, 1925; June 1, 1930, p. 12; September 1, 1965

ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
Between 1901 and 1920 Quincy witnessed a period of unprecedented school building (twelve in this inventory). The discipline of pedagogy, school philosophy and school architecture were well established and numerous books on these subjects appeared then, amongst them the 1902 School Architecture by Edmund March Wheelwright. The author thoroughly explored educational systems and structures in Europe and in the United States. The majority of the American buildings shared certain characteristics in massing: they were self contained buildings (compared to the campus plan of later years), generously fenestrated, with a central axis, side pavillions and decorative elements in the classical revival or colonial revival mode. The Adams School and the Wollaston School, both designed by A. H. Wright in 1913 manifested these tenets as well as those suggested in the 1911 American School Houses, American School Buildings by Fletcher B. Dresslar: "good light and clean air ... undisturbed spaces" .

The Wollaston School, sited on a high basement of ashlar granite blocks, has a symmetrical facade composed of a large center section dominated by five keystoned tall arched windows and a central entrance and two side pavillions which project slightly. The architectural ornamentation is classically derived: an entrance topped by a flat entablature and supported by shaped brackets, brick quoins articulating the corners, and constrasting string courses which, with the stylized low pitch pedimented parapet of the central roof, emphasize the building's classical horizontal massing. The design is institutional style at its best. Not only is the facade elegantly composed, it also states clearly the past function of the building. The Wollaston School is a fine example of a Colonial Revival school structure which has served its community well. It is hoped that soon the structure will be recycled so that it can enhance the neighborhood once again.

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