Postcards from Boston #5 - Engine Company 33

Located at 941 and 951 Boylston St. in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, two adjoining Richardsonian Romanesque buildings were originally constructed to house the local police and fire stations.  It was the first combination police and fire station in the city of Boston.   Designated landmarks by the City of Boston, the eastern building still functions as a fire house, but the western building has been extensively altered on the interior and repurposed twice since the mid-1970s.

City Architect Arthur H. Vinal designed the buildings in 1886 in the then popular style based on the work of Boston’s most celebrated architect, H. H. Richardson.  Vinal was a prolific architect who designed many buildings in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.  

Chestnut Hill Pumping Station (Photo courtesy of HAER)

His most celebrated design is the Chestnut Hill Pumping Station on Beacon Street in the Allston/Brighton neighborhood, completed in 1888.  The Pumping Station is even more of a direct homage to Richardson, reminding one of the series of libraries Richardson designed late in his career.

Police District 16 occupied the larger four story building at 951 which was noted as “the handsomest station house in America” in 1888, a year after its completion.   By the early 1900s, the police needed additional space and a small building at 955 Boylston was constructed in the Classical Revival style.  (It now houses Dillon’s Restaurant, named for a police captain who served here from 1920 until 1950).  Both buildings continued to serve their original function until 1975, when District 16 was consolidated with another nearby police district.  At that time, the four story building was completely gutted and renovated by Graham Gund Architects for use by the Institute of Contemporary Art.  Galleries and other spaces were created around a centralized staircase.  The Institute moved to larger quarters in 2007, and the building was acquired by the Boston Architectural College, which has its main building immediately to the north facing Newbury Street.  The College spent $14 million to purchase and renovate the building, which opened in 2012.  It was the first building added to its campus in 50 years.  The Newbury and Boylston buildings are connected by way of a green alley sustainability project.

The eastern building has always functioned as home to Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 15.  It is connected to the police station by a central bay with a large opening that led to shared stable yards behind the buildings.  

Two huge arched openings on the fire station accommodated the equipment including the first ladder truck in Boston to be equipped with a three-horse hitch, and the first turntable aerial truck.  Plaques at the entrances memorialize four Boston firefighters killed in the line of duty who served out of the building:  Cornelius J. Noonan (d. 1938), Richard F. Concannon (d. 1961), Richard B. Magee (d. 1972), and Stephen F. Minehan (d. 1994). 

A tall turret at the northeast corner of the building was designed so that the heavy canvas hoses could be hung to dry.  

Classic Richardsonian Romanesque features of the buildings include numerous arches over doors and windows, carved foliate decoration, heavy rusticated stone, and clusters of engaged columns between windows.  

Fire alarm box on Boylston Street;

side of building visible at far right

Postcards from Boston #2 - Trinity Church

H. H. Richardson’s design for Trinity Church on Boston’s Copley Square firmly established him as the most important architect in this country, and also made him the first to be recognized and respected abroad.  This distinction was reinforced when his fellow architects selected Trinity Church to head the list of the ten best buildings in the United States in 1885.  A century later, it was the only building from the original list to be included in a similar survey sponsored by the American Institute of Architects.  More recently, Geoffrey Baer included the building in his PBS documentary “Ten Buildings That Changed America.”

Richardson received the commission through a competition in the spring of 1872, of which he was one of six architects invited to submit.  By the time construction began on the building itself in 1874, Richardson had moved his home and office to Brookline, so that he could closely supervise the building.  He would remain in Brookline for the remainder of his life, resulting in the largest concentration of his work being located in Boston and surrounding towns.

One of four piers supporting the tower

Work began in 1873 when 4,500 wooden piers were driven into the ground to support the enormous weight of the building.  Four huge piers in the sanctuary support the weight of the tower, and sit upon granite pyramids underground, measuring forty feet wide by twenty feet tall.  This massive engineering feat was essential, given that the site sat in the middle of the Back Bay, a former swampy area that had been filled in over the preceding fifteen years.  

Parish House

The overall plan of the building is in the shape of a Greek cross, with the Parish House extending to the northeast, reflecting the original irregularly shaped plot of land.

The exterior comprises four different types of local granite and is trimmed with Longmeadow brownstone.  Richly carved ornament is set amidst walls featuring Richardson’s trademark polychrome stone work, including checkboard and zigzag patterns on the front façade, and eight-petaled flowers on the apse.  

Inspiration for the overall design includes the French Romanesque which Richardson studied extensively during his years at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in the early 1860s.  His refinement of the style led to what later became known as Richardsonian Romanesque and characterized the buildings in the later years of his career.  The cathedral at Salamanca, Spain served as a model for the large tower. 

In 1876, at Richardson’s request, the congregation hired John La Farge to complete the interior decoration.  As noted by Keith Morgan in his Buildings of Boston, “(La Farge), assisted by Augustus St. Gaudens and a team of American artists, produced the most extensive scheme of figurative and architectural painted ornament of any American building up to that time, influencing the emergency of mural decoration in American public buildings.”

The interior features an exceptionally open auditorium for Rev. Phillips Brooks, a Harvard classmate of Richardson, considered one of the finest preachers of the late 19^th century.  A marble bust by Daniel Chester French dominates the baptistry, and was completed in 1897.  It commemorates Brooks’ 22 years as rector of Trinity Church, and his two years as Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, in which position he served until his death in 1893.

Christ in Majesty (detail)

The church features a dazzling collection of American and European stained glass windows.  Five are by La Farge, including the Christ in Majesty window set into three lancets over the main entrance, and his New Jerusalem window in the north transept.  

The New Jerusalem (detail)

That area features a series of windows by Sir Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co., who also designed the window, David’s Charge to Solomon, located in the baptistry.  

David's Charge to Solomon

William Morris as the head of Goliath (detail from upper right of window)

A humorous note is that Burne-Jones incorporated Morris’ image in the window, as the severed head of Goliath being held in the right hand of David.  Other English windows include a series of seven surrounding the chancel by Clayton & Bell of London and several by Henry Holiday, also of London, including Three Scenes in St. Paul’s Life, shown below.

Three Scenes in St. Paul's Life

The building was consecrated in February 1877 with the total cost of the site and building at $635,000.  In 1897, Richardson’s successors, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, added the richly carved west porch, combining Richardson’s general scheme and the design of St. Trophime, a Romanesque church in Arles, France.  The firm returned to add the massive sculptural pulpit in 1914.  Architects Maginnis and Walsh extensively remodeled the apse in 1937-1938 to reflect the shift toward a more ceremonial form of worship.

2015

2017

A major restoration and expansion was begun in 2003, and continues to this day, with significant work on the exterior being undertaken during 2017. 

Postcards from Boston #1 - First Spiritual Temple

During the first week of August 2017, nearly two dozen docents, staff, and supporters of Glessner House Museum journeyed to Boston, Massachusetts to explore the work of H. H. Richardson and his contemporaries.  Over the next few months, we will be bringing our readers a series of "postcards" from Boston highlighting some of the buildings we saw - some well known, some less so.  

We begin our series with the First Spiritual Temple located at 26 Exeter Street.  

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Hartwell & Richardson in 1884 and was completed the following year.  Hartwell & Richardson was a Boston-based architectural firm founded in 1881 by Henry Walker Hartwell and William Cummings Richardson (no relation to H. H. Richardson).  The firm was prolific through the late 19th century, designing numerous churches and municipal buildings in its early years, and many residences later on.  Their most significant commission is generally regarded to be Osgood Hill, the Moses T. Stevens estate in North Andover, Maryland, completed in 1886.  

Osgood Hill and First Spiritual Temple both owe much to H. H. Richardson, and demonstrate the enormous impact he had on other architects of the period.

The First Spiritual Temple, a classic example of the Richardsonian Romanesque style, was the first house of worship built in the United States for the Spiritualists, who popularized the idea that the living could commune with the dead.  The movement originated in New York and gained popularity in the mid- to late-19th century and included the use of mediums, seances, the Ouija board, and other ways of connecting with the dearly departed.  The popularity of Spiritualism declined in the early 20th century and for seventy years the Temple operated as the 900-seat Exeter Street Theater.  After years housing various commercial enterprises, it was converted into the Kingsley Montessori School, which currently occupies the structure.

Classic features of the building which show the influence of Richardson include the rusticated stone in two contrasting colors, the tall dormers rising up from the wall surface below, clustered columns around window groupings, polychromatic stone work in checkerboard and leaf patterns on the front facade, and of course, the extensive use of the arch.  

Looking at the building as a whole, it is composed of a simple large box richly ornamented to give it an imposing presence on its corner site.  

The name "First Spiritual Temple" is set into the stone above the entry arch, amidst richly carved foliate decoration.  Immediately below, two medallions depict the words Religion and Science atop a globe sitting over a cross, and a triangular arrangement of the words Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity with a downward flying bird at the top point, and six-pointed stars at the lower points.  (Another six-pointed star sits over the side entrance on Newbury Street).  

Above the Temple name to either side, ghostly faces are carved into the stone, another indication of the original purpose of the building.

Today, passers-by continue to note the impressive architecture, but few are aware of the other-worldly movement that led to its construction in the 1880s.

Richardsonian Romanesque in Washington, D.C.

During the 1880s, architect H. H. Richardson designed four residences in Washington, D.C.  Within a five year period in the mid-1920s, however, all four of these structures were demolished.  (The façade of one, built for John Glessner’s business partner, Benjamin H. Warder, was salvaged and rebuilt at a different location.)  In spite of this disregard for the importance of these buildings, Richardson’s legacy survives in our capital city through a number of prominent buildings designed by local architects in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.  In this article, we will look at three of the most significant structures, all located on the 900 block of F Street, NW.

Atlantic Building

930 F Street, NW

The oldest of the three, the Atlantic Building, was completed in 1888 and, at eight stories, was the largest commercial structure in the city at that time.  The building was constructed as a speculative office building by a group of Washington businessmen, headed by attorney Alexander Thompson Britton.  Many of the 142 offices were rented to attorneys who appreciated the convenience of being near the Patent Office and Pension Building on the next block.  The eighth floor contained two large assembly rooms which hosted numerous important meetings including one at which the National Zoo was founded.  President Benjamin Harrison’s 1890 inaugural committee used one of the rooms for their headquarters.

The architect of the building was James G. Hill.   Born in 1841, Hill headed the Office of the Supervising Architect of the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1876 to 1883.  During that period he designed or supervised numerous projects including courthouses, post offices, and other public buildings in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.  Many of these are designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, including the Old Post Office in Albany, New York, one of several Hill buildings listed on the National Register.

Photo by John McWilliams for HABS, 1990 (Library of Congress)

The Atlantic Building was among the last to be constructed with load bearing masonry walls but one of the first DC office buildings to contain a passenger elevator.  A wooden staircase wraps around a skylit stairwell, providing secondary access to the offices featuring fireplaces with wood mantels and decorative tiles.  The ground floor, originally designed with projecting show windows, was designed for retail use.

A variety of materials are used to present a highly ornamented and decorative façade.  The ground floor retail space features a cast iron façade, with Sullivanesque-style flourishes including the name “ATLANTIC BUILDING” set amidst lush foliate decoration.  The second and third floors are grouped under a series of three arches, with recessed spandrels displaying a checkerboard pattern of two contrasting stones, a device frequently used by Richardson.  

The remaining floors are faced in brick with floors four through six grouped together under arches with richly decorated recessed terra cotta spandrel panels.  

The seventh floor is simpler with smaller single story arched window openings and two groupings of clustered columns.  The eight floor, the location of the large assembly rooms, is the most simple, and is set beneath a tall parapet wall with a large decorative center panel featuring the year construction began, 1887.

Photo by John McWilliams for HABS, 1990 (Library of Congress)

The building was in poor condition when it was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1990, including photographs by John McWilliams.  It was extensively restored in recent years as part of a larger development that includes new and renovated buildings wrapping around the corner onto 10^th Street, extending south to Ford’s Theatre.  It is listed as a Category III Landmark in the District of Columbia. 

National Union Building

918 F Street, NW

The National Union Building was designed by a devoted admirer of H. H. Richardson, architect Glenn Brown.  Born in 1854 in Virginia, Brown rejected the classical training he received at M.I.T. and instead chose to follow Richardson, a fellow Southerner, whose designs were “not limited and bound by rules and regulation.”  Brown spent two years as the Clerk of Works for O. W. Norcross, the firm selected by Richardson to construct many of his most important buildings (including Glessner House).  Although Brown greatly admired Richardson’s work, he did not feel that the architects who continued in the style were nearly as successful.  As noted in Brown’s 1931 Memoirs, “While all of Richardson’s work was artistic, interesting and cultured, he set a fashion in architecture that produced monstrosities throughout the country.  Not a single one of his followers produced an example worthy of notice.”  (Presumably he excluded himself from that evaluation).

Brown served for many years as secretary of the American Institute of Architects, and was largely responsible for the purchase of the Octagon House in Washington, D.C. as its national headquarters.  He also took a deep interest in the L’Enfant Plan for the city and his work in advocating the plan led to the establishment of the Senate Park Commission and their 1901 Plan for Washington.  A prolific author, he wrote the two-volume History of the U. S. Capitol in 1901-1904, and was also deeply interested in historic preservation, leading the restoration efforts at Gunston Hall and Pohick Episcopal Church, both located in Fairfax County in his native Virginia.

Among Brown’s other projects in Washington, D.C. is the Dumbarton Bridge, which carries Q Street across Rock Creek Park between Dupont Circle and Georgetown.  The bridge, completed in 1915, was inspired by a Roman aqueduct and is one of numerous projects by Brown to be listed on the National Register. 

The National Union Building was constructed in 1890 for the National Union Fire Insurance Company, which occupied the structure until after World War II.   Given the original owner, it is not surprising that the structure was constructed using a fireproof steel frame, combined with brick bearing walls.   Although the building is quite narrow, its façade measuring only 26 feet across, the use of rusticated stone and design elements spanning more than one story give it a commanding presence on the street.

The first two stories are combined under a pair of large arches set atop three pilasters with richly ornamented capitals, the center one of which features an owl set amongst the foliage.  Most noticeable is the pair of recessed spandrels featuring six-petalled flowers composed of stones in contrasting colors.  The effect is reminiscent of similar flowers seen on the façade of Richardson’s Austin Hall at Harvard, which also features the checkerboard stone patterning copied for the Atlantic Building.  

Floors three and four, set beneath a huge panel reading “NATIONAL UNION BUILDING,” are united by two-story groupings of clustered columns at either end, framing slightly bowed ribbon windows.  The remaining floors feature smaller windows expressing the four bays, the sixth floor window openings set beneath arches and framed with engaged columns, a treatment similar to Richardson’s Allegheny County Courthouse.  Set above the sixth floor is a row of sixteen small windows illuminating the attic, set beneath a decorative cornice.   

The west side of the building, facing into an alley, features a brick-faced oriel window extending from floors two through six.  The interior of the building was designed with tiled vestibules on the east side of each floor, with all of the offices facing west, accessed by an open cage elevator and a wide metal staircase. 

Washington Loan & Trust Company Building

900 F Street, NW

This building, the largest of the three, has maintained a commanding presence over the intersection of F and 9^th Streets since it was completed in 1891 for Washington’s largest and oldest trust company.  The architect was James G. Hill, the same architect who designed the Atlantic Building (see above).  Given the stylistic similarities with Adler & Sullivan’s Auditorium Building in Chicago, completed just two years earlier, one can’t help but assume Hill was familiar with that iconic building and used it as inspiration.

The original building for the Trust Company was considerably smaller than the current structure, extending only four bays along F Street.  When six additional bays were added in 1926-1927 under the direction of architect Arthur B. Heaton, every element of the original design was replicated exactly, forming an overall seamless composition. 

Classified as a Category II Landmark in the District of Columbia and listed on the National Register, the building is one of the very finest Richardsonian Romanesque buildings in the capital city.  Faced in rusticated gray granite, the façade extends nine bays along 9^th Street, where one can sense the rhythm of the fenestration, set into four distinct sections.  

The ground floor windows and doorways are set beneath huge arches with a row of simple unadorned transomed-windows above, all set beneath a belt-course with dentil trim.  The four floors above are grouped under arched arcades, highlighted with delicate colonettes at the piers.  These four floors are especially reminiscent of the Auditorium Building design.  The third section consists of two additional floors with simpler pairs of double hung windows set beneath another course of bolder dentil trim.  The upper most floor features windows set beneath arches with pairs of columns forming the piers, all set beneath another row of dentil trim and a dentated cornice.

In later years, the building was occupied by Riggs Bank.  It now houses a Courtyard by Marriott hotel and brew pub.

Together these three buildings provide an outstanding opportunity to experience how architects perpetuated the Richardsonian Romanesque style in the years immediately following the architect’s death in 1886.  As a grouping, they also provide a well-preserved visual reminder of the late 19^th-century period in Washington, D.C.’s architectural history.