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Chestnut Hill Reservoir Historic District

Boston CollegeBoston Registered Historic Place stubsChestnut Hill, MassachusettsGeography of BostonHistoric districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Historic districts in Suffolk County, MassachusettsHistoric districts on the National Register of Historic Places in MassachusettsNRHP infobox with nocatNational Register of Historic Places in BostonNational Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, MassachusettsNewton, Massachusetts Registered Historic Place stubs
NewtonMA SudburyAqueductReservoirGateHouse
NewtonMA SudburyAqueductReservoirGateHouse

The Chestnut Hill Reservoir Historic District is a historic district encompassing the Chestnut Hill Reservoir and the surrounding water works facilities which were historically used to provide fresh water to Boston, Massachusetts, and surrounding towns. The district is nearly coextensive with the Chestnut Hill Reservation, a state park managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR); those elements of the water works that are still required as an emergency backup are managed by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). The reservoir is located between Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Boston's Chestnut Hill district, just east of the Boston College Main Campus Historic District. The Chestnut Hill Reservoir was built between 1865 and 1870 to supplement the capacity of the Brookline Reservoir, which was then the terminus of the Cochituate Aqueduct. The Sudbury Aqueduct was completed in 1878, providing water to the reservoir from the Sudbury River in Boston's western suburbs. Its terminal chamber, a single-story granite Romanesque structure with a hip roof, stands across Beacon Street from the reservoir, and houses gates for controlling flow into the reservoir from both the Cochituate Aqueduct (now defunct) and the Sudbury Aqueduct (in backup service), and from the reservoir to the Brookline Reservoir. The other major structure in the district is the high service pumping station, a massive Romanesque structure designed by Arthur Vinal in 1887, which is now a museum.The Chestnut Hill Reservoir and pumping stations were designated a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1989.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Chestnut Hill Reservoir Historic District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Chestnut Hill Reservoir Historic District
Beacon Street, Boston Brighton

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Latitude Longitude
N 42.335083333333 ° E -71.158477777778 °
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Beacon Street

Beacon Street
02138 Boston, Brighton
Massachusetts, United States
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NewtonMA SudburyAqueductReservoirGateHouse
NewtonMA SudburyAqueductReservoirGateHouse
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Chestnut Hill Historic District (Brookline, Massachusetts)
Chestnut Hill Historic District (Brookline, Massachusetts)

The Chestnut Hill Historic District encompasses the historic portion of the village of Chestnut Hill that lies in Brookline, Massachusetts, with only slight overlap into adjacent Newton. The 70-acre (28 ha) district is bounded on the north by Middlesex Road, on the east by Reservoir Lane, on the south by Crafts Road and Massachusetts Route 9, and on the west by Dunster Road. A small portion of the district extends south of Route 9, including a few houses and the Baldwin School on Heath Street. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 17, 1985.The oldest portion of Chestnut Hill, including its colonial roots, lies just over the line in Newton, and was also the part of the village that was the first to be developed as a suburban residential area. When the Brookline section was being planned for development, Frederick Law Olmsted was consulted in 1888, but his plans were not executed. The area was developed between then and about 1920, with large, high-quality houses on well-proportioned lots. Most of the houses in the district are either Colonial Revival or Shingle in their styling; there are also a few earlier Queen Anne houses and a number of later Craftsman-style houses, especially in the Reservoir Lane area which was the last to be developed.Several prominent area architectural firms were engaged in the development of properties in the district. Chapman & Frazer (later Chapman, Frazer & Blinn) were responsible for 29 of the more than 120 houses in the district; Horace Frazer lived in the district, at 471 Heath Street. Putnam & Cox designed seven homes, generally in the Arts and Crafts style, and William Putnam also lived in the district. Arthur Bowditch designed one house, as did the firm of Hartwell & Richardson.