place

Chestnut Hill Reservoir

Boston geography stubsBuildings and structures in Suffolk County, MassachusettsChestnut Hill, MassachusettsInfrastructure in BostonLakes of Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Landforms of BostonProtected areas of Suffolk County, MassachusettsReservoirs in Massachusetts
BCreservoir2
BCreservoir2

Chestnut Hill Reservoir is a reservoir created in 1870 on existing marshes and meadowland to supplement the city of Boston's water needs, located in its namesake neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. A 1.56 mile jogging loop abuts the reservoir. Chestnut Hill Reservoir was taken offline in 1978 as it was no longer needed for regular water supply distribution, but is maintained in emergency backup status. It is recognized today on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission in 1989. On May 1, 2010, the Chestnut Hill Reservoir was temporarily brought back online during a failure of a connecting pipe at the end of the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel. The Sudbury aqueduct was also activated to feed Chestnut Hill from the Foss and Sudbury reservoirs to keep the supply going. Separately the Spot Pond reservoir, also an emergency source, was tapped during the pipe break incident. Though a boil-water order was issued for fear that the water would not be safe to drink, following heavy treatment with chlorine later tests showed the water to be completely safe for drinking.

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

Chestnut Hill Reservoir
Beacon Street, Boston Brighton

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Chestnut Hill ReservoirContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.335083333333 ° E -71.158477777778 °
placeShow on map

Address

Beacon Street

Beacon Street
02138 Boston, Brighton
Massachusetts, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

BCreservoir2
BCreservoir2
Share experience

Nearby Places

Chestnut Hill Reservoir Historic District
Chestnut Hill Reservoir Historic District

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.

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.