Brookline Preservation Commission

Demolition Application Report

Address: 484-490 Heath Street
Petitioner: Town of Brookline Public Schools
Building Type: School building
National Register Listing (if Applicable): Chestnut Hill Historic District
Baldwin School
484-490 Heath Street

Historical/Architectural Significance:
The Baldwin School, 484-490 Heath Street, is a Georgian Revival style schoolhouse constructed in 1927. The brick
structure has a slate gable roof, cupola, a projecting pavilion entrance and tall windows which in the gable ends are
derived from the Palladian type. The school house was commissioned by the Town of Brookline and designed by the
prominent architectural firm of Kilham, Hopkins & Greeley. Kilham and Hopkins designed a number of notable school
buildings in Massachusetts, and in Brookline the firm designed many residences in Cottage Farm and on Fisher and Pill
Hills. Walter Kilham, a graduate of the MIT School of Architecture, is also known as the author of Boston After Bulfinch
(1946).

A smaller wooden school building was situated near the site by the 1870s. When it was discontinued, students attended
the Heath School. The wooden school building was demolished by 1897, and a firehouse was built on the site by
1913.The firehouse was torn down in 1960, just before the Town acquired the present Soule Recreation Center behind the
current Baldwin School building. By the late 1920s, the growing school-age population of the northwestern portion of
Brookline necessitated the building of another school. The School Committee’s report in 1925 speaks of overcrowding at
the Heath School, and the solution appeared to be to build a new school near the former site of the old one on Heath
Street. Included in the plans for the school was a branch library, also needed in this section of the Town. The library
closed in 1977 and the school in 1981.

George Storer Baldwin, for whom the school was named as a tribute to his civic leadership and service, was a member of
the Board of Selectmen for a number of years, a member of the State Legislature, and served on a number of local boards.

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The building is a contributing structure in the Chestnut Hill Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1985. The Baldwin School, 484-490 Heath Street, meets the following criteria for an initial determination of
significance:

b. The building is listed on or is within an area listed on the National or State Registers of Historic Places; is eligible for
listing on the National or State Registers of historic places; or is a building for which a preliminary determination of
eligibility has been made by the Massachusetts Historical Commission;

c. The building is associated with one or more significant historic persons or events, or with the broad architectural,
cultural, political, economic, or social history of the Town or Commonwealth; and

d. The building is historically or architecturally significant in terms of its period, style, method of construction, or its
association with a significant architect or builder, either by itself or as part of a group of buildings.

The Baldwin School retains integrity of location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association.

Aerial view of 484-490 Heath Street, looking south.

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Aerial view of 484-490 Heath Street, looking east.

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Aerial view of 484-490 Heath Street, looking north.

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Aerial view of 484-490 Heath Street, looking west.

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View of the west elevation of 484-490 Heath Street.

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View of the west and south elevations of 484-490 Heath Street.

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View of the south elevation of 484-490 Heath Street.

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View of the east elevation of 484-490 Heath Street.

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View of the north elevation of 484-490 Heath Street.

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View of the north and west elevations of 484-490 Heath Street.

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1884 G.M. Hopkins & Co. atlas, plate 17. 1897 French & Bryant atlas, plate 25.

1913 G.W. Bromley and Co. atlas, plate 21. 1927 G.W. Bromley and Co. atlas, plate 22.

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