The Loveliest Gatehouse

From Dave Brigham:

Quite some time ago I was struck by the idea of documenting gatehouses in Greater Boston, and compiling photos and writing about them here. Honestly, though, I'm not sure I'm going to find one that's lovelier than the one on Fisher Hill in Brookline.

Abutting the former Newbury College property, and across Fisher Avenue from a senior living facility under development, the former Fisher Hill Reservoir in 2016 was converted into a 10-acre park featuring an athletic field, a playground, walking paths and a promenade with sitting areas. The reservoir was drained and filled.

Built in 1886-87 under the direction of Boston City Engineer William Jackson, the reservoir and attendant gatehouse, which housed sluice gates, valves and/or pumps to control the flow of water, were eventually incorporated into the metropolitan Boston water system im 1898, according to the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the gatehouse "has a granite substructure, stone main floor, brick second story, and slate hip roof," per the historical commission. "Brownstone is used for quoins and window arches, including the oversized voussoirs above round-arched openings in the main floor. Raised relief terra cotta decorative panels on the building's facade are an instant (sic) of purely decorative detail unusual in the architecture of the Boston and Metropolitan Water Boards."

Lovely to look at, lovely to read about.

(A view of the athletic field.)

The gatehouse was taken out of service in the 1950s and sat unused for decades. In order to turn a long-abandoned gatehouse and reservoir into the fantastic public asset it is today, the City of Brookline turned to Argus Construction Corp. The company cut and removed invasive, unhealthy and dead trees and other vegetation, which comprised the majority of the plant material on site, according to the Brookline Recreation Department.

I still plan to make photos of more gatehouses and write about them here, so stay tuned.

For more Backside coverage of gatehouses, check out:

April 10, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 3)"

December 5, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part VI: Chestnut Hill"