I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 3)

From Dave Brigham:

Contrary to my typical method of writing about Newton's villages, with Newton Corner I've resorted to loosely themed posts. In the first one, I wrote about the main commercial area, discussing the buildings that were torn out of the heart of the village, showcasing older places that still exist, and professing my disdain for the newer structures (see December 11, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 1)"). In the second installment, I featured what I called places of reflection in the village: cemeteries, monuments, churches and the like (see December 18, "I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 2)").

In this third and final post, I will discuss public parks, a yacht club, a significant private home and a handful of former estates that now have educational uses. I'm not sure what to call this theme. Prestige? Wealth? Privilege?

Welcome to the latest chapter in my survey of the 13 villages of my adopted hometown of Newton, Mass. For links to previous posts, see the bottom of this one.

Newton Corner is the only one of the city's 13 villages to feature a yacht club. Sounds pretty posh and highfalutin, right? But this private organization, located at the northeast tip of the village, along the Charles River, seems to be a pretty down-to-earth operation.

Established in 1955, the Newton Yacht Club is a family-oriented outfit, according to its web site. The club supports community events and recreational boating in a number of ways, and maintains what appears to be a pretty low-cost membership program. I love that groups such as this one have co-opted the term "yacht club." As Wikipedia says, "The traditions and prestige normally associated with yacht clubs have to some extent been subverted or appropriated unofficially by groups and businesses calling themselves 'yacht clubs'." There are countless clubs like this around Greater Boston (and the world, I guess), where there are no boats that we landlubbers might consider yachts, steered by Thurston Howell III or millionaire rappers. These clubs are just great places for owners of private boats to cruise around together, hang out, have some fun and do a little something for the community.

About a quarter-mile west of the yacht club, at the corner of Nonantum Road, is 68 Maple Street.

As regular readers know, I don't make it a habit of shooting private homes. "Why is that?" you may ask. If I tried to take photos of every beautiful or interesting or historic house I see, I'd never shoot anything else. I am certainly interested in the stories of the people who lived in these places, but I am more drawn to old commercial structures and businesses and, of course, the beauty of decay and the patina of age.

That being said, here we are talking about an old home. While I noticed this place many years ago, what interested me most about the property on my first walk-by, was the old cement bench at the bottom of the hill behind the house.

Known historically as the Henry Ross/Henry M. Bates House, this Italianate home dates to around 1855, according to MACRIS. "Built...perhaps by master mason Henry Ross, who was the first to live in the house. Ross also was the superintendent of the Newton Cemetery, a rural cemetery, which would have introduced him to picturesque and progressive design ideas," MACRIS theorizes. "While the house has been compromised, enough of its unique design characteristics survive to evince the architectural significance for which it was individually listed on the National Register in 1986." Henry Bates, a Boston banker, acquired the house in 1864, MACRIS indicates.

As for the bench, it looks like it came out of a park or an estate. The letters "PD" are etched into the lower left arm of the bench. I'd love to know where the bench came from, who or what "PD" was and how and why the bench landed on this property. Anybody knows, please fill me in.

While the house has been restored somewhat in recent years, the metal garage in the backyard has completely fallen apart.

Steps aways from the Ross/Bates House is the home of sculptor Gregory Steinsieck.

On a recent drive past here - along very busy Nonantum Road - I noticed this artwork. When I went by on foot to shoot 68 Maple Street, I just had to jog over to check out this outdoor gallery.

Steinsieck, a retired art teacher, is from Newton, according to his web site. "He pursued sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design where as a senior he won the annual Royal Academy of Arts award for most outstanding student." He received his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and his Ed.D. from Columbia University. In addition to his yard, his art is currently on display at the Attleboro Art Museum and the Sprinkler Factory in Worcester.

To learn more about the artist and his process, check out this video:

Artist Profile: Gregory Steinsieck from NewTV on Vimeo.

About a half-mile from the sculpture garden as the crow flies -- but about 35 minutes if you're on foot, since it's on the other side of the Mass. Pike -- is Hunnewell Park.

Squeezed in between the highway, a residential neighborhood, railroad tracks and a New Balance outlet store, the park features softball and soccer/lacrosse fields, a playground, a fenced-in, off-leash dog park and a small patch of woods. The City of Newton acquired the woods in 1969; I'm unclear about the rest of the park.

I thought perhaps this land was formerly an estate, but a 1929 City of Newton map indicates at that point the Boston & Albany Railroad Company owned the site. The park is situated at the bottom of Hunnewell Hill, which defines the eastern edge of Newton Corner, and continues on into Boston's Brighton neighborhood. The hill "may have been named for Frances Hunnewell who owned several parcels of land at [Brighton's] Cleveland Circle during the 1870s," according to the Brighton Allston Historical Society. The Hunnewell name will come up again further down this post.

Moving on, to another park.

Farlow Park, bounded by Centre, Church, Eldredge and Vernon streets, has been offering locals a place to relax, play, run around or flaunt their money since it was completed in 1888.

John Farlow donated some of his farmland to the city in 1880, for the purpose of building a park. "Even though Newton had several private parks on large estates such as Billings Park, nowhere in the city was there a park for the average citizen," according to The Friends of Farlow Park. There is a Billings Park just up the road from Farlow Park; it's a horseshoe-shaped road enclosing four beautiful homes.

Farlow Park was designed by George F. Meacham, whose work includes the Boston Public Garden. While Newtonians enjoyed the park in the ensuing decades, eventually Farlow began to show its age, due both to the inevitable march of time and some poor decisions by caretakers. "Over the years, the wooden bridge was torn down and replaced by a cement slab with chain link siding. The pond was drained and the depression partially filled with soil," the Friends web site reports. "No longer was Farlow Park the shining jewel of Newton where people of all ages would visit the reflective pond and commune with the natural beauty. No longer could children ice skate on the pond during the winter."

Friends of Farlow Park to the rescue! Since 2004, the group has worked with the Newton Parks and Recreation and Planning and Development departments to realize a revitalized public space. A new well was dug for the irrigation system and a restored pond. In 2014, the Board of Aldermen (now City Council) voted to approve the use of Community Preservation funds for the pond, irrigation system and a new bridge. "In 2018, the Farlow Park bridge, inspired by the former wooden Adirondack bridge, was revealed," according to the Friends web site. "This new bridge designed by local architect, Jay Walter, now spans the restored man-made pond."

There are some really cool trees in the park, as well.

Beech trees are perhaps the most common canvas for carving one's name or initials, or those of a love interest. Along Church Street is a Weeping Beech Tree that was planted in 1902.

This little oasis of green is part of the Farlow and Kenrick Parks Historic District. Kenrick Park is an oblong slice of tranquility that bisects Park Street, between Franklin and Church streets. While the homes around the park are absolutely stunning, I don't shoot private homes that often (am I repeating myself?). Not far from the park is the Durant-Kenrick House - on Waverley Street, just past Farlow Road and Kenrick Street. The one-time farm house (including large modern addition used for educational purposes) and grounds function as a museum today. Again, not really my thing to photograph and research. But seek it out; I'm sure it's very cool.

The woodsiest public space in Newton Corner is Edmands Park (aka Cabot Woods).

Established in 1913, the park spans more than 32 acres. The land was deeded to the city by the Edmands Trust, in memory of J. Wiley Edmands and A. Lawrence Edmands, according to the official Edmands Park web site. The former was a financier and businessman and "one of the first promoters of the Newton Horticultural Society." The latter was, apparently, chopped liver.

The park is popular with dog walkers and hikers and art lovers, as evidenced by the poetry at the front entrance.

For many years, locals could skate in the park, too. In 1934, as part of the federal government's Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, the city created a skating pond, a dam, a spillway with a bridge and a warming hut.

The park was used by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, according to the official web site, as well as public school students for a variety of purposes. In the 1950s, "a decision was made to let the woods run their natural course," the web site continues. "As it returned to its natural state, the skating pond quickly became overgrown by both native and invasive plant species, and the former warming hut was reduced to just a chimney."

Warming huts and pond skating are such simple things. While I understand letting nature take back what man had done to the park, would it have killed the powers that be to at least keep the pond from getting overgrown? There was a warming hut at Bullough's Pond on the Newtonville/Newton Centre line until a few years ago. I took pictures of it in its last days (see October 5, 2017, "On Thin Ice").

Within walking distance of Cabot Woods are three former estates now used for educational purposes. The first one, located at 825 Centre Street, set back from the road, serves as the Alumni House of Boston College Law School.

(Not a great photo, I know. I was pressed for time and it was raining.)

"The Henry I. Harriman House is a historic French château style house...." per Wikipedia. "Built in 1916...it is one of Newton's most elegant 20th-century suburban estate houses....It was known as Putnam House, in honor of benefactor Roger Lowell Putnam, when the campus was that of Newton College of the Sacred Heart. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

"The house was built for power company executive Henry I. Harriman (who later became president of the United States Chamber of Commerce)," Wikipedia continues.

Due north of the B.C. Law School is Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart (I'm unclear whether this private, all-girls Catholic middle/high school is related to the former college). The school, which was founded in Boston in 1880, occupies the former Loren Towle Estate, which the real estate executive never lived in, having died one year before its completion in 1925. "The estate's construction began in 1920...as a 35-room, Gothic-style English Revival mansion with formal gardens, terraces, tennis courts, and garage," according to Wikipedia. "Design of the estate buildings was by Arthur W. Bowditch, and landscaping design was provided by the Olmsted Brothers firm."

Bowditch's other buildings include the former Myles Standish Hotel, which is now a Boston University dorm, and the Paramount Theater in Boston. The Olmsted Brothers were the sons of famed local landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

The estate, as you might imagine, was quite lovely. "Set well back from Centre Street at the end of a circular drive, the Towle Estate originally included a mansion house, several dependencies (service building, large...greenhouse, garage and two cottages) to the north rear, and formally landscaped grounds to the south and west," according to MACRIS. "Later additions to the estate include a 3 1/2 story chapel and 2 1/2 story school wing added to the north side of the mansion house in 1926, a large modern one story wing attached to the earlier addition by a glazed walkway in 1960 and a modern one story, gable roofed outbuilding," per MACRIS."

At the rear of the school property, abutting Westchester Road, partially hidden by trees, I spied something I'ver never seen in all of my backsidin' years.

Any guesses?

If you said a Pyroneel Company incinerator, you're right! The trash-burning system was manufactured by a division of J.C. Rochester & Co., which was based in New York City.

Across from Newton Country Day School is the Carroll Center for the Blind, which is located in the former Prescott Estate.

The house "is an example of the quasi-Medieval manner of early Queen Anne architecture," according to MACRIS. "The Prescott residence was built circa 1874 on land that was formerly part of the vast estate of John Wiley Edmands (remember that name?)....John Wiley Edmands came to Newton in 1847 and amassed a fortune in mills. The current house was probably built by Henry Pazolt, a Boston cigar merchant. Beginning ca. 1886 the house was owned by the Prescott family and came to be known locally as the Prescott estate.

In 1954, the Caroll Center moved into the property, which includes a carriage house, stables and a gardener's cottage and greenhouse that were once part of the neighboring Day Estate. The Carroll Center was founded in 1936 as the Catholic Guild for All the Blind, according to the organization's web site. "The Guild provided financial aid, clothing, organized reading circles, employment-seeking assistance, talking books, recreational activities, and transportation."

Today, the center offers those same services, in addition to paid internship opportunities for college graduates who want to become teachers of the visually impaired.

Last on our tour of hoity-toity homes is one connected to two brothers whose business more than a century ago was on the cutting edge of automotive technology.

Currently divided into several condos, 84 Eldredge Street was built in 1898 as the Hunnewell Club, activities at which included pool, billiards, bowling, cards, concerts, theatricals, receptions and parties, according to the Newton Library. The club was founded by Freelan and Francis Stanley, inventors of the Stanley Steamer automobile.

The twin brothers founded the Stanley Motor Carriage Company in 1902, just over the Newton line on Maple Street in Watertown. The brothers, who lived in Newton Corner, founded the company after selling their photographic dry plate business to Eastman Kodak, according to Wikipedia.

The carriage company manufactured steam-powered cars, which ran much cleaner than their gas-powered rivals. The company - ahem - ran out of steam in 1924, having lost the efficiency and power race to cars with internal combustion engines and electric starters, instead of the cranks the Steamers used.

Side note: many years ago, my wife and I went on a short trip to Maine's Sugarloaf Mountain to do some mountain biking. As we sat on the front porch of Kingfield's Herbert Grand Hotel, where we were staying, we heard a lot of wheezing and puffing coming up the street. Along with the other guests, we craned our necks and were surprised -- pleasantly! -- to see a wonderful old Steamer chugging down Main Street. Shortly thereafter, we learned that there is a Stanley Museum in town, and Steamer enthusiasts had gathered for some sort of event. So over the next two days, we regularly saw these funky old cars tooling around town.

The museum celebrates not only the twin brothers behind the steam car and other inventions, but also their nephew Carlton Stanley, with whom Freelan operated a violin-making business; their sister, Chansonetta Stanley Emmons, a photographer; and her daughter, Dorothy, for her paintings.

Back to the Hunnewell Club....Initially, only men from Newton Corner were admitted as members, according to the Newton Library. "[M]en living farther than 4 miles from the clubhouse and all women were allowed only restricted use....The property was sold to the Pomroy Foundation in 1967, but the club kept ownership of the bowling alleys."

I wonder if there are any remnants of those bowling alleys. The Pomroy House was named after Rebecca Pomroy, founder of the Pomroy Home for Orphan Girls in Newton Corner, per MACRIS. The Rebecca Pomroy Foundation currently seeks to “assist worthy charitable organizations that offer and provide health-building, educational and recreational opportunities and guidance to people of all ages in the community, with a special preference for organizations which provide training, education and counseling for girls and young women in need and organizations which operate community centers located in Newton, Massachusetts," according to its web site.

That's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed learning about Newton Corner as much as I did over these three posts. I've only got two villages to go: West Newton and Newtonville. I will take on the former first. Stay tuned....

Here are links to previous posts in the series:

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

April 3, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 2)"

March 27, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part X: Newton Centre (Section 1)"

November 15, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 3)"

October 29, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 2)"

September 24, 2020, "I Seek Newton, Part IX: Nonantum (Section 1)"

March 14, 2018, "I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 3)"

March 8, 2018, "I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 2)"

March 1, 2018, "I Seek Newton, Part VIII: Upper Falls (Section 1)"

March 7, 2017, "I Seek Newton, Part VII: Thompsonville"

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

September 26, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part V: Oak Hill"

June 3, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part IV: Waban"

March 23, 2016, "I Seek Newton, Part III: Newton Highlands"

September 20, 2015, "I Seek Newton, Part II: Auburndale"

May 21, 2015, "I Seek Newton, Part I: Lower Falls"