A Simple, Century-Old Building Raises Many Questions in My Mind

From Dave Brigham:

Every once in a while, a hot tip comes in over the transom here at Backside of America World Headquarters. I love getting such leads, because it confirms to me that I'm not the only one out there who notices cool murals, old mill buildings, abandoned railroad tracks and the like. A little while back, a neighbor told me about a named building on the Newton/Watertown line.

"THE UNIVERSITY PRINTS" is engraved over the stately door of this building, which at first I thought contained apartments. The building sticks out along this residential street, on which are located various one- and two-family homes, in styles ranging from Dutch Colonial to regular Colonial to farmhouses to mansard-roofed abodes. My neighbor who was canvassing ahead of primary elections over the summer showed me a picture she took of this building, guessing correctly that I would find it interesting.

I had planned to include this building in my three-part series about Newton Corner, but when I looked into this place a little more closely, I realized it's not in Newton. It's in Watertown, albeit just over the line. The funny thing is, depending on where you look online, this old brick building, which was built around 1920, is listed as being in either town. Google Maps tells me this is Watertown. Hovering over the address - 9 Boyd Street, Watertown - brings up a listing for USA Rugby Club (aka USA Sports Club), which may be a legitimate business, I don't know.

In searching for "The University Prints" and "Watertown MA" online, however, I came up empty. But doing that search and choosing Newton, I got results. The first thing that came up was a book called The University Prints: Series O, Section III - Japanese Art. The authors are Harold Gould Henderson and Robert Treat Paine, Jr. The publisher is listed as The University Prints, Newton MA. The date is 1939.

Henderson was a professor at Columbia University for 20 years, and a president of the Japan Society in New York. As for Paine, I'm unsure what to think. The one listed in Wikipedia is the son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but he died well before Henderson was born. He was a poet and editor, so I suppose it's possible that Henderson used some of Paine's writings in the book. Or this Paine could be someone else.

The University Prints put out other art and photography titles, some of which list the company as being in Boston or Cambridge. I'm wondering whether the publisher thought Newton had more cachet than Watertown, and so stole that city as an address.

I'm not sure when The University Prints went out of business. The former owner of this building was Peter Young, who ran a printing company out of this address beginning in 1948, according to the Internet. Did he also own The University Prints? By the way, I love that whoever owned the building and the company had such faith in the business that they had the name carved above the door.

The current owner is Doris Young, who worked for Peter Young Company. Is she Peter's wife? His daughter? Niece?

Who would've thought that such a simple building could raise so many questions in my mind.

In addition to the USA Rugby Club, New England Window Works, which does restoration and preservation work, operates out of this building.