Lawson Tower | |
Location | Scituate Center, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°12′1″N70°45′21″W / 42.20028°N 70.75583°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1902 [1] |
Architect | Coolidge & Carlson [2] |
NRHP reference No. | 76001963 [3] |
Added to NRHP | September 28, 1976 |
Lawson Tower is a historic tower built in the style of a European castle turret. It is located off First Parish Road in Scituate Center, Massachusetts, United States. Built in 1902 to enclose a steel water tank, it is a major local landmark. The Scituate Water Company stopped using the tank in 1988. The tower is listed as both an American Water Landmark and in the National Register of Historic Places. It has become a popular tourist site, featuring sweeping views of the South Shore, Old Scituate Light, Minot's Ledge Light and the nearby First Trinitarian Congregational Church.
The tower is a steel frame structure standing 153 feet (47 m) in height, its tank and steel superstructure enclosed in a stylistically eclectic wooden shell. It is shingled to the top of the enclosed tank, where there is a band of bracketing. Above this are two circular chambers, one to house bells and the other a clock. The tower is covered by a conical roof. [4]
The steel water tank was built in 1900 by the Scituate Water Company, the local municipal water supplier. At the same time, Thomas W. Lawson, a wealthy Boston businessman, was building his "Dreamwold" estate next door. Upset by the view of the utilitarian tank, Lawson negotiated with the company to enclose it. [4] Lawson commissioned the Meneely Bell Foundry of West Troy, New York, to install ten bells at the top of the tower. These bells range in size from three hundred to three thousand pounds. This chime system was originally designed to be played either from the bell room eighty feet above the ground or on the console of the clavier room.
The tower is equipped with an internal sprinkler system, after a similar wooden water tower in East Boston was destroyed by fire in the early 1900s. [5]
A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conjunction with underground or surface service reservoirs, which store treated water close to where it will be used. Other types of water towers may only store raw (non-potable) water for fire protection or industrial purposes, and may not necessarily be connected to a public water supply.
Scituate is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census.
The South Shore of Massachusetts is a geographic region stretching south and east from Boston toward Cape Cod along the shores of Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay. It is subject to varying descriptions including municipalities in eastern Norfolk and Plymouth counties. The South Shore is an affluent area. The median income of the region as of 2020 is $104,691. The median home value of the region as of 2020 is $574,831.
King's Chapel is an American independent Christian unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, Anglican in worship, and congregational in governance." It is housed in what was for a time after the Revolution called the "Stone Chapel", an 18th-century structure at the corner of Tremont Street and School Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The chapel building, completed in 1754, is one of the finest designs of the noted colonial architect Peter Harrison, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 for its architectural significance. The congregation has worshipped according to a Unitarian version of the Book of Common Prayer since 1785, currently in its ninth edition.
The Old State House is a historic building in Boston, Massachusetts built in 1713. It was the seat of the Massachusetts General Court until 1798. It is located at the intersection of Washington and State Streets and is one of the oldest public buildings in the United States.
Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, also known as New Old South Church or Third Church, is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles Amos Cummings and Willard T. Sears, completed in 1873, and amplified by the architects Allen & Collens between 1935–1937. The church, which was built on newly filled land in the Back Bay section of Boston, is located at 645 Boylston Street on Copley Square. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architectural significance as one of the finest High Victorian Gothic churches in New England. It is home to one of the oldest religious communities in the United States.
Bok Tower Gardens is a 250-acre (100 ha) contemplative garden and bird sanctuary located atop Iron Mountain, north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States, created by Edward Bok in the 1920s. Formerly known as the Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower, the gardens' attractions include the Singing Tower and its 60-bell carillon, the Bok Exedra, the Pinewood Estate now known as El Retiro, the Pine Ridge Trail, and the Visitor Center.
The Old Ship Church is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officially known as First Parish in Hingham, occupies the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States. On October 9, 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark and on November 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Minot's Ledge Light, officially Minots Ledge Light, is a lighthouse on Minots Ledge, one mile offshore of the towns of Cohasset and Scituate, Massachusetts, to the southeast of Boston Harbor. It is a part of the Town of Cohassett, in Plymouth County. The current lighthouse is the second on the site, the first having been washed away in a storm after only a few months of use.
Thomas Hill Standpipe, which holds 1,750,000 US gallons (6,600,000 L) of water, is a riveted wrought iron tank with a wood frame jacket located on Thomas Hill in Bangor, Maine, United States. The metal tank is 50 feet (15 m) high and 75 feet (23 m) in diameter. Built in 1897, it is an architecturally distinctive city landmark, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Thomas W. Lawson was a seven-masted, steel-hulled schooner built for the Pacific trade, but used primarily to haul coal and oil along the East Coast of the United States. Named for copper baron Thomas W. Lawson, a Boston millionaire, stock-broker, book author, and president of the Boston Bay State Gas Co., she was launched in 1902 as the largest schooner and largest sailing vessel without an auxiliary engine ever built.
Thomas William Lawson was an American businessman and author. A highly controversial Boston stock promoter, he is known for both his efforts to promote reforms in the stock markets and the fortune he amassed for himself through highly dubious stock manipulations.
The First Church of Christ, Unitarian, also known as First Church of Lancaster and colloquially as "the Bulfinch Church", is a historic congregation with its meeting house located at 725 Main Street facing the Common in Lancaster, Massachusetts. The church's fifth meeting house, built in 1816, was designed by architect Charles Bulfinch, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977, recognizing it as one of Bulfinch's finest works.
Luna is a historic tugboat normally berthed in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. Luna was designed in 1930 by John G. Alden and built by M.M. Davis and Bethlehem Steel. She is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. In 1985, the Luna was designated as a Boston Landmark by the Boston Landmarks Commission.
The United Shoe Machinery Corporation Building is a historic office building at 160 Federal Street in the Financial District of Boston, Massachusetts. The steel-frame skyscraper has 24 stories and a penthouse, and was built in 1929–1930 to a design by George W. Fuller and Parker, Thomas & Rice for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. It is one of Boston's finest Art Deco buildings, including an elaborately decorated lobby. It was built for the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, which at the time controlled 98% of the nation's shoe machinery business.
Telegraph Hill is a historic site in Hull, Massachusetts. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It is now part of Fort Revere Park.
The Benson Water Tower was a water tower located on Clayton Street in Benson, Illinois. The tower was built in 1891, in response to several serious fires in Benson; it supplied the village with water until 1985. The tall brick tower had a large wooden water tank on top. The tower was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. It has since been demolished, and was delisted in 2020.
The Monroe Water Tower is a historic water tower built in 1889 in Monroe, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The First Parish Church of Scituate, Massachusetts is a historic congregation in Plymouth County, Massachusetts that was founded in 1616 in England. The congregation thus is almost 400 years old. Disagreements over baptism, the belief in the Trinity, and other issues within the church led to three groups splitting off to form new churches during a 60-year period.
The Sun Prairie Water Tower was built in 1899 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. It was added to the State Register of Historic Places in 1999 and to the National Register of Historic Places the following year.