National Register of Historic Places

Bellevue Standpipe

Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Listed
January 18, 1990
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
89002251

About this property

Bellevue Standpipe is a historic water storage tank on Bellevue Hill at Washington Street and West Roxbury Parkway in the Stony Brook Reservation of Boston, Massachusetts. Built in 1914, it is one of three early 20th-century water tanks built as part of Greater Boston's public water supply. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. Bellevue Standpipe is located in Bellevue Hill Park, at the northern tip of the Stony Brook Reservation. Bellevue Hill is, at 330 feet (100 m), the highest point in the city of Boston. The standpipe is built out of poured concrete faced in rough-cut granite, and measures 114 feet (35 m) in height and 47 feet (14 m) in diameter. Inside the structure is a steel tank 100 feet (30 m) high and 44 feet 3 inches (13.49 m) in diameter. The standpipe was built by the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board (predecessor to today's MWRA) in 1914 as part of the Southern Extra High Service Area. It replaced a smaller standpipe built in 1888. Its construction was overseen by Dexter Brackett, the water board's chief engineer, and the tank was provided by the Holyoke Steam Boiler Works; they also provided the tank for the Arlington Reservoir (Arlington, Massachusetts), built about the same time. The standpipe received water from the Fisher Hill Reservoir in Brookline via a 20-inch (51 cm) main, delivered via a pumping station in Hyde Park. A second water storage tank was added at this location in 1955-56. The older tank is currently operated as a standby to the newer one. National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Boston, Massachusetts

Location

Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
42.27553, -71.14384

Categories

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Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Westerly Burial Ground
Pre Contact
0.9 mi
Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church
Industrial
0.9 mi
Roslindale Baptist Church
Industrial
1.1 mi
Stony Brook Reservation Parkways, Metropolitan Park System of Great Boston MPS
Colonial
1.1 mi
Roslindale Substation
Industrial
1.2 mi

Nearby Battles

Siege of Boston – Roxbury Lines
1775Revolutionary War
4.5 mi
Siege of Boston — Dorchester Heights
1776Revolutionary War
6.5 mi

Questions about this property

When was Bellevue Standpipe listed on the National Register?

Bellevue Standpipe was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 18, 1990.

What type of historic resource is Bellevue Standpipe?

Bellevue Standpipe is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Bellevue Standpipe?

The period of significance for Bellevue Standpipe is recorded as the industrial era.

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