The Fisher Hill Reservoir and Gatehouse are historic elements of the

public water supply In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...

for the

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern a ...

area.

History

The reservoir was located on Fisher Avenue between Hyslop and Channing Roads in Brookline, Massachusetts, and is now the site of Fisher Hill Reservoir Park. It was built in 1886-87 as an early component of the Boston Water Board's expansion of its high service system. The gatehouse may have been designed by Arthur Vinal, who also designed the Chestnut Hill pumping station at the

Chestnut Hill Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir is a reservoir created in 1870 on existing marshes and meadowland to supplement the city of Boston's water needs, located in its namesake neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. A 1.56 mile jogging loop abuts the reservoir. Chestnu ...

. It is a two-story Richardsonian Romanesque structure, with its first floor finished in stone and its second in brick. Brownstone trim is used on the windows and corner quoins, and the

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...

s which form the arches on the first floor. There are pipes to the reservoir and down to Chestnut Hill, and gates for controlling access to local the distribution network. The building was taken out of service in the 1950s. The reservoir and gatehouse were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1990. In 2013, the town acquired the property from the state, and has since converted it into a public park, filling in the reservoir. The gatehouse survives, and there is interpretive signage explaining the historical use of the property.

References

External links

* Water supply infrastructure on the National Register of Historic Places Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Infrastructure completed in 1887 Buildings and structures in Brookline, Massachusetts Reservoirs in Massachusetts Gatehouses (waterworks) Historic American Engineering Record in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Brookline, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts Lakes of Norfolk County, Massachusetts 1887 establishments in Massachusetts {{NorfolkCountyMA-NRHP-stub

History

See also

References

External links