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Wellesley High School

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1938, Perry, Shaw and Hepburn; 1955, 1961, 1963, Perry, Shaw, Hepburn and Dean. 50 Rice St.
  • Wellesley High School (Peter Vanderwarker or Antonina Smith)

When commissioned to design a new high school for Wellesley, Perry, Shaw and Hepburn were best known for their work as the architects for the re-creation/restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. For Wellesley they crafted a compromise between traditionalist and modernist design. Their solution bares some relationship to Ragnar Östberg's Stockholm Town Hall (1911–1923) in Sweden, most evident in the tower and metal-covered cupola. The Town of Wellesley invited the successor firm to return on three occasions, adding classroom (1955 and 1963), gymnasium (1961), and cafeteria (1963) wings to form a meandering, open courtyard. The later additions further document the retreat from traditional design yet retain the original red brick for the lower massing of these elements.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Wellesley Hills Railroad Station
Wellesley Hills Square
Wellesley Town Hall and Library
Glavin Family Chapel, Babson College
Wellesley Village Church

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Wellesley High School", [Wellesley, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-WL5.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 514-514.

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