Bellevue Standpipe

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.[1]

Bellevue Standpipe
Bellevue Standpipe
LocationBellevue Hill, Boston, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°16′31″N 71°8′40″W
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1914 (1914)
MPSWater Supply System of Metropolitan Boston MPS
NRHP reference No.89002251[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 18, 1990

Description and history

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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[2]

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.[2] A second water storage tank was added at this location in 1955-56.[4] The older tank is currently operated as a standby to the newer one.

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. "NRHP nomination for Bellevue Standpipe". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  3. Annual Report, Volume 17, Massachusetts. Metropolitan Water and Sewage Board
  4. RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN DCR’s Stony Brook Reservation
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