Central Fire Station (Barnstable County, Massachusetts)
| Central Fire Station | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
 The building in 2012 |
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| location | Falmouth , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 41 ° 33 '6 " N , 70 ° 36' 28" W | ||
| Built | 1929 | ||
| architect | Haynes & Mason | ||
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival | ||
| NRHP number | [1] 98000146 | ||
| The NRHP added | February 26, 1998 | ||
As Central Fire Station is the fire station at the address 399 Main Street in the town of Falmouth in the state of Massachusetts of the United States in the National Register of Historic Places entered.
description
The building has served continuously as the Falmouth Fire Department's main guardhouse since its construction in 1929. It is one of several buildings from the 1920s in Falmouth made of brick in the style of Colonial Revival architecture ; previously, wood was mainly used as a building material. Apart from minor modernizations, the appearance of the building still corresponds to the original state.
architecture
The two-story Colonial Revival- style building has a rectangular floor plan measuring around 58 ft (17.7 m ) by 50 ft (15.2 m ) and has a flat roof . It was built on a concrete foundation and is clad on the outside with a thin layer of red brick in the Flemish bond. Decorative elements are made of artificial stones or wood colored white.
In the north-facing front of the building, two large openings dominate, which are located on both sides of the main entrance on the ground floor and are spanned by arches made of brick, with the respective keystone being formed by an artificial stone. The east opening provides access to the fire station and has a roller door, while the west opening is closed by a large window front. The main entrance consists of a door below a solid round arch, the wooden frames and frames of which are decorated with classic elements. The entrance area is flanked by grooved pilasters in a Doric order with cushion-shaped ends on which a narrow beam rests, the upper end of which forms a decorative railing made of wrought iron . The corners of the north, east and west sides of the building are also adorned with pilasters that are identical to their smaller counterparts at the main entrance. They have a wide frieze with the words “Falmouth Fire Department” underneath.
Inside there are offices and bedrooms as well as storage space for typical fire brigade equipment. A large L-shaped room, which extends over the east and south sides on the ground floor, houses the emergency vehicles and various equipment. It is separated from the rest of the building by fireproof walls.
Historical meaning
The fire station, built in 1929 after five years of planning, replaced its predecessor, which had been built 18 years earlier at the same location at a cost of US $ 874.21 (around US $ 24,000 today). The property was originally purchased by the city council from William H. Hewins to build a library.
Until the end of the 19th century there was no organized fire-fighting in Falmouth , which until then essentially consisted of the neighbors forming a chain of buckets to the nearest pond. Richer families erected large water tanks on raised ground that could be used for extinguishing in the event of a fire. Since only a few could afford these measures, groups of volunteers were formed who financed makeshift basic equipment with private funds. It wasn't until 1897 that the city decided to provide funding of US $ 700 (around $ 22,000 today) to build a fire station, followed in 1899 by a volunteer fire department . In 1905, 95 firefighters were already involved there, and an old school bell was installed in the tower of the town hall as a city-wide fire alarm .
Between 1870 and 1915, Falmouth's permanent residents increased by 75.1%, and the number of tourists and seasonal residents continued to grow. This led to an increased occurrence of fire incidents, in particular due to flying sparks caused by the railway. In 1911 the first fire station was built on the site of today's central station. In the 1920s and 1930s, Falmouth grew to become the region's second largest city, which overwhelmed the existing fire fighting structures. In 1922 101 fires resulted in total damage of 9,490 US dollars (today approx. 144,000 dollars), in 1929 236 fires caused damage of 19,182.47 US dollars (today approx. 286,000 dollars).
Since the old Hauptwache on Main Street was now clearly too small and no longer met the requirements for modern technology and security, the chief of the fire department Ray D. Wells asked for a future-oriented new building that would meet the needs. On February 12, 1929, the city council approved a resolution to this effect and provided US $ 40,000 (around $ 596,000 today).
After the property originally acquired for the construction of a library had been rededicated, the architectural office Haynes & Mason (now trading as Haynes, Lieneck & Smith) from Fitchburg was commissioned to draw up the plans for the new fire station, while the Eastern Construction Company from Woonsocket (Rhode Iceland) were awarded the contract to construct the building. The new Central Fire Station was the first public building in the city to have an oil heating system , which for the first time allowed the installation of electric motors and batteries in the basement by eliminating the need for coal and ash bins, with the help of which the fire station's electricity requirements were autonomously covered for up to four days could be. As the only colonial revival building in the city, it has not changed significantly over time.
See also
literature
- Adams, Virginia; Harrington, Mary Kate; Friedberg, Betsy: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. ( PDF ) National Park Service , December 1997, accessed on February 5, 2016 (English, accessible via the "NR" button).