Peter Faneuil School

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Coordinates: 42°21′37″N 71°3′58″W / 42.36028°N 71.06611°W / 42.36028; -71.06611
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Peter Faneuil School
Beacon Hill Historic District (ID66000130)
NRHP reference No.94001492 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPDecember 16, 1994
Designated CPOctober 15, 1966

The Peter Faneuil School is an historic school building at 60 Joy Street on

Tudor Revival building with limestone trim, built in 1910 to designs by the Boston architect James T. Kelley and his associate, Harold S. Graves. It is named for Peter Faneuil, the benefactor who gave Faneuil Hall
to the city.

History

Construction

The erection of the Peter Faneuil School represented an early form of

elementary school
for Beacon Hill and West End residents. It was the last school which serviced the Old West End neighborhood to close.

The LAB School

In 1975, the Educational Collaborative of Greater Boston (EDCO) opened The LAB (Learning about Boston) School, as a voluntary desegregation secondary school project. Seventy-five high-school students from 22 different school districts chose to attend the program which was based on a handful of majors chosen by the students, Students could opt for Dramatic Arts, Communications, Marine Biology, Environmental Studies. Adventure and History, in addition to taking elective and required courses in traditional and not so traditional subjects. At the start of each semester, students and staff spent several days at Boston University's Sargent Camp Outdoor Adventure Program to get to know one another and to participate in trust-building activities. Outdoor adventure at LAB School included a notable rappel by the students down the front of the Peter Faneuil School building.

During its year and a half of existence, the students and staff published several volumes of an original, creative writing and art magazine, LAByrinths. The LAB School continued for another year as a full-time program, succeeding in creating genuine integration among students and staff. Attendance, even for the less-likely-to-succeed students was high, and reading scores soared. At its height of success, LAB School served 150 students. As state and federal funding for desegregation projects waned, LAB School ended. Several of the staff, including Bernice Lockhart, director, remained at the location, and transitioned into another, part-time EDCO project, called Metropathways.

Later uses

Between 1976 and 1989 the Peter Faneuil School changed use and housed a small college preparatory program sponsored by the University of Massachusetts named Another Course to College, or ACC. ACC, a 'back to basics' advanced program, was created as a safety net for academically strong and/or gifted students of the Boston public schools. Acceptance was based on GPA, IQ based entrance exam, and/or teacher recommendation.

Closing and reconversion

After the ACC/

UMASS program was cut, the Peter Faneuil School closed. In 1994, the building was converted into apartments and expanded with a new brick façade along the Joy Street sidewalk, which turned its parking-lot forecourt into a central courtyard.[2] Today it houses 20 affordable apartments for low-income people afflicted with the HIV/AIDS virus.[3]

Historical recognition

The Peter Faneuil School building was added to the

Beacon Hill Historic District in 1966.[2]

See also

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "MACRIS inventory record for Peter Faneuil School". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  3. ^ "Joy Street Residence," Rogerson.org, https://www.rogerson.org/site/joy-street-residence/
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