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dat. enterS-

1. Namehistoric Friends’ Yearly Meeting School

.and/orcommon Moses Brown School preferred name *

2. Location .

street & number 250 Lloyd Avenue - not for publication

city, town Providence

state Rhode Islandeode 44

congressional district112 Hon. Edward P. Beard

county Providence code 007

3. ClassificationCategory Ownership Status Present Use- district - public & occupied agriculture - museum....._X buildings private unoccupied commercial - park

structure both Iwork in progress .x. educational private residence- site Public Acquisition Accessible - entertainment - religious- object - In process ç yes: restricted - government - scientific

being considered yes: unrest!icted - industrial - - transportation- no . military .. other:

4. Owner of Propertyname New England Yearly Meeting of Friends

street&number The Maine Idyll U.S. Rte. 1

city, town R. D. 1, Freeport - vicinity of state

5. Location of Legal DescriptionMa i tie 04032

.

courthouse, registry ot deeds, etc. Providence City hail

street & number 25 Dorrance Street

city, town Providence state Rhode Island 02903 :6. Representation in Existing Surveys

Friends’ School, now Moses Brown School ;lfistorical Americantitle Survey HABS #RI-255 has this property been determined eiegible? __yes

date 1 963 .x_fede ral state county - local

depository for survey records Rhode Island Historical Society Library‘

city, town Providence state Rhode Tslarmd 02906

r’r’

- vicinity of

1: 7. Description

Condition Check one Check oneexcellent _deteriorated .. unaltered JL original site

_.2 good -. ruins 2 altered .. moved datefair unexposed

Describe the present and original if known physical appearance

The Moses Brown School is situated on a thirty -acre tract oftreed and open land, extending from Hope Street to Arlington Avenue,between Lloyd and Alumni Avenues, on Providence’s East Side, a primarilyresidential area which also contains a number of educational institutionsBrown University and Rhode Island School of Design among others. Theimmediate environs of the school, especially on the north and east, aresuburban in character with large late nineteenth-century and earlytwentieth-century houses rangeda long t ree- shaded streets.

The Moses Brown complex consists of ten buildings constructed over aperiod of 160 years. The original building ff1, site plan; photo #1,completed in 1819 from the plans of John Holden Greene, is the visualfocal point of the campus. Long referred to as the "Middle House,"the building faces south toward Lloyd Avenue, and is sited perpendicularto the long driveway which extends on a straight axis from the streetphoto #2. The brick building Greene designed consists of a gabledcenter section with flanking wings, rising above a stone half-storybasement. The central block is three and one-half stories high and fivehays wide. Under the gable end , sited toward Lloyd Avenue, is a three-bayattic. Near the gable peak is a lunette window, and ecutered on the root’ridge is a large octagonal cupola. Four tall, brick chimneys rise fromthe side walls of the center section, which is flanked by two three-storywings, ten bays each, set at a right angle to the center block #la, siteplan. Early prints show that the flanking wings were originally fivebays long and two stories high, with flank-gable roofs. In 1826 the wingswere extended to their present length and a monitor roof and attic wereadded. By 1831 a north wing had been attached to the west wing in orderto accommodatethe new "Academic Department." All three wings were alteredto include a full third story beneath a mansard roof in 1888.

The exterior of Middle House is given a chaste, Federal treatment.Wood-framed, double-hung windows with 6/6 sash are cut crisply into thewall. The flatness of wall articulation is maintained by the use ofunadorned granite lintels and sills which remain within the wall plane.A steep flight of granite steps leads to a one-story wooden Doric porchat the central front entrance of Middle House. The present portico datesfrom 1909. The original entrance consisted ofa small, woçden, protectiveporch, partly enclosed on the sides, with Doric pilasters, a plain lintel,and a balustrade above. The rear facade of the building is the same,except for the central entrance porch, which resembles the original porchof the front facade.

Although the original school hui Iding continues to he used forclassroom, dormitory and administrative space, theinterior has beenaltered substantially over the years. Most larger rooms have beenpartitioned into smaller offices. Two rooms which remain intact, withoriginal mantelpieces and ceiling moldings, are the headmaster’s office

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and the visitors’ waiting roomlarge display of stuffed birdsphoto #3. These rooms open

A stairway positioned on axisrooms and to the dormitories.

cal led the ‘‘Bird Room’’which covers the cut Eu

from either side of thewith the entrance leads

design forform, first

College 177as [iniversi ty

Greene’s the Middle [louse utilized a weinstitutional used in Providence at thie’’CoRhode Island 1, .Joscph Brown, architect.known today Ha .11 , R rown liii vei’s i t v , WasRobert Smith’s Nassau Hall, Princeton University, of Iadaptation of the form resulted in a somewhat awkwardIand restrained Federal Form

I11-esUi 11 shedlege tidi lice,"‘rue ‘‘EdiFice,

niod e I ci a lt er754-56. Greene’sy proportioned

The physical plant of the Moses Brown School grew considerably.during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first decadeof the twentieth century. Alumni Hall I/ic, site plan, built tohouse a library and an auditorium on the first floor, wi tli much-jicededdormitory rooms for girls on the second and third floors, was attachedto the east wing of Middle House in 1368. Before Alumni Hall wascompleted, girls had to sleep in two large rooms in the east wing, withbeds arranged as in a hospital ward. The audi toriuiu and the adjoininglibrary were separated by sliding doors which could he opened toincrease the auditorium’s capacity. The library has since been removedfrom the building; the auditorium is still in use, but it is in a poorstate of repair. The original tin ceiling is iii an advanced state ofdeterioration and has been obscured by suspendedacoustical tile.

In order to improve living conditions for male students, the Boys’Building was added to the west wing in 1872 #ld, site plan. Thisthree-story structure provides additional classroom and dormitoryspace. Both Alumni i-Tail and the Boys’ Building are designed in asimplified Second Empirestyle, with ornament restricted to a mansardroof and to stone arches over windows.

The final addition to Middle House was the Lower School Bui ILling,erected ill 1911 dIe, site plan, photo 1/4 and connected to the westwing by a one-story archway. The addition is a narrow, rectangular,two-story Colonial-Revival brick building with 9/9 double-hung sashwindows throughout. Windows on the first floor are arched with

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because of thenort h n* wa I

entrance hall.to the class-

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keystones; on the second floor the windows receive lint, briwith keystones. A belt course separates the two floors of tbuilding and three broad chimneys rise from the north wallpitched roof Forms two pci i ments lac I ng east anl t’es . Altlocated in the center of each gable.

Located in a separate btiildin to the north of Middle Mouse is theschool’s art studio, called the Studio of the Three Oaks IJ/2 , site plan,photo fr’s 5, 6. Built in 1892, the studio is a picturesque cottageconstructed of boulders, timber framing and shingles arranged in along, asymmetrical mass, on an elevated basement. The large singlestudio room is lighted by enormous panes of glass which open on tilenorth side of the double-pitched roof in dormer-like projections,allowing the room to be flooded with natural light. A circularstairtower with a conical roof connects the two levels of the bui iding.A wooden porch leads from the stairtower to the ground.

The Ilawes Gymnasium, of 1902-08 #3, site plan , is a three- story,horizontal mass of red brick, with elevated basement’, hipped roof anddormers. A flight of granite steps leadsup to a moitumenta1 ln.i c kentrance archway on the southern portion of the east and west facades.To the north of the stairway on each side is a conical stairtower. TheHawes Gymnasium takes its basic form from H. ii. Richardson’s libraryprototypes of the 1880’s. Although it lacks the grace, the dignityand the meticulous refinementof Richardson’s work, the low, horizontalshape, the conical stairtower, and the great archway entrance arederived from Richardson’s work. Aptly enough, the interior of thegymnasium has been renovated recently to accommodate the school’s mainlibrary.

for Progress" in the late 1950’s1 erected a number of modern

the L. RalstonThe simple, one

ul at’ container iv j t h a ,J ouhi 1 ‘ -

the Boys’ Building. Friendsive; 115, site plan, photo #7 is

ding which is situated to the eastwide, southern glasswall is a

te . A wooden deck vi stia 1 lyfloor. Three laIn i na ted wood

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cklie

arches

doubleti S I

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nbar Sr--

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Under a self-proclaimed "Programand early 1960’s the Moses Brown Schoofacilities. The first building to beThomas Laboratory Building of 1953 #4story, brick and cinder block, rectangpitched roof is located to the west ofHall 1962, The Architects’ Collaborata box-likeof Alumnistair towersepa rates

completed wassite plan.

two--story classroom builHall. Projecting from theof poured-in-place concre

the basement from the main at’chics

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form a clerestory above the gallery of the former library space. Justto the east of Friends Hall is an old stone barn #6, site plan from F1852. For many years the barn served as a gymnasium for lower Schoolchildren. Today it functions as a study hail. i’o rIte north ol’ thebarn is an old power plant II 7 * s I te 1 an tIn I Iig ‘rein t it’ ii ru ol tilt’century, when the school provided its own direct current electricity. *p’ --The building is now used for storage.

A field house of reinforced concrete arches was erected in IPU6 H#8, site plan . In 1975 Moses Brown School constructed a new open-classroom elementary school building, designed by Morris Nathanson#9, site plan, photo #8 , After the open-classroom design proved tobe ineffective, the firm of Floyd, Ellenswing, and Wallace renovatedthe structure in 1978. In the same year a cinder block gymnasium annexwas built next to the field house #10, site plan.

Landscaping of the Moses Brown School is arranged informally.Broad, level fields of grass are punctuated by groups of oak, fir, anda few remaining elm trees. The Theodate Lang Memorial Gate photo #2serves as the school’s monumental entrance on Lloyd Avenue. Erected in

____

1907, the gate consists of two large, central piers and two subordinatearches constructed of brick with limestone trim and decorative metalwork. At the peak of each pier is an imposing iron lantern. The LangGate is similar in style and scale to the contemporary VaII WI chIc Gates1901 at Brown University. A smaller gate in memory ol LucretiaGiffcird Chase was erected on Hope Street in 1911. A single iron lantern .bridges two limestone piers. On the perimeter of the campus alongLloyd Avenue and the corner of Hope Street is an ornate iron fence.Built in several sections, it is furnished by, and dedicated to, themany classes which have benefited from the onerhundred.and.sixtyyearpresence of the Moses Brown School in Providence.

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8. ‘Significance

Peviod__prehistoric -

1400-1499 __conservation law -- science

1500-1599 -- . economics -- literature -- sculpture

1600-1699 .2 education military . -- social his tory

1700-1799 enqineerinq music humanitarian

- 1800-1899 - commerce exploration setilenteiti philosophy theater

X 1900- communications industry politics9overnmeflt transportationinvention - other specify

Specific dates Builder/Architect

Statement of Significance in one paragraph

historic associations withent of Rhode Island. Its

ding designed by noted1819, is the second

Friends’ Yearly Meeting School, the original name of Moses Brown -

School, began in Portsmouth, Rhode Island in 1784, closed four years later,_and re-opened in Providence in 1819. The importance of the school’sestablishment and eventual revitalization cannot he overestimated, sincethe development of a comprehensive educational program--public or private- -

in Rhode Island was a protracted process often met by economic adversity,civil strife, and indifference.

With the exception of Rhode Island, the New England Colonies wereprogressive in their early educational development. ‘Fhie church in Purl tanNew England had a considerable influence over the c-stahl Lshnuenç ol earlyschool systems because of the close union of church and state.’ Schoolswere operated under the authority of clergy who were in civic power.Funding was provided by public taxation. Massachusetts took the first steptoward establishing a public educational system in 1642. The colonies ofNew Hampshire, Connecticut, as well as New York, soon followed Massachusetts’example; by 1650, public education was compulsory for every colony in NewEngland, with the exception of Rhode Island.

A combination of factors caused Rhodeneighboring colonies in the establishment of educattonalBecause of the religious freedom wh I cli preva I led in Itliotland state were separated, with the consequent lackof chthe development of public schools. Whereas the CongregaMassachusetts believed in, and required, an educated mmQuakers, and other sects particular to Rhode Island didspecific educational requirements for their clergymen.ments throughout the colony, botindni-y disputes with neig

ion further retardedyears. 2

Although no state-wide school program came into fruition during thecolonial period, efforts to provide public and private education on thelocal level succeeded to a ii ml ted degree. in 1 764 the tin i vet’s I tv GraminarSchool was established in Warren, Rhode Island as a preparatory school for

Areas of Significance-Check and justity belowarcheology’prehistOric -- community planning

- archeology-historicagriculture

_L_ architecture- art

landscape architecture 2.. religion

Moses Brown School is significant for itsthe educational, religious, and social developmarchitectural focal point, the original school buillocal architect John 110 iden Greene and completed inoldest school building still in educational use in the state.

Island to I atz beh I uid lie r

and a slow growth in populateducational system for many

.i nst i tnt ions.e I s I a ntl , .‘ hiti ye Iiurch interest intionalists inistry, the Baptists,not have anyScattered settleliIor lug co I on es

of a viablethe growth

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Rhode Island College, to be opened there the following year. Bothinstitutions were removed to Providence in 1770.

Tn 1 707 a comm i t tee of lead i nn e I t I t’ us iii P mv I h’nc e n:td c avigorous e Itort to estab I ish a tree scht’o I system icr t he I t’wtt : hutafter submitting a plan to build four schools for the ‘‘education ofyouth, being a thing of the first importance to every society," thetown meeting rej ected the proposal. Moses Brown, a p rom 1 nen t memberof the committee, noted in a memorandum that:

the plan of a free school supported by a tax,was rejected by the pborer sort of the people...being strangely led away not to see their.own ‘Has well as the public interest therein. -

. -. -

Despite the setback there were additional efiorts to org:ini.e aplan for town schools. ln .1708, a school known as hVliipp Ic Ia I I t’:is 1. :ibuilt on Benefit Street. The following year the Meeting Street SchoolHouse was completed, which still stands today. Both inst i tut ionswere established by local proprietors and were supported by tu It lollfees. Moses Brown was one of the principal organizers of the latterschool, which stood adj acent to the Quaker Meetinghouse which gave thestreet its name.

Education was the primary cause to which Moses Brown devoted muchof his time and money; yet it was only one of many humanitarianinterests that involved his efforts. Moses Brown was born September 23,1738, in Providence, and died there September 6, 1836, just short ohis ninety-eighth birthday. He was a direct descendant of Chad Brown,one of the original settlers of Providence, and was the youngest ofthe four prominent "Brown Brothers," the others being Nicholas, Joseph,and John. After the early death of his *father, Moses was adopted byhis uncle, Obadiah Brown, and later quit school at the age off thirteen.to join his uncle and brothers in the family’s thriving mercantilebusiness. Subject to intense fits of vertigo, and hdthcred by question-

f:able businesspractices in the mercantile industm over which lie hadno control,4 Moses retired early from active business life with amplefunds drawn from his uncle’s estate and from his brief business career.

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After his retirement Moses Brown became inc reas lug ly :ie t I ye i ncivic affairs. In addition to serving as a member of the Rhode Is landGeneral Assembly he helped found the iZhode Is l’ind Ili’toi 1L ii S0L t it’

,

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the Providence Athenaeum, and the Meet i T1 Street School -

never lost his business acumen, for in 1791 lie brought Samand the Arkwright cotton spinning process to Rhode island,to establish with his son and son- in- law. the prosperous spknown as Almy and Brown.

J 5concerneducat iof theGeorge

LIeVOnow was

on freeWorld.Fox, in

on MosesShort lv

light.’’ poi lit ing out the eviliiy p I ri tua I ‘Vi’s as p Ia I TI I y

was given inc as cleat-I’ to understand thatlied for of my hand was to give the I iberty. ‘‘

in Rhnde Is hand clii r i ng I lie h 770’ s . Thein the state until 1787. It was not unusuale family to own a few slaves Moses ownedsigned a deed of manumission, freeing hisby the Quakers ‘ abolitionist stand toward

For generaAquidnec k Ithe north i

the Baptist Faith to Quakerisrn the

ttons however, popsin td i.n the townsn Sm it hi ii clii wlte re

III

ds5,

ofto

raged QuakersI the seven-in Alneri ca -

o 1 t he QuakerTi i a 11111 iioininercialeighteenthng the goverthis pc-v i ol -

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A

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in 17Mosesof own

An event which had a pro73, when his first wife,reported that he receiving slaves. "T saw my

Mosesue SIand hi1111 i ng

B rotvna I cielpedfirm

found eFfectAnna, died.

ed a "divineslaves with

as I seethe sacriSlavery wpracticefor a welten.6 Inslaves.

you now, and itfice that was caas still comilloliwas not outlawed1-to-do Providenc

1773 Moses BrownLargely influenced

Brown’ s Ii Fe occurredafter her death

Moses converted fromslaveryfollowing year.

Rhode Island’s policy of religious toleration encotito settle early in the colony. Puring the latter hal 1 oteenth century Rhode Island was the center of Quakeri smBy 1690 almost hail of the populat ion of the colony waspersuasion Friends did tot begin to sett Fe iii I’eIIilsvlva1691. The Quakers exerted considerable political and cinfluence in Rhode Island through the first halfcentury. Friends held a number of high offices,norship. Almost thirty meeting houses were hui itAfter the ravages of the Revolutionary War, Quakein Rhode Ts land. Friends decided to shun puhi i csecular author ity.Pr iends cx .1stel onPortsmouth, and toMonthly Meeting.

of theincludiduring

risia began its declineoffice and any

ui OIlS coTlilliun iti CS OfO I’ Newp01 t :111 lMoses jo lied t he

el coIiVe it to Quakeilto provide for Frien

from the "Corrupt WaySince the foundation

1647, Friends rallied

Iu: Illowu ‘ an III etItIc:l I I nun Ia ‘‘guarded education’’ - - anManners, Fashions, and LanguageQuakerism in England, bythe idea of having their

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children taught under Friendly influence. Later in life Moses recalledthat after he joined the Society, "I was sorrowfully affected to find

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our discipline iii regard to promot i ng of School s so neglee led l11a tthere was not one to lie Found under t lie retzcii at ion of Ir i ‘iid - ‘ I IcbeI ieved ferva nt ly that

Our principles lead to a separation lroni theworld, its customs, habits, language, antimanners how then can we hope for ía i t hi IIIsuccessors in our posterity, or that theywill come up in principles and practicesagreeable there to, if we continue so farto neglect the early care of our offspring,as to send them to schools where principles -

and practices so repugnant are incul catedand taught: It is essential to the continuance of every society, upon the founda-tion of its rise and establishment, thah itsfirst principles be often recurred to.’

After great effort, Moses and a few other Friends were able toestablish a Monthly Meeting School in Smithfield in 1779; but itlasted for only two years. The reasons For the school ‘s in i lure wereto plague later attempts made elsewhere: a scarcity of qualifiedteachers, a lack of funds, the ravages ofwar, and the indifference

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of local Friends.

Not one to be discouraged easily, Moses Brown, after his experience at Smithfield, began to envision the first Yearly Meetingboarding school in America. It was to be modeled after the successfulAckworth School established in 1779 by the London Yearly Meeting Forpoor children of both sexes. As treasurer of the Meeting for Sufferings, CMoses launched a subscription drive that was not very successful. TheIlni ted States was i a I ts ‘‘er i t i ca I per I od’’ lo 1 I ow i ig the Revo Iii t ion,and the economy and the government o C the state and oi the countrywere in a shambles. Although the Yearly Meeting School was practically atWdoomed to failure from the outset, it opened in 1784 in the PortsmouthMeeting House. Among the school’s thirty students was Moses’ onlyson, Obadiah. Four years later, the school closed due to :i lack offunds and a dwindling number of students. Funds remaining from the

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school were entrusted to Moses, who hoped to reopen the school someday. Quaker boarding schools modeled after the famous Ackworth School

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began successful operation in Poughkeepsie,New York, iii 1796 and inWesttown, Pennsylvania,in 1799.

Over t Iii rt y years we i-c to pass be lore the Fri ends Yea r Iv Iee I i ngSchool in Rhode island could be reestablished, but during the inter-regnum various public and private institutions were founded in thestate. Each.year, from 1795 to 1800, the town of Providence passedresolutions to establish free schools, but the provisions were notcarried into effect. In 1800, however, JohnI-lowland, a barber of I -,

Providence and member of the influential Mechanics’ Association,petitioned the State Assembly to enact a law establishing free schoolsin the state. Only Providence carried out the measure, whi icli wasopposed so strongly outside of the town that the Iii I I was repealed in1803. In October, 1800, four schools opened in Providence to a student

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body of about 800. By 1819, six free schools were operating in the

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town. It was not until 1828 that the General Assembly re-enacted andenforced the 1800 law.

- -:In 1802, the Washington Academy in North Kingstown was founded

in response to the demand for male school teachers and for theinstitutions to train them. Kent Academy, later called the EastGreenwich Academy, opened in the same year - In 1810 the SmithfieldAcademy was founded by the Rhode Island Association of Free Baptiststo teach students of both sexes. The Pett iquamscutt Academy, laterKingston Academy, opened in 1819 in South -Kingstown.

By the year 1801 the school fund which had been entrusted toMoses Brown increased to almost $3,900.00. Discussions were renewedconcerning the reorganiza±ion of a Yearly Meeting school. The fundwas not nearly sufficient, however, and the requisite $16,000.00needed to launch the institution could not be attained. By 1810 thefund rose to almost $8,000.00, but the recent Napoleonic wars inEurope and their blow to the American economy put a damper on anyeffort to revitalize the school; the War of 1812 only made the situation worse.

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SVhen the causeall but hopeless inferings the followin

IT

of a boarding school in Rhode s land seemed to he1814, Moses Brown offered the Meeting for Sufg proposal:

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Believing that a permanenta guarded education of thewill lie promot lye of theirsociety and thechided to givepart of my hollIest

following decadteen.-2 Quakers

e. Mosp redom

were allowed to attend for an addpledged to conform to the Quakerdress. Students lived a -spartanFriend that both sexesboys a re to he kept strooms , d s , a ml , oi eonrsex. term ran for theArt and music, considered to he "carnal"hibited from the institution.

s believednd gir Is we

a v g iOU II

The school

S PAGE

institutionr is I ng geneusefu.I ness

rut Ii. - - 1 lut’land on the

was a success.first few years

t students were between the ages ofmated in the beginning; non-Friendsitional tuition charge if theycustoms of plain language and simpleexistence under Quaker discipline.were ent i tied to a ii edtwa t ion butri ct I y apart - Classrooms , d I u Ise , lo i-rn i tories we ic sep:t tat cI Inentire year with no summer break.

and "worldly," were pro-

The growth of the school’s physical plant over the years reflectschanges in the educational philosophy and curriculum as well as in thefinancial fortunes of the school. When the Yearly Meeting School

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a

honor of ‘1’a tract of

cad fa nu conta in intt aboutForty-three acres for the purpose 0 erectingsu i table build i rigs lot- the boarding Sclioo Ithereon As treasurer of the School Iiitnl1 may for your information mention that itspresent amount is Njpje thousand threehundred Dollars. - -

Needless to say, the Yearly Meeting accepted Moses Brown! s offerto relocate the boarding school in Providence. The Quakers eagerIvrenewed their subscription efforts to complete the building fund.At first two buildings were planned for the site; one for boys, theother for girls - Higher costs and limited resources, however,restricted the building program to one building - After decades ofdelay, patience, and diligent work, Moses Brown’s ultimate goalbecame a real it’ 011 January 3, 1819, when classes resumed at theFriends’ Yearly Meeting School in Providence-

From the beginning, the boarding school Averageattendance increased from seventy during the to 125during theten and fif

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opened in Providence,students were taught basic elementary subjectsincluding the "three R’s," grammar, and geography. Moses Brown hopedthat the curriculum would include some day a department for advancedstudies.

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In 1822, Moses Brown’s son Obadiah, died at the age of N ity- two,leaying $100,000.00 to the school from his cot ton- sp i tin i ng fortune -

The bequest was the largest single grant made to an institution of -- -

learning in America up to that time. With its greatly enlarge endow- 7 --

ment , the Friends ‘ School could afford to bui LI an ‘‘Academic Pepartment’’in 1831. Prominent teachers from throughout the country were givenconsiderable salaries to teach at the institution. John Griscom,then considered to be the most learned Friend in America, became thefirst principal of the new department for the exorbitant sum of " C-.’’

$1,500.00 per year--three times the salary of any previous instructorat the school.I The famous instructors attracted more non-Friendswho paid higher tuition. Enrollment by 1875 reached an average of172, of which half the students were non-Friends*14 Prominent teachersoften used the Friends’ School as a stepping stone to the Quaker-affiliated Haverford College in Pennsylvania. --

As the ratio of non-Friends to Friends increased toward the endof the nineteenth century, the Quaker notions of a "guarded education"began to change. Friends’ School became less of a "character-building"institvtion; instead, greater emphasis vas placed on college preparation. l Social customs became more "worldly" at the inst I flit ionwhen co- educational dining was first allowed in the basement of thenew Boys’ Building in 1872. Over time Friends came to believe thatart and music did, indeed, contr mbute to a "sp I ritual ii Ic. " Theinstallation of a piano in Alumni hIall and the construction of theStudio of the Three Oaks, in 1892, indicate shift in the Quakerattitude toward the arts.

Rapid advances made in public education during the latter halfof the nineteenth century put a strain on private academies. Notall private schools were able to compete with the vast resources ofthe public sector, and many of them had to close or to merge. Tomeet the situation the Friends’ School began to admit day studentsin 1884. The Mowry and Goff Classical School, founded in 1864, joinedthe University Grammar School in 1898, which, in turn, merged with theFriends’ School in 1904. The Lower School Building was constructed

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HI-8-3UUA11/78- - -

- UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR-

- HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE


r: ,-

CONTINUATION SHEET 1. 1 ITEM NUMBER

in that year to accommodatethe new Country Day School for younger -students - In the same year Friends’ School was renamed in honor ofits principal founder, Moses Brown.

Because of a growing prejudice, especially in the East, againstcoeducation, the enrollment of girls at the school began to declinetoward the end of the nineteenth century. 17 After the turn of thecentury the drop in numbers became precipitous, while the enrollmentof boys continued to increase. Although the administration wasobligated to provide for the needs of the remaining female students,the trustees were also under pressure to furnish additional space and-facilities for boys.

In 1916 a special committee organized to find a solution to theproblem recommendedthat the present complex be g.i yen over to the boys’department; girls would be relocated in a separate building to beconstructed on school grounds - The plan was not implemented becauseof the outbreak of World War I and the resultant lack of Funds forthe project. After the war the administration stated that "all landnow owned by the School is needed for the development of the boys’alone ." In 1925 the 1.1 ncol n School , a modern g I ri s ‘ schioo I loca teda short distance away from Moses Brown, became available for purchase.The following year the New England Yearly Meeting of Friends acquiredLincoln School, and the two affiliated institutions operated assingle-sex schools for the next fifty years -

After the sentiment for coeducation grew over time, coeducationreturned to Moses Brown d-dring the 1970’s. Today the student bodyis comprised mainly of day students, almost all of whom are non-friends -

Although the components of a ‘‘guarded education’’ have changedover generat IDIIS, the Moses Brown School colit iitiies to HIllel ion wit Iia reputation as one of the finest private schools on the easternseaboard. The School is of lasting importance for its integralassociation with the ideals and objectives of its principal founder,and for its role in Quaker life of the nineteenth century. Its contributions to the educational, social, and religious heritage ofRhode Island, in addition to its archij tectiiral interest, render theMoses Brown School a landmark worthy of preservation.

FOR HCRS - USE ONLY

RECEIVED

bATE ENTERED.

PAGEC,

.4

U’

:4.--S

FMA-8--300 11-78 -

- United States Department of the InteriorHeritage Conservation and Recreation Service

National Register of Historic Places -

Inventory-Nomination Form --- - -,

Continuation sheet 1.5 Item number 8 Page 1 1

Architecturally, Moses. Rrown is a handsome institutional complexdeveloped over the course of its hundred-and-sixty-year history. Themain building is- the only- extant institutional structure erected byJohn Flolden Greene, Providence’s premier early nineteenth-century architect-builder. It represents the conservative tradition of academicbuildings, established-by Renaissancetypes, which persisted until theend of the nineteenth century. The growth of the school and the demandfor specialized facilities within the complex provided the opportunityfor construction ofseveral handsome late nineteenth-century buildingssuch as the Studio of the Three Oaks C1892 and Hawes Gymnasium 1902-1908 , which demonstrate theshift in academic buildings to forms thatrespond more closely to a building’s program, a trend begun by II. II.Richardson’s school buildings in the l870s. More recent structures,such as the L. Ralston Thomas-Laboratory, Friends Hall, and the Elementary School illustrate a continuation of this practice of designing abuilding to fit the changing demands of educational practices, hut thesemodern structures are visually distinct from their nineteenth-centuryneighbors and rely on a standard modernist design aesthetic. MosesBrown, taken as a whole, amply demonstrates theevolution of educationalarchitecture over the past hundred-and-sixty years.

Thomas 13. Stockwell.in Rhode Island: 1636-1876 Providence: ProvideiiEp. 1b.

4Rayner iVickersham Kelsey.Brown School 1819-19191919 p. 36.

5Cited in AugustineRhode

23.

Press Company, 1376,

Centennial History of MosesProvidence: Moses Brown School,

Jones. Moses Brown: A Sketch1T921, p- 1Island Historical Society,

6JamesSlaver’ Movement

Providence:

Francis Reilly. Moses Brown and the Rhode Island Anti-Masters Thesis, Brown University,

7lnterview with Th

Ma’, 19511

yra J. Foster, Curator of ArchivesEngland Yearly Meeting of Friends,

8London Yearly Meeting,

9Draft of letter, Moses1737, in Moses Brown Papers,VI, Nos. 1474-1475, p. 3.

10Moses Brown’s extradts

1690,

March 27, 1930.

cited in Kelsey. pp. 6-7.

131’own to David BarclayRhode Island lii s tori cal

p- 19.

for New

Mai-cbi 15,Society

of Minutes of the Yearly MeetingSchool Committee, Moses Brown Papers, Austin MSS., IV, "Education."Rhode Island I-historical. Society.

Meeting for Sufferings MSS, Minutes 1793-1842 Rhode IslandHistorical Society, pp. 166-167.

12Kelsey, pp. 52, 59.

Ibid., p. 62.

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTER [OR

HERiTAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE


CONTINUATION SHEET. 1 2ITEM NUMBER

FOR HCRS USE ONLY

RECE P/ED - --

DATE ENTERED.

PAGE

Rhode Island‘William I-lowe Tolman.

Washington:

pp. 23-26.

Cited in

NOTES - -

[history of Higher Education inGovernment Printing Office, 1894,

history of Public Ihhiicat ion

HR-8-300A

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TNTERIOR

HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE


ITEM NUMBER S PAGE 10

‘4lhid.

‘5Foster

p. 97

‘6lbid.

17William Paxton.Third !!±il- Century

13Ibid. p. 21.

Moses Brown School: A [history of Its1919-1969.

- . TT:T:TT-

ki

CONTI NIJATION SHEET

FOR HCRS-USE ONLY

RECEIVED

DATE ENTERED

13

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERFORHERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESINVENTORY--NOMINATION FORM

U

CONTINUATION SHEET 14 ITEM NUMBER 9

"Friends’ School, now Mosestorical American Buildings

Hazelton, Robert Morton. Let Freedom Ring:.Brown. New York: Ne" ‘o ice Pubi i sh lug

Brown School, 257 Hope Street." His-Survey, Typescript, I-lABS No. RI-255.

.* BioQrjpjiv of Moses

_______

Company, I

Hedges, James B. The Browns of Providence Plantations:Years. Providence: Brown University Press, 1963.

rue Co Ion i a I

- The Brown of Providence Plantations: The NineteenthCentury. ProVidéiTè: Brown University Press, 1968.

Jones, Augustine. Moses Brown:Historical Society, 1S92.

A Sketch. Providence: Rhode Island

in the AmericanLtd., 1911, passim

Colonies. London:

Kelsey, Rayner Wickersham. Centennial History of Moses1819-1919. Providence: Moses Brown School, 1919.

"Meeting for Sufferingsin Rhode Island Historical

MSS, Minutes 1793-1842" Handwritten recordsSociety..

Moses Brown Paners, Austin MSS. IV, "Eduation," Rhode IslandHistorical Society Library

. 1735-1842. VI, Nos. 1474-1475.

Paxton , William. Moses Brown School: AIIiStorof Its Tid rdHalf-Century 1919-1969. Provljence:

Alnericajierson, William II., Jr. Buildings and Their

1974.

ArchitectsThe Colonial and Neoc1asica1 Styles. Garden City: AnchorPress, 1976, passim.

Reilly, James Francis. Moses Brown and the Rhode IslandSlavery Movement. Unpublished Master’sUniversity, May, 1951

thesis, BrownAnti -

RIBS Library.

Moses Brown School,

FOR HCRS USE ONLY

RECEIVED

DATE ENTERED

PAGE 2

Jones, Rufus. The QuakersMacmillan and Company, NE

Brown School

Pt

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR- FOR HCRS-USE ONLY -

HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION SERVICE -

RECEIVE.. -:: - - -

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES DATE ENTERED.INVENTORY-- NOMINATION FORM -

_________________


Stockwell , Thomas B. Stockwell . History of Public Education inRhode Island. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894.

Thompson, Mack - Moses Brown: Reluctant Reformer. Ch:ipe I Iii I I:University of North Carolina Press, 1962.

Tolman, William Howe. History of Higher Education in Rhode Island.Washington: Government Printing Office, 1894.

E. -Major Bibliographical References

Cady, John hutchins. The Civic and Arcliitectttr:i1 Development of Provjdence:

1750-195D. Providence: The Book Shop, 1957. pasim.

See Continuation Sheet #14

10. Geographical Data - -

Acreage of nominated property 3.Q_iLcXQs

Quadrangle name ?r.o lence. - Quadrangle scale 1 :24 ,000

UMT References

A Ii 9 I I o ol 6 I ol 4 I ol 3i4 Ut StU I

B 131 Ui U oU -iu js I p IZone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northlng -

C I’ P I I 1 0t 61 I 01 j4 61 16t 1101 D Ill g I I 00 Il I0 I I I I

EIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!I

GIIIIIIIII!lIIIIll

Verbal boundary description and justification Providence Tax Assessor’s Plat 11, Lots1, 15,48,49,50, and the southern portion of lot 45 deFined by a I inc drawneighty feet noitli of the southcrn boundary of’ said lot and p:lral Id to said

----- ---- - . --

List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries

state code county - code - - -

state code county code

IL Form Prepared By . -

name/title Howard Maurer -

organization R. I. Ilistorical PreservationConunission date March, 1980

street&number 150 Benefit Street - - telephone 4012772673

city or town Providence state Rhode IsI a iid

12. State Historic Preservation Officer CertificationThe evaluated significance of this property within the state is:

__national JL state local

As the designated State Historic Preservation Otfic or the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 Public Law 89-665, I hereby nominate this property for incluslo n Iii National Register and certify that It has been evaluatedaccording to the criteria and procedures set forth by the en !e Conservation and Recreation Service.

State Historic PreservaUon Officer gnature rc1ft --

title State Historic Preservation Officer date May 14, 1980

[

>

ForilCRSuseonly --. -/ -y ..,:.-:r:--’ i

I hereby certify that thIs property is Included In the N, rt;ak-4!

.:.

atlonai Register

‘

. . - - --

date

-. --

t’

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Keeper of the National Register tr .

M

Attest: J- ---sC-’:- -

4date ‘t-P:- -1

- Chief of Registration - - - - - - . --

MOSLS RROWN SCHOOLlRO’ 1 liEN CE, RHODE I SLANI

Photographer: Warren Jagger

Date: 1larch, 1980

Negative: Rhode island Historical PreservationCommission

Middle House, designed by John Ilolden Greene,

1819, with flanking wing additions, 1826,

Atwuni Hal I triht , I S$, Boys’ Building

left, 1872. View to the north.

I

r

*

4

:4’I -

MOSES BROWN SChOOLPROTIDENCE, RhODE TSLAND


Date: March, 1980

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCoiiniii s s ion

Middle House, viev to the north from TheodateTang Memorial Gate on Lloyd Avenue.

2

4’4 ‘1.

1JIr

r

MOSES BROIVN SCHOOLPROV 1 hENCE , RhODE I SLAN1


Date: ‘Iarch, 1980

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommi s sion

Vis tors’ waiting room, Middle house, lookingS flit h% CSt

3

MOSES BROWN SChIOOII’RJV h DENCEi , RHODE 1 SLANI


Date: March, 1980

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommi ssion

View to the northeast, showing from leftBoys’ Building, 1872, Lower School, 1904,Middle’ house , 1819, Al iimni Hall , 1868.

4

NOSES BROWN SChOOLI lhiNCli , RhhOhli iSLAND


Date: March, h 98

Negative: Rhode Island Historical PreservationCommission

View to the southeast, showing from leftStudio of the Three Oaks, .1892, Middle hiouse,I 819, Academic Bu i Id i ng , 1831 , Boys Building,1872, lower School , 1904.

S

MOSES BROWN SChOOLPROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND


Date: March, 1980

Negative: Rhode Island historical PreservationCoutmi s sion

Studio ci the Three Oaks, 1892, north facade.

6

MOSES BROWN SCHOOLl’ROV I hENCE , Rh lODE I SlANT


Date: March, 1980

Negative: Rhode Island historical PreservationCommission

Friends Hall, 1962, north facade.

7

MOSES BROWN SCI 10011PROVIDENCE, RIIODE ISLAND


Date: March, 1980

Negative: Rhode Island historical PreservationCommission

Elementary School, 1975-78, view to the northeast.

8

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