Cultural Landscape Report for Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston

UPPER YARD
SITE HISTORY 2. 1800-1828
During the summer of 1817, the Navy built a combination guardhouse and two-story brick Porter’s Quarters
(Quarters A) at the Main Gate at Water Street and relocated a frame building to be used as quarters for the gunner.
Superintendent Hull acquired a tract of the Harris estate in order to rid the yard of the “perpetual nuisance” of
“shops and houses.” The 5,186-foot lot, near the yard’s South Gate, was conveyed in turn to the United States at fair
market price. 29 Hull commenced relocation of the yard’s fences, “throwing them back so as to enlarge the area of
the yard, and form it nearly an oblong square” (Figure 2.6). 30 In 1818 a Timber Shed (Building 1), constructed
between the commandant’s garden and Henley Street, replaced the temporary shed on the site of the original navy
store, which had been destroyed by an 1815 fire.
Hull’s improvements included the construction of fences and some landscaping in front of the Commandant’s
House. Laborers established a gunpark to store armament. Carronades—short muzzle-loading ordnance similar to
those on the USS Constitution—lined “the fence forming the northwest line of the yard, in front of the
Commandant’s House.” Laborers also planted two rows of young Lombardy poplars extending from the house’s
south porch, along the walkway to the new road, “Maine Avenue,” later called “Second Avenue.” 31 They also
regraded, improved, and ornamented other portions of the yard. A work crew dug a well and opened a trench for
an aqueduct supplied by a natural spring. 32 To tend the landscape, Hull requested the authority to hire a man to care
for “the public garden, fences and trees and public grounds.” 33
In the early 1820s, the Navy expanded beyond the old Harris tract at the western end of the yard and claimed several
inholdings. In 1820, temporary sheds were built along the new western boundary to shelter pine planks, beams, and
ledges. In 1823, under the direction of Bainbridge, laborers set out 200 to 300 elms as shade trees in the yard. 34
Three years later an unspecified number of fruit trees were planted to enhance the yard’s landscape, which had
begun to take on a more integrated appearance. 35 In 1824 Alexander Parris designed a granite block boundary wall
that defined the boundary of the upper yard from the Navy Store (Building 5) to and along the Salem Turnpike.
Parris also designed a granite Carriage House or Stable (Building 21) to the northeast of the Commandant’s House
for Commandant Crane. The thirty-by-twenty-foot building, with a roof height of twelve feet was flush with and
joined to the wall. Later, the building also served as a watchhouse for the Marine Guards. Adjacent to the structure,
an area was designated as a “carriage yard” for the cleaning and harnessing of horses. 36
LOWER YARD
In 1821, the Army surrendered its reservation in the lower yard, including a brick storehouse (the former laboratory),
the magazine, and an isolated wharf, in exchange for storage facilities in the former blacksmith shop and a small
frame structure. Four years later, the Treasury Department agreed to relinquish the Marine hospital reservation to
the Navy, allowing the Navy to expand eastward beyond the yard’s central marsh. 37 Following the transfer of the
Marine Hospital back to the Navy, the existing structures were demolished and a new four-unit rowhouse built for
the officers. This Lower Officer's Quarters (Quarters L-M-N-O/Building 266) was built of brick and completed in
1826. Six years later a comparable structure was built at the western end of the upper yard.
29
Bearss, 256-57, 260-61, 330, 337-39.
30
Bearss, 333.
31
Preble, 114.
32
Bearss, 330-33.
33
Brockway and Todisco, 6.
34
Bearss, 491-92.
35
Bearss, 451, 491-92.
36
Brockway and Todisco, 6.
37
Bearss, 351, 353.
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