Lawson Tower

Lawson Tower

Lawson Tower, Scituate, Massachusetts. The tower was part of Lawson's Dreamwold estate.
Location Scituate Center, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°12′1″N 70°45′21″W / 42.20028°N 70.75583°W / 42.20028; -70.75583Coordinates: 42°12′1″N 70°45′21″W / 42.20028°N 70.75583°W / 42.20028; -70.75583
Built 1902[1]
Architect Coolidge & Carlson[2]
Architectural style No Style Listed
NRHP Reference #

76001963

[3]
Added to NRHP September 28, 1976

Lawson Tower is a historic tower built in the style of a European castle turret. It is located off First Parish Road in Scituate Center, Massachusetts, United States.

Standing 153 feet tall with a 53 foot circumference and 123 steps to the top, the tower was built in 1902 by multimillionaire Boston businessman Thomas W. Lawson to cloak a 276,000-gallon water tank across from his "Dreamwold" estate.

Lawson commissioned the Meneely Bell Foundry of West Troy, New York, to install ten bells at the top of the tower. These bells range in size from three hundred to three thousand pounds. This chime system was originally designed to be played either from the bell room eighty feet above the ground or on the console of the clavier room.

The Scituate Water Company stopped using the tank in 1988. The tower is listed as both an American Water Landmark and in the National Register of Historic Places. It has become a popular tourist site, featuring sweeping views of the South Shore, Old Scituate Light, Minot's Ledge Light and the nearby First Trinitarian Congregational Church.

The tower is equipped with an internal sprinkler system, after a similar wooden water tower in East Boston was ironically destroyed by fire in the early 1900s.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ by the Charles Logue Co., source - "Beauty, Strength, Speed: Celebrating 100 Years of Thomas W. Lawson's Dreamwold" by Carol Miles and John J. Galluzzo.
  2. ↑ "Beauty, Strength, Speed: Celebrating 100 Years of Thomas W. Lawson's Dreamwold" by Carol Miles and John J. Galluzzo.
  3. ↑ National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  4. ↑ New England Water Supplies – A Brief History, M. Kempe


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