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	A TOUR THROUGH WHS's HISTORY (FRONT PAGE STORY, click here to see newspaper image) By Miryam Wiley, The Wellesley Townsman, December 7, 2006 It was early Saturday morning, but the lobby of Wellesley High School was filling with people. They were there not for classes, but for a tour of the original building, constructed in 1938. Tory De Fazio, part of a citizens’ group known as the Wellesley High School Preservation Committee, conducted the tour of the school. He commented to the group of about 25 people that the building was well-built in 1938 and remains sound to this day. The architect, Bob Dean, of Perry Shaw Hepburn of Boston, was inspired by the tower of Stockholm’s town hall, De Fazio said.“His firm was challenged with the design because they had come from restoring Williamsburg. If you look at the Wellesley High School, you’ll see some of those colonial elements in the building.” Still, he said, Wellesley High was considered an international-style modern building and was recognized as revolutionary in high school design when it was built. De Fazio believes that the upgrading and modernizing of the school at this time shouldn’t come in conflict with the design of the original structure, which has had six additions since 1956. He praised the flagstone floor and iron brick stones in the hallway, then pointed to the memorabilia and plaques, such as the one that commemorates famous alumna Sylvia Plath, Class of 1950. The sprinkler system was added in the 1990s, De Fazio said, which is the reason why the ceiling is lower than it was originally. One of those on the tour, David Wright, a six-year town resident and an advisory member of the town historical commission, wondered if the goal is to restore it as much as possible to its 1938 appearance, and De Fazio said it could be, but he added, “We don’t know what the school committee is proposing.” Asked who he was representing, De Fazio explained that he would like to think that the group represents the town of Wellesley. The message they want to get out is: “Look folks, this 1938 building was given a lot of thought, it was well built, there are features that should be preserved and, in some cases, restored … We would like to be included in the process.” Next stop was the auditorium, which, he said, is “pretty much intact.” The number of seats has come down from 750 to 645 because the stage was enlarged and several rows of chairs were removed. As the group climbed to the balcony, someone wondered, “Is this space up to code?” De Fazio responded: “Probably it is not, because the code has changed many times since 1938.” He added that it would be difficult for a person who is handicapped to get up there. As they headed up to the next floor, to classrooms that were once part of the original cafeteria, De Fazio explained that the cafeteria was designed to be over the auditorium to let the kitchen fumes go up and not back into the school. In 1956, when the class wing was added, there was a decision to expand the cafeteria, and they had to create beams coming down through certain classrooms, making them less-than-ideal classroom space. Later, a new cafeteria was built in the back of the school. The tour brought back some memories. Priscilla Sekas Hunter, Class of ’46, said her mother used to work in the cafeteria.“Her name was Effie,” she reminisced. She used to make cinnamon toast.” “I just had my 60th classroom reunion,” she offered. “Maybe 50 of us made it. It was very nice.” De Fazio said that some six classrooms plus offices have taken over the old cafeteria space. He encouraged everyone to think of the best use for the area. The next stop was a classroom originally designed for homemaking classes, created to allow a lot of lighting in, so people could sew, cook and do crafts.“The building was designed to capture that light,” he said. But since then, the ceilings have been dropped, “with good reason,” he said, as the space was needed to put a sprinkler system and air conditioning, ducting and other necessities. The downside was that the windows let in less light than they once did. “I love this room,” said Gerry Murphy, who taught at the high school for almost 40 years (social studies, humanities, political science and economy) and was on the School Committee for three years. Also touring was Gig Kerivan, another retired teacher (social sciences, history and theory of knowledge.) “I taught here for 32 years,” he said, and his father was a teacher at the school for 40 years. “The building speaks volumes.” Kerivan said he has been for years “very distressed that the building hasn’t been kept up: They haven’t put a coat of paint in this building for 15 years,” he said. “And the bathroom and the water bubblers have been inoperative for 30, 40 years! It’s neglect.” The climb up to the tower caught many by surprise. Several people didn’t realize that the inside is actually a room. At the moment it is only used as a deposit for books, but “in the blueprints it was a student activity room,” De Fazio said. “Great view!” someone said. “Maybe it could become an art gallery,” someone else suggested. The old clock is visible through the big window that also reveals the sign “TEAR IT UP” in the football field. The tower keeps going up, De Fazio explained, but he wasn’t about to lead anyone up the ladder. “The face of the clock was especially designed by the architects for the building,” he said. “It should be restored and certainly preserved.” The clock face and the top of the clock tower were originally gold-leaf finish, but that has worn off. De Fazio said at the time the school was built, residents decided the gold leaf was worth the expense, even though they were making decisions during the Depression. “Should it be restored? Should it not?” De Fazio asked. “The voters in 1936 at the Town Meeting that approved this building had no hesitation.” Someone in the tour wanted to know the price of the original building. De Fazio said it was $800,000, paid by the town, which also received funds from a federal grant to encourage public works. The question included a second part, “what would it cost today,” and De Fazio said he had no idea, but then, pondered. “In estimation, it’s priceless.” He took the moment to set the record straight, saying he heard some references to the tower as the 1938 wing, but “this is not the wing,” he said. “This was the main building.” The next tour stop was a room that was part of the original library, with nice bookshelves. And finally, the old gym, still a place very much used by the students, but with a visible sign of neglect, with water bubblers that don’t work and one even covered with a black trash bag. “The advantage of this gym was that it could be divided into two gyms,” said De Fazio, again pointing to the woodwork in good shape. “Like the auditorium, the gymnasium could be closed off from the school, so it could be used for community events … The town, in the ’30s, was looking at the high school as a true community center … that’s what it should be.” Suzi Newman, a member of the School Committee, said after the tour that she had never been in the tower. “That was enlightening,” she said, but she also became aware of how difficult the access is. “All of our current plans include the ’38 building,” she said. “We are at such an early stage, we have not yet begun to talk about the height of the windows,” for instance. That, she added, is a concern because they must be custom-made if preserved [in such a shape.]” De Fazio said that the School Committee had better be in the late stages of its project for proposal in the March Town Meeting. “You got to give the town the chance to digest a multimillion-dollar project,” he said. “You’re not going to get any support or approval [otherwise]. This is an extraordinary building. “We keep hearing different things,” he added. “Twenty million [dollars], 50 million, l00 million, what are we talking about? We don’t know. We’ve got to help them focus on what the town wants. If they don’t get that message, there’s always the elections, in March,” he said with a chuckle. For more on the school and the Wellesley High School Preservation Committee, see the committee’s Web site, savewhs.org.

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