| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
The Boyd School (the name was changed in 1951-1952), constructed by local architect, Edward J. Hancock, is a two story (plus raised basement) structure in the Collegiate Gothic Style. The building is roughly rectangular in plan but a central tower resembling a medieval "keep" and end pavilions break the wall surface. The "keep" which contains the main entrance rises three stories and culminates in a belfry. Of special note are the side entrances located on the north and south elevations and marked "Boys" and "Girls." A majority of the building's windows have been partially enclosed. Four rooms were added in 1920.
1997 survey update: The architect of the school, Edward Hancock, practiced with the firm of Reilly, Dawson, Hancock & Reilly in Regina and Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, Canada from August 1911 to July 1915. He came to Eau Claire in 1915 and formed a partnership called Volkman & Hancock that operated from July 1915 to November 1916. From 1916 into the 1920s, Hancock was sole architect.
The school was renamed Boyd School in 1951 after prominent early Eau Claire resident Robert K. Boyd who was a realtot and city councilman who donated the land to the north for Boyd Playground. In 1870, Boyd and Adin Randall owned a large sawmill on the west side of Eau Claire that employed 25 men and extensive timberlands that employed more men. In 1910 Boyd became a city councilman. For a short period, the Second Ward School was also known as Thorp School. Joseph G. Thorp was an original proprietor of the village of Eau Claire in the 1850s. Thorp then became president of the Eau Claire Lumber Company. In 1861, the Thorps lived in an Octagon House at Farwell and Seaver in 1861. Thorp was also deeply devout to the Presbyterian faith and ventured as far as Norway to spread the church's message. In 1872, Thorp was elected as a district Senator from Eau Claire. The school closed in the spring of 2002 and was converted into apartments.
2016- "Eau Claire architect Edward Hancock designed the Second Ward School and a matching 1929 addition. Hancock was born in England in 1889 and immigrated as a boy to the United States. He moved to Eau Claire in 1915 and designed a number of landmark proerties such as the Masonic Temple, the commercial block at 403 South Barstow Street, two homes within the Third Ward Neighborhood and the Eau Claire Senior High School. The school was renamed Boyd Elementary School in 1951 recognizing Robert Boyd, a realtor and city councilman who donated the land to the north for Boyd Playground.
The building is a fully developed example of the Collegiate Gothic style including a brick finish accented with stone, parapets, towered keep-like entrances and ornamentation such as the stone quoining, paterae, classical moldings and human-faces grotesques.
The school closed in the spring of 2002 and was converted into condominium dwelling units."
-"Eau Claire Landmarks: Designated Historic Properties in Eau Claire, Wisconsin", Eau Claire Landmarks Commission, P.O. Box 5148, 2016. |
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