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Photograph courtesy of the Newton History Museum BRIEF HISTORY The Claflin Elementary School opened in 1953 (see photograph above) on property deeded to the City of Newton by The Claflin Family as a bird reserve. The school closed in the early 1980s and remained unoccupied until 1986... Many factors contributed to the development of the Claflin School Studios: In the early to mid 1980s the greater Boston area was undergoing significant changes in real estate development. Old warehouses and manufacturing buildings in out-of-the-way parts of the city and surrounding areas, that had been home and refuge to local artists, were being targeted as attractive sites for renovation and development. As a result, many local artists were facing eviction from established studio spaces that they had created and long occupied. In 1984, two artists, Gina Fiedel and Judy Haberl, learned from David Brown, then chairman of the Newton Arts Center, of a surplus elementary school building in Newtonville. They began a long campaign to acquire the building and develop it for artist studios and living spaces. Other artists soon joined the project, including three members of the Waltham Mills Artists Association: Roberta Paul, Scattergood-Moore and Wendy Seller. David Brown, Josephine Simon, director of the Newton Arts Center, and Christine Temin, art critic for the Boston Globe, were crucial supports to the artists in these early years. Resources were obtained with a grant from the Massachusetts Council for the Arts to retain a consultant, Jero Nesson, with experience in the development of artists housing (among his successes were the artist cooperative buildings at 249 A Street in Boston's Fort Point Channel area and The Brickbottom Artists Building in Somerville) to provide early guidance on the project. After more than a year of work, including development on an architectural proposal for the site, establishing relationships with neighborhood committees and attending meeting of the Newton Board of Alderman, the Newton Artists Housing Partnership was selected from several proposals as the best use of the former Claflin Elementary School. Construction began in 1986 to create fourteen live/work units for artists, and three units for low-imcome housing. The building was renamed Claflin School Studios and established as a condominium (see photograph below). The artists and their families began moving into their studios and living space, which they had individually designed and constructed, during the spring of 1988. pass cursor over image The original artist members were: Doug Anderson, Michael Beatty, Gerry Bergstein, Kent Boyer, Gina Fiedel, Robin Grebe, Judy Haberl, Ralph Helmick, Will Howcroft, Bob Lewis, Jod Lourie, Louise Marshall, Michael Newby, Marlene Oliver, Roberta Paul, Wellington and Patricia Reiter, Scattergood-Moore, Wendy Seller, and Harvey Low Simons. Adapted by Scattergood-Moore from articles by Keith N. Cohen and Christine Temin.
City of Newton: Millenium Park Millenium Park,located between Newton City Hall and the Newton Free Library, is a space where families and friends can gather to relax and enjoy a serene setting.
Claflin School Studios, Newtonville, MA
 449 Lowell Avenue entrance from Oak Cliff Road Photograph courtesy of Alice E. Ingerson / Applied History
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2000 . CLAFLIN SCHOOL STUDIOS TIME CAPSULE, Dana Art Gallery, Wellesely, MA
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