The following is an excerpt from: https://www.watertownmanews.com/2023/01/14/our-history-charles-brigham-left-an-indelible-impression-on-watertown/#
Charles Brigham was born in the old Coolidge Tavern on Galen Street in 1841, a descendant of Thomas Brigham, one of the town’s early settlers, who came from England in 1635. Brigham, who became an architect of note known far beyond the borders of Watertown, was a loyal son of the town, playing an important part in it all his life. He was in the first graduating class of the new high school with only six others, all girls, in 1857, and must have been an apt student, for he was then only sixteen.
Brigham took pride in the history of Watertown, and in 1871, when the Fowle House was threatened with demolition at its location on Mt. Auburn Street, he bought it and had it moved to its present location on Marshall Street. It was due to Brigham’s foresight that the Fowle House, which he had had moved, was later purchased from him by the Historical Society, becoming its headquarters in 1922.
Charles Brigham had a distinguished career in architecture. In his partnership with Sturgis he produced the designs for the Museum of Fine Arts’ old building in Copley Square and the Church of the Advent on Brimmer Street, as well as mansions in the Back Bay. He is credited with the design of the extension of Boston’s State House, the addition to the Maine State Capitol building, and the Christian Science Church.
The most visible edifice in Watertown designed by Brigham is the old East Junior High School building on Mount Auburn Street. (Note: the former East Junior High School is now Brigham House Assisted Living). Designed like a medieval fortress, in its time it was considered a beautiful and useful building, the plans for which were donated to the town by Brigham for a new high school, and was a replica of one he had designed for Fairhaven. Due to his generosity to his native town, the high school was built with a town appropriation of $100,000, and opened in 1914 with 219 pupils.