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Overview

Saint Matthews Hall maintained a small complex of at least four buildings in 1890, clustered around the main Second Empire building in San Mateo, CA. A Gothic chapel and two other residentially-scaled buildings can be seen nearby to the central building. (See Saint Matthew's Hall advertisement, Langley’s San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May, 1890, p. overleaf of the cover page.)

Building History

Saint Matthew's Hall, the first Episcopal school in San Mateo County, was later renamed "Saint Matthews School." Reverend Alfred Lee Brewer (1831–1899) directed that the school open on a plot next to Saint Matthew's Church #1 and its Parsonage. Brewer supervised the school from its beginnings in 1865 until 1891. The school fashioned itself after an English "public" school, such as Eton or Harrow, along military lines. According to the church's web site: "The school for boys adopted a military system for training, discipline, and administration." ( See "A History of the Parish of St. Matthew 1865-Today," accessed 03/27/2014.)

Revered Alfred Lee Brewer continued as the rector in 1890. ISee Saint Matthew's Hall advertisement, Langley’s San Francisco Directory for the Year Commencing May, 1890, p. overleaf of the cover page.)

The school attained a high academic reputation during the last quarter of the 19th century, but was forced to close in 1915. The web site of the current Saint Matthew's Episcopal Day School stated about the 1915 closure: "In 1915, faced with plans from the town of Hillsborough to construct a major thoroughfare through the school's 80-acre site, the Rev. Brewer chose to close the school." (See "History: The Story of St. Matthew's," accessed 03/27/2014.)A hiatus occurred between 1915-1953, when the Episcopal Church founded the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School.

PCAD id: 5658