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Crystal Springs Uplands School

private, coeducational school in Hillsborough; Belmont, California, United States

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ5191377
Source-derived summary

Crystal Springs Uplands School is an independent, coeducational, college prep day school in Hillsborough, California, United States. Founded in 1952, the school includes grades 6–12, with approximately 220 students in the middle school and 320 students in the upper school.

In late 2007, The Wall Street Journal identified Crystal Springs Uplands School as one of the world's top 50 schools for its success in preparing students to enter top American universities.

History

Uplands Mansion

The main building of the Crystal campus is the Uplands Mansion, originally built as a private residence by Templeton Crocker, scion of railroad baron Charles F. Crocker. Crocker hired architect Willis Polk to design the home in the style of a neo-classical Renaissance palazzo, although Porter Garnett called it "more a varied, free, and personal interpretation of classic architecture than a rendering of the neoclassic", adding that "Mr. Polk proves that he can be at once daring and discreet, reckless and restrained" in 1915. It has since been recognized as the first Beaux-Arts mansion in Hillsborough. Construction of the 45,000-square-foot (4,200 m2) home started in 1911 and was completed in 1917 after six years, at a cost of $1.6 million ($40.2 million in 2025 dollars). The plans, filed in 1913, were noted as the "bulkiest document ever filed at the county recorder's office", weighing 100 lb (45 kg) with 39 pages of blueprints and requiring a separate drawer. Completion was delayed by the onset of World War I and suspension of merchant shipping services.

Editorial summary

“Crystal Springs Uplands School” enters the record as private, coeducational school in Hillsborough; Belmont, California, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Crystal, Springs and Uplands can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong contextual entry point for chronology, institutions and public events when official records are distinguished from later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1952, 2007, 1915, 1911—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1952. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Crystal, Springs and Uplands.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Crystal Springs Uplands School” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Crystal, Springs and Uplands provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5191377. Authority coordinates are 37.558, -122.338. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 2007, 1915 and 1911.

Critical limits

Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Crystal Springs Uplands School”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Crystal Springs Uplands School primary sources, Crystal Springs Uplands School archive and Crystal research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Crystal Springs Uplands School”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Crystal Springs Uplands School” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.