{"nrhp_refnum":"00000066","name":"Old Portlock School #5","other_names":["131-0626"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3815 Bainbridge Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chesapeake (Independent City)","county":"Chesapeake","state":"VA","lat":36.78726276500004,"lon":-76.28121352999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-02-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Old Portlock School #5 is a one-story red brick Colonial Revival schoolhouse at 3815 Bainbridge Boulevard in the South Norfolk area of Chesapeake, Virginia, built in 1908 and designed by Ferguson & Calrow.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is a good example of the early 20th-century American schoolhouse, with a central hallway, large windows and a monumental classical portico. It reflects the growth of public education in Virginia after the 1902 state constitution. It was also the first modern, free public school in Portlock, replacing mostly one-room wooden schools.","narrative":"Old Portlock School #5 is a one-story red brick schoolhouse at Bainbridge Boulevard and Freeman Avenue in Chesapeake's South Norfolk area. Completed in 1908 to designs by Norfolk architects Finlay Forbes Ferguson and Charles J. Calrow, it has a hipped metal roof, a high basement, twenty-eight tall twelve-over-twelve windows and a temple-fronted portico with Ionic columns. Inside, a central hallway separates four classrooms. It replaced mostly one-room wooden schools and was among the first to serve students from several nearby communities in a larger building. Its Colonial Revival design reflected the rise of public education and monumental school buildings in Virginia after the 1902 state constitution increased school funding. The school taught students until the mid-1960s, then served for storage, offices and civic use. A careful rehabilitation in 1994-95 returned it to its 1908 appearance, and it now operates as a museum and information center.","period_of_significance":"1908","architect_builder":"Finlay Forbes Ferguson and Charles J. Calrow, architects; contractor J. W. Jones","architectural_style":"Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals: Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated in 1994-95 and in use as Chesapeake's Museum and Information Center, dedicated in 1997.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.969617-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/6801/41680129/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/00000066.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000066/f184f7880b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000066/f184f7880b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"James Shelton32","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Portlock_School_No._5.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">James Shelton32</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Portlock_School_No._5.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680129","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Portlock_School_No._5","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15263844"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/chesapeake/old-portlock-school-5-00000066/"}