{"nrhp_refnum":"02000130","name":"Old Lynn High School","other_names":["Independent Industrial Shoemaking School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"50 High St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lynn","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.46649279400003,"lon":-70.94536520899999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-03-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, wood-frame Italianate schoolhouse at 50 High Street in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, built in 1850-51 and presumed designed by Boston architect Gridley J. F. Bryant, with a three-bay addition in 1876.","why_significant":"The building is significant for its long association with public and vocational education in Lynn. It served as the city's first high school, then as manual training shops, then as the Independent Industrial Shoemaking School. It is also a good example of a mid-19th-century Italianate school and an uncommon wood-frame work by Bryant.","narrative":"Old Lynn High School is a two-story, wood-frame Italianate schoolhouse at 50 High Street in Lynn, Massachusetts. Built in 1850-51 and presumed designed by Boston architect Gridley J. F. Bryant, it originally had five bays, and a three-bay addition followed in 1876. Italianate details include pedimented gables, round-headed hooded windows, bracketed sills and corner quoins, now hidden under later shingle siding. For 124 years the building served education in Lynn: first as the city's first high school, then as manual training shops after 1892, and from 1924 as the Independent Industrial Shoemaking School, which reflected the importance of the shoe industry to the city. Several later mayors of Lynn attended classes there. Bryant's other known wood-frame works are few, which adds interest to the building. Today it is vacant, with boarded openings, fire damage and water deterioration, though much historic fabric survives. It was listed for its educational associations and its architecture.","period_of_significance":"1850-1951","architect_builder":"Gridley J.F. Bryant (architect); Turksbury & Cauldwell (builders); George A. Cornet","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacant, with years of neglect and attempted arson; openings are boarded with plywood and a fire damaged the southwest elevation.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.365315-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/14/7948/63794814/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/02000130.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000130/b7e1acb8af-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000130/b7e1acb8af-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Lynn_High_School,_Lynn_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Lynn_High_School,_Lynn_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794814","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Lynn_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7084404"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/old-lynn-high-school-02000130/"}