{"nrhp_refnum":"08001268","name":"Lutz-Franklin School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4216 Countryside La.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lower Saucon Township","county":"Northampton County","state":"PA","lat":40.626754008000034,"lon":-75.27966417699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-12-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, one-room rectangular stone former schoolhouse with a belfry on Countryside Lane in Lower Saucon Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, built in 1880 and now operated as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building embodies Late Victorian one-room schoolhouse design and reflects the county's shift to rectangular schoolhouses promoted by superintendent B.F. Raesly. It is described as the only intact 19th century schoolhouse in the township and remains architecturally intact inside and out.","narrative":"Built in 1880 of rubble stone on a site that had held schools since the 1780s, the Lutz-Franklin Schoolhouse is a one-story, one-room building with a front-end gable, a slate roof and a square belfry over the entrance. Its interior keeps the original school desks, cast iron Buffalo Fresh Air Heater, teacher's desk, recitation benches and plastered walls with a 12-foot ceiling hung from the rafters. The building replaced an 1827 stone schoolhouse, and its stone was reused in the new walls and foundation. A front porch was added in 1901, the last major alteration. The schoolhouse is regarded as a clear example of the rectangular one-room type that followed the Pennsylvania Common School Law of 1854 and the reforms of Northampton County's superintendent B.F. Raesly. Its design includes tall double hung windows meant to improve ventilation, and it is listed for its architecture. Following decades of vacancy after the county's one-room schools closed in 1958, it was restored in 2004-2006.","period_of_significance":"1880-1901","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Restored in 2004-2006 by the Lower Saucon Township Historical Society and operated as an educational museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.067277-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/08001268.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08001268/99394ccddd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08001268/99394ccddd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"JERRYE &amp; ROY KLOTZ MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LUTZ-FRANKLIN_SCHOOL.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JERRYE &amp;amp; ROY KLOTZ MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LUTZ-FRANKLIN_SCHOOL.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993404","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz-Franklin_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15243155"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/northampton-county/lutz-franklin-school-08001268/"}