{"nrhp_refnum":"11000070","name":"West Brick School","other_names":["West District School","West School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1592 Old Turnpike Rd","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakham","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.36225600000006,"lon":-72.08173599999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-03-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-room brick schoolhouse at 1592 Old Turnpike Road in the northwest part of Oakham, Worcester County, Massachusetts, built around 1827 in the Federal style. It later served as a seasonal summer home.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is an unusually well-preserved rural one-room schoolhouse that kept nearly all of its original exterior and interior fabric. It is also a rare surviving example of 19th-century brick construction in Oakham, and it reflects local education and the Federal-period movement toward refinement. Its sidehall plan and early woodwork add to its architectural value.","narrative":"Built around 1827 of handmade red brick, this one-room schoolhouse on Old Turnpike Road in Oakham measures about 32 by 28 feet. It has a gable front, a three-bay side-hall entrance, a low stone foundation and classical pediments of clapboard. Inside, hand-planed beaded boards, wainscot, a slate blackboard and the shadows of built-in student benches survive. It replaced an earlier wood-frame school of 1791 and served as a school until 1920. From 1936 until 2002 it was a summer retreat, and the only additions were a hand pump, a kitchen sink and a kerosene stove. Because so little was altered, the building preserves much of its original character. Few other brick buildings existed in Oakham when it was built, and it is now a rare example of 19th-century brick construction in the town. The lot also holds a ruined stone structure of unknown purpose, stone walls and a collapsed outhouse. The building is currently vacant, with some masonry and wall-movement problems.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1827-1960","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Early Republic / elements of Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as vacant and not in use; the windows are covered with shutters to protect the unoccupied building. Mortar loss and outward movement of the east and west walls are noted, with temporary supports installed inside.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:10:51.809565-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/7973/63797344/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/11000070.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000070/e87416056b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000070/e87416056b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Brick_School,_Oakham_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:West_Brick_School,_Oakham_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63797344","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Brick_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903112"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/west-brick-school-11000070/"}