{"nrhp_refnum":"80000428","name":"Old Central High School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1st St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsfield","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.45105130600007,"lon":-73.24832176499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-08-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick high school on a high basement, facing west onto the Common on First Street in the center of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It was built in 1898 to designs by Pierce & Bruhn of New York.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its association with the educational history of Pittsfield. It also notes that its Beaux Arts design is unusually elaborate for a school building. It retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials and workmanship, and is described as one of the city's most important architectural statements.","narrative":"Old Central High School is a Beaux Arts school building facing the Common on First Street in central Pittsfield. Completed in 1898 to designs by Pierce & Bruhn of New York, it is U-shaped in plan and symmetrical in elevation. Buff brick walls rise two stories above a rock-faced sandstone basement, with marble and terracotta trim, a slate roof, finials and elaborate dormers. The main entry is framed by paired Corinthian columns. The site had been a town cemetery until the graves were moved by 1872. The school replaced the South Street high school lost to fire in 1895, and the design drew 130 responses. Crowded with 914 students by 1914 against a planned capacity of 600, it later served as a junior high school and then as the first home of Berkshire Community College. After more than 80 years of educational use it was being converted to housing. Its architectural elaboration and long role in the city's schooling underlie its listing.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Pierce & Bruhn, New York","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts","criteria":[],"status_note":"Educational use ended; the building was in the process of being converted to housing at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:55.027154-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/7942/63794248/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000428.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000428/c12e611893-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000428/c12e611893-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ivan Newton","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Central_High_School.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ivan Newton</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:Old_Central_High_School.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794248","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Central_High_School_(Pittsfield,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7083629"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/old-central-high-school-80000428/"}