{"nrhp_refnum":"80000465","name":"Oak Square School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"35 Nonantum St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.34989253600003,"lon":-71.16882281499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-11-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story wood-frame public schoolhouse at 35 Nonantum Street in the Oak Square section of Brighton, Boston, built in 1894 and designed by Edmund March Wheelwright, with a two-room rear addition in 1923.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is one of the last and most elaborate examples of the small, 19th-century wood-frame suburban schoolhouse, a building type that had become obsolete by 1900. It is also a representative work of Edmund March Wheelwright, Boston City Architect from 1891 to 1895. The design reflects his principles of balanced classical planning and restrained ornament.","narrative":"Oak Square School is a small public schoolhouse at 35 Nonantum Street in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. Built in 1894 as a two-room, one-story clapboarded frame building with a slate hipped roof, it gained a two-room rear addition in 1923 that gave it a T-shaped plan. Its Colonial Revival design centers on a portico with four Tuscan columns, a pediment with an oculus window, a fanlighted doorway and an octagonal cupola. The architect was Edmund March Wheelwright, Boston City Architect from 1891 to 1895, who called the style \"Old Colonial.\" The school was one of only three wooden primary schools he built, and it came at the end of an era, since by the early 1900s the city built its schools of brick. It is the third school in the Oak Square area; the 1855 Italianate predecessor was moved to Bigelow Street and became housing. The building is significant as a late, elaborate example of the small suburban wooden schoolhouse and as a representative work of Wheelwright.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Edmund March Wheelwright","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival (described by the architect as \"Old Colonial\")","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in educational use, owned by the City of Boston School Department; altered by the 1923 addition, metal-sheathed door and plywood-filled sidelights.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.468969-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/83/7966/63796683/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000465.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000465/39b33458d4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000465/39b33458d4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jameslwoodward","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oak_Square_School_Boston_MA_02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jameslwoodward</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:Oak_Square_School_Boston_MA_02.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796683","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Square_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7073727"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/oak-square-school-80000465/"}