{"nrhp_refnum":"80000601","name":"English High School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"20 Irving St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Worcester","county":"Worcester County","state":"MA","lat":42.262734769000076,"lon":-71.80668440899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-03-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"English High School is a brick Romanesque Revival school building at 20 Irving Street, Worcester, Massachusetts, built in 1891-1892 and designed by Barker & Nourse for the City of Worcester.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a superb, well-preserved and essentially unaltered example of Romanesque Revival architecture. It was designed by the locally prominent firm of Barker & Nourse, which featured it in an 1898 trade catalogue. It also served as one of the city's high schools from 1892 until 1966.","narrative":"Built in 1891-1892 at 20 Irving Street in Worcester, this three-and-one-half-story brick building was designed by the local firm Barker & Nourse as a high school for the city. It rises from a rock-faced granite base to a dormered hip roof, with brown sandstone trim and arched windows. A five-and-one-half-story corner tower, 130 feet high, has a high hip roof and cast-iron cresting. Main entries on Irving and Chatham Streets feature squat stone columns, carved foliage and, on the Chatham entry, a keystone with a carved lamp. The exterior is described as unaltered, keeping its original oak-panelled doors and low granite boundary walls. The school opened in September 1892 as English High School, the city's second high school. In 1914 it became home to Classical High School, and the former English High was reorganized as the High School of Commerce. After 1966 it stopped serving as a high school and has since housed school department offices.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Barker & Nourse","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used as school department offices; it ceased to be a high school after 1966 and has since been used as office space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:55.086953-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/7929/63792985/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/80000601.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000601/2465095ce4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80000601/2465095ce4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classical_High_School,_Worcester_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classical_High_School,_Worcester_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792985","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_High_School_(Worcester,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5378284"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/worcester-county/english-high-school-80000601/"}