{"nrhp_refnum":"83000582","name":"Primrose Street Schoolhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"71 Primrose St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Haverhill","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.77929408700004,"lon":-71.08462510499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-06-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Other","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick former primary schoolhouse at 71 Primrose Street, Haverhill, Massachusetts, built in 1868 by the City of Haverhill to plans by Josiah Littlefield and converted to a two-family house in 1910-1913.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is one of Haverhill's few surviving mid-to-late nineteenth-century schoolhouses and retains the main elements of its original design. It also reflects the 1910-1913 conversion by Carmine DePalma, an Italian-born shoemaker, which ties it to Haverhill's Italian community and to changing community development patterns. The conversion reused interior features salvaged from other Victorian buildings.","narrative":"Built in 1868 by the City of Haverhill as a primary school, this two-story brick building at 71 Primrose Street follows plans by Josiah Littlefield that were used for several local schoolhouses. Only it and the altered Locust Street Schoolhouse remain. It has a rectangular plan, a gabled facade, a deep boxed cornice, 6/6 windows and granite sills and lintels. The school closed in the late 1890s and was used for city storage until 1909, when the city sold it to Carmine DePalma, an Italian-born shoemaker. Between 1910 and 1913 he converted it into a two-family house, adding balconies, an exterior staircase, an enclosed porch and interior fittings salvaged from other Victorian buildings. He also placed a Columbus statue and red, white, blue and green flagpoles in the yard. Later uses included rental housing, a nursery school, a day-care center and social service offices until 1980. The building is significant for its architecture and for its link to Haverhill's Italian community.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Josiah Littlefield (1868)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied and vacant; the facade balconies and north staircase were being restored at the time of the nomination.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.920814-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/94/7947/63794794/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000582.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000582/08f89aea5a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000582/08f89aea5a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HaverhillMA_PrimroseStreetSchool.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</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:HaverhillMA_PrimroseStreetSchool.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794794","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primrose_Street_Schoolhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7243678"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/primrose-street-schoolhouse-83000582/"}