{"nrhp_refnum":"83004284","name":"Ames Schoolhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"450 Washington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Dedham","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.24550368000007,"lon":-71.17433082999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-03-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story wood-frame grammar schoolhouse at 450 Washington Street in Dedham, Massachusetts, built in the late 1890s on a 2.04-acre site. Architects Luther Greenleaf and Albert W. Cobb designed it.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school stands on the site of Dedham's first school, giving it ties to the town's seventeenth-century origins. As a large public building it reflects Dedham's growth into a prosperous Boston suburb. It is also described as an excellent, monumentally scaled turn-of-the-century school in Colonial Revival/Shingle style.","narrative":"Ames Schoolhouse is a large shingled grammar school on Washington Street in Dedham, designed by architects Luther Greenleaf and Albert W. Cobb in the late 1890s. Its H-shaped plan gives each classroom two exterior walls for light and air. The two-story building rises from a rough-faced pink Dedham granite basement and combines Colonial Revival and Shingle Style elements, including Ionic pilasters, a modillion cornice, arched cupolas and a Palladian window over the main entrance. Inside, eight classrooms occupy the first floor, and five classrooms and an assembly hall with a stage fill the second. Original wainscotting and ceiling brackets survive. The school stands on the site of Dedham's first free school, established in 1645, and is named for statesman Fisher Ames, a Dedham native. It was considered the earliest and finest of the town's turn-of-the-century schools, built as Dedham grew into a prosperous Boston suburb. It served students until 1981.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Luther Greenleaf and Albert W. Cobb","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival/Shingle Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied and vacant; the school closed in 1981. The form describes it as remarkably well preserved, with original ornament and structure intact.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.550526-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/12/7963/63796312/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83004284.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004284/1830bb3bdf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83004284/1830bb3bdf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 4.0","author":"Kenneth C. Zirkel","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Hall_and_Senior_Center,_Dedham,_Massachusetts.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kenneth C. Zirkel</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Hall_and_Senior_Center,_Dedham,_Massachusetts.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796312","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Schoolhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4745883"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/ames-schoolhouse-83004284/"}