{"nrhp_refnum":"84002261","name":"Washington School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"40 Vernon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Taunton","county":"Bristol County","state":"MA","lat":41.895912800000076,"lon":-71.10564369399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Washington School is a two-story brick primary school at 40 Vernon Street in Taunton, Massachusetts, built in 1897 for the City of Taunton and designed by Gustavus L. Smith.","why_significant":"It is described as a locally distinguished example of eclectic late 19th century institutional architecture, combining Italianate and Georgian Revival elements. It was one of three schools by the same area architect, built in response to Taunton's population growth. It is also the fifth oldest masonry school still standing in the city.","narrative":"Washington School, at 40 Vernon Street in Taunton, is a brick primary school completed in 1897 and designed by architect Gustavus L. Smith. The city built it during an extensive program of school and public building construction between 1880 and 1930, partly to relieve overcrowding at the Cohannet Street, Pine Street and Winthrop Street schools. The two-story building has a semi-exposed basement and a T-shaped plan formed by a long main block and a projecting central pavilion. Its most striking feature is an entrance tower with a round-arched doorway and an open belfry under a bell-cast pyramidal roof. Tall, round-arched windows reflect Italianate influence, while the large semicircular fanlight over the entrance suggests Georgian Revival design. The hipped roof has a deck and a bracketed cornice. It is regarded as a locally distinguished example of eclectic late nineteenth-century institutional architecture and one of three schools by the same architect. At the time of listing it stood vacant, with rehabilitation for housing underway.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Gustavus L. Smith","architectural_style":"Elements of Italianate, Georgian Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant on the inventory form, which also notes it was being rehabilitated for housing following the Secretary of the Interior's Standards.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.320898-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/23/7894/63789423/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002261.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002261/b3809ced3f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002261/b3809ced3f-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_School_Taunton.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_School_Taunton.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63789423","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_School_(Taunton,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7972173"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/bristol-county/washington-school-84002261/"}