{"nrhp_refnum":"84002543","name":"Claflin School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"110-112 Washington Park","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.348908943000026,"lon":-71.20618143599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story late Victorian brick school building at 110-112 Washington Park in the Newtonville village of Newton, Massachusetts, built in 1891 and designed by architect J. Merrill Brown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school retains integrity and reflects Newton's late 19th century suburban growth. It is also a fine example of late Victorian institutional architecture by the locally prominent J. Merrill Brown. It is the oldest school in Newton and the first built of masonry.","narrative":"Built in 1891 in the Newtonville village of Newton, the Claflin School is a three-story brick building with a steep slate hip roof, brownstone trim, yellow pressed brick details and a corbelled cornice. Its north facade has three gabled pavilions, and the central one carries a Palladian-style arched window group. Architect J. Merrill Brown, who trained at MIT and worked in the offices of H.H. Richardson and Peabody and Stearns, designed it with six classrooms for upper grammar grades. It was named for William Claflin, a Boston businessman who helped subdivide Newtonville's farmland. The school answered a surge in pupils during the 1880s and became the oldest school in Newton and the first built of masonry. Students moved to a new building in 1953, and Newton Junior College used it until 1976. The exterior remains largely intact, and the building has been converted to apartments. It was listed for its ties to suburban development and its architecture.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"J. Merrill Brown","architectural_style":"Blend of Richardsonian Romanesque and High Victorian Gothic (late Victorian institutional)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacant from 1976 after the junior college closed, then rehabilitated and converted into apartments; the work was certified by the National Park Service in 1983.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.369976-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7958/63795867/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/84002543.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002543/114dcb3075-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002543/114dcb3075-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claflin_Grammar_School,_Newtonville_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Claflin_Grammar_School,_Newtonville_MA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"86001753","name":"Newtonville Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/newtonville-historic-district-86001753/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795867","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claflin_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5125028"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/claflin-school-84002543/"}