{"nrhp_refnum":"85000024","name":"Myrtle Street School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"64 Myrtle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Springfield","county":"Hampden County","state":"MA","lat":42.15851147200004,"lon":-72.50657564399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-01-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A complex of four interconnected brick school buildings at 64 Myrtle Street in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield, Massachusetts, built in stages between 1868 and 1915 to designs by James M. Currier and E. C. & G. C. Gardner.","why_significant":"The school is a well-preserved example of Second Empire and Classical Revival school architecture, and its three construction phases show how schoolhouse design changed from the 19th to the 20th century. It is also tied to prominent architects and to the growth of Indian Orchard, a planned mid-19th-century mill village. It is the largest public structure in the village.","narrative":"Myrtle Street School is a brick complex at 64 Myrtle Street in Indian Orchard, a mill village in northeastern Springfield. It was built in three stages. James M. Currier designed the 1868 Second Empire building with a slate mansard roof. E. C. and G. C. Gardner added Classical Revival wings in 1903-04 and 1914-15, joined by a columned entry pavilion. A gymnasium at the rear has an Egyptian Revival entrance, which the nomination describes as the only known example in Springfield apart from a few cemetery buildings. The 1914 addition also held an assembly hall seating nearly 700, which made the school a social center for the village. It is the largest public structure in Indian Orchard and the only survivor of six large post-Civil War brick schools built in Springfield. Eugene Gardner was a nationally known writer on schoolhouse design. The school closed in the early 1980s and is slated for conversion to elderly housing.","period_of_significance":"1868-1915","architect_builder":"J.M. Currier; E.C. & G.C. Gardner","architectural_style":"Second Empire and Classical Revival (gymnasium entrance with Egyptian Revival detailing)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The school served its original function until the early 1980s. It is now closed and unoccupied, and is slated for conversion to housing for the elderly.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.645703-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/7951/63795171/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/85000024.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000024/694a3fbac5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000024/694a3fbac5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Myrtle_Street_School,_Indian_Orchard_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:Myrtle_Street_School,_Indian_Orchard_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795171","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtle_Street_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6948635"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampden-county/myrtle-street-school-85000024/"}