{"nrhp_refnum":"85000388","name":"Middlebrook School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 670","address_restricted":false,"city":"Middlebrook","county":"Augusta County","state":"VA","lat":38.050096438000026,"lon":-79.21295304099993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-02-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Education","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick consolidated school on Route 670 at Middlebrook, Augusta County, Virginia, built in two stages in 1916 and 1919 by local men including Blaire and David Weaver and carpenter Mr. Swortzel.","why_significant":"It is the least altered example of the eight-room, double-pile, central-passage plan that became the most common large school form in Augusta County in the 1910s. With the 1922 high school and 1930s agriculture shop, it forms the best-preserved rural school complex in the county. It retains its original plan, exterior decoration and interior finish.","narrative":"Middlebrook School is a two-story brick school on Route 670 in Middlebrook, Augusta County. It was built in two stages: an L-shaped section in 1916 and a northeast addition in 1919 that completed an eight-room, central-passage plan. Local men, including Blaire and David Weaver and carpenter Mr. Swortzel, worked on it, and community patrons contributed money and labor. Colonial Revival touches include a fanlight over the entrance, symmetrical 6/6 windows and Doric-columned porches, and a hipped standing seam metal roof. Inside, the stair, plaster walls, wood floors, chalkboards and wardrobes survive. The building housed grades one through seven and the high school until the high school moved to a new building in 1923. It served as the grade school until 1967, then became storage. It is regarded as the least altered example of its plan in the county and part of the best-preserved rural school complex there, alongside a 1922 high school and a 1930s agriculture shop.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Blaire & David Weaver, Mr. Swortzel","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival/Vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Used for storage since the school closed in 1967; unaltered but deteriorated from lack of use (condition listed as fair).","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:01.062777-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/6785/41678574/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/85000388.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000388/19ea25cc5b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000388/19ea25cc5b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middlebrook_School_front.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Middlebrook_School_front.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"83003259","name":"Middlebrook Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/middlebrook-historic-district-83003259/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678574","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlebrook_Schools","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712838"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/augusta-county/middlebrook-school-85000388/"}