{"nrhp_refnum":"85000391","name":"Mt. Sidney School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"VA 11","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mt. Sidney","county":"Augusta County","state":"VA","lat":38.25589039500005,"lon":-78.96210539499998,"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-part brick public school on Route 11 at Mt. Sidney, Augusta County, Virginia, built in 1912 with an addition in 1921 and a gymnasium added in 1935. Charles Fretwell of Staunton is named as builder.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it the only surviving example in Augusta County of the first stage of consolidated school buildings from 1900-15, and the only documented brick example. Its I-house-like plan and belfry show how early schools borrowed domestic forms. It links the small one- to three-room schools with the larger consolidated schools of the late 1910s and 1920s.","narrative":"Mt. Sidney School is a brick public school on Route 11 in Mt. Sidney, Augusta County, Virginia. Its first section was a two-story, four-room building with a front gable roof, central cross gable, three-bay porch and a seven-bay facade, following the familiar I-house plan used for houses. Charles Fretwell of Staunton received the construction contract, and the local Patrons League donated much of the labor. A four-room addition doubled the size in 1921, and a brick gymnasium was added in 1935. The school housed elementary grades and high school classes until high school students moved to Weyers Cave in the early 1950s, and it closed in 1967. It was later remodeled into apartments, with windows partly bricked in and the belfry removed, though the round brick arches, central passage and stairway survive. It is considered the only surviving brick example of the first generation of consolidated schools in the county.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles Fretwell","architectural_style":"Vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Converted to apartments after the school closed in 1967; condition listed as good and altered. The gymnasium remains unaltered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.777473-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/86/6785/41678586/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/85000391.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000391/eca0ebfd65-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000391/eca0ebfd65-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mt._Sidney_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mt._Sidney_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678586","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Sidney_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712929"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/augusta-county/mt-sidney-school-85000391/"}