{"nrhp_refnum":"86002694","name":"Morse, Samuel F. B., School","other_names":["Morse Gardens"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2418 Sarah St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Pittsburgh","county":"Allegheny County","state":"PA","lat":40.426807573000076,"lon":-79.97099828399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-09-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Italianate school building at 2418 Sarah Street on the South Side of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, built in 1874 and later converted to apartments. It is nominated as part of the Pittsburgh Public Schools thematic group.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is significant as an important social, cultural and architectural element of its South Side neighborhood when built. It describes the building as unique in the city for its period of construction, exterior integrity and lavish detailing despite recent alterations. The school is presented as typical of the civic pride and moral fervor reflected in Pittsburgh schools of the 1870s.","narrative":"Built in 1874 on Sarah Street at the east end of a small residential district of row houses on Pittsburgh's South Side, the three-story brick school was designed by Thomas D. Evans, who had trained with the local firm of Barr and Moser before starting his own practice in 1871. Its Italianate design includes a hip roof with a central cupola, large carved brackets, brick quoining, and segmentally arched windows with stone hood moldings. The school was financed by a $66,000 bond issue and contained thirteen classrooms, an auditorium and a principal's office. Closed in 1979, it was sold to the Pittsburgh Housing Authority and converted into apartments in the 1980s, with a new wing added to the west. The nomination values the building as a representative example of the 1870s school pattern and as a reflection of the civic pride that shaped city schools of that era, with its exterior largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1861-1880","architect_builder":"T.D. Evans (architect)","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Converted to apartments after rehabilitation in the 1980s","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.907768-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86002694.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002694/5dcad375d8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002694/5dcad375d8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Lee Paxton","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SamuelF.B.MorseSchool.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lee Paxton</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SamuelF.B.MorseSchool.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992164","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_F._B._Morse_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7411342"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/allegheny-county/morse-samuel-f-b-school-86002694/"}