{"nrhp_refnum":"86002922","name":"School Street School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"40 School St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Haverhill","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.77512732300005,"lon":-71.07110052999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-10-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick public schoolhouse with a full basement at 40 School Street in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts, built in 1856 and designed by Boston architect Joseph P. Richards.","why_significant":"The school is tied to Haverhill's growth as a shoe-manufacturing town and to its commitment to public education through a mid-19th-century building program. It is an early, well-preserved Italianate schoolhouse. Its plan reflects progressive concern for light, ventilation and healthful classrooms.","narrative":"Built in 1856 at 40 School Street in Haverhill, this rectangular brick schoolhouse rises two stories over a full basement on a steeply sloping lot. Boston architect Joseph P. Richards gave it restrained Italianate detailing: brick pilasters on all four sides, a bracketed wooden cornice, a shallow hip roof, round-arched entrances with brownstone voussoirs, and a Palladian-style window group above each entrance. Inside, a central hall on each floor separates eight classrooms. The school replaced a small 1838 wooden schoolhouse, as the town's booming shoe industry drew workers and swelled enrollment. Its design emphasized ventilation, light, graded classrooms, cloakrooms and an assembly hall, reflecting current ideas about healthful schools. It was among Haverhill's largest and most modern schools and served until 1981. Changes around 1915 removed the cupola and added fire escapes. Its significance rests on its role in local education and shoe-industry growth and on its architecture, and it is one of Haverhill's two oldest public school buildings.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Joseph P. Richards","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Closed as a school in 1981 and listed as vacant; the owners planned to convert it to condominiums.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.150061-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/7948/63794866/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86002922.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002922/8f0b9dc238-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86002922/8f0b9dc238-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HaverhillMA_SchoolStreetSchoolBuilding.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Magicpiano</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:HaverhillMA_SchoolStreetSchoolBuilding.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794866","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Street_School_(Haverhill,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16899882"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/school-street-school-86002922/"}