{"nrhp_refnum":"88002324","name":"Comly, Watson, School","other_names":["Somerton Masonic Hall"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"13250 Trevose Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.12528158400005,"lon":-75.01428462599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brownstone school building at 13250 Trevose Road in Somerton, Northeast Philadelphia, built in 1892-1893. It was later used as the Somerton Masonic Lodge.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a rare surviving example of essentially rural school architecture in Philadelphia. Its simplified colonial style reflects a country school rather than the more sophisticated city schools of its time. It is also associated with the history of education and school architecture in Philadelphia.","narrative":"Built in 1892-1893 in Somerton, then a rural village in Northeast Philadelphia, the Watson Comly School is a two-story brownstone building with a large hipped roof, a one-story stone entrance pavilion, and tall, narrow rectangular openings on its front facade. Joseph Anschutz designed it in a simplified Colonial Revival style with four classrooms, two per floor, suited to a country school. Anschutz used the same plan for one other school, Fox Chase No. 2 (1893), which has since been demolished. As the automobile and suburban growth reached the Northeast, the school became obsolete, and the School District traded it in 1928 for a larger parcel owned by the Somerton Masonic Lodge. The lodge now occupies the building. It is considered a rare surviving example of rural school architecture in Philadelphia and is listed for its significance to the history of education and school design in the city.","period_of_significance":"1892-1893","architect_builder":"Joseph Anschutz (architect); L. Dieterich (builder)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Currently used as a Masonic lodge; the School District traded the school in 1928 to the Somerton Masonic Lodge, which occupies the former school building. Condition listed as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.731952-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002324.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002324/7952f21b1f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002324/7952f21b1f-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Watson_Comly_1892.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Watson_Comly_1892.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993581","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_Comly_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7974810"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/comly-watson-school-88002324/"}