{"nrhp_refnum":"89000749","name":"St. Joseph's School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Gould St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wakefield","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.50078264000007,"lon":-71.07874540699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-07-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Joseph's School is a two-story brick school on a high basement on Gould Street in Wakefield, Massachusetts, built in 1924 and designed by the Boston firm Maginnis & Walsh.","why_significant":"It is one of the few examples of the Neo-Gothic style in Wakefield and a well-preserved example of the type of Catholic institutional building designed by Maginnis & Walsh. Its modified C-shaped plan was popular for American schools in the 1920s and 30s. It retains its integrity and meets Criterion C at the local level.","narrative":"Built in 1924 on Gould Street in Wakefield, St. Joseph's School is a two-story brick building raised on a high basement. The Boston architectural firm Maginnis & Walsh, known for many Catholic institutional buildings including several at Boston College, designed it in the Neo-Gothic or Collegiate Gothic style. That style was chosen to evoke medieval England during its revival of learning and to create an atmosphere suited to education. The building follows a modified C-shaped plan that was popular for American schools in the 1920s and 1930s. It is one of few Neo-Gothic buildings in town and remains well preserved, with no major alterations and no outbuildings. The school grew out of a Catholic community that began with the first mass in South Reading in 1850 and expanded with Irish and then Italian immigrants. The Sisters of Saint Joseph taught at the school, which opened with one class and added a class each year until it had eight.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Maginnis & Walsh","architectural_style":"Neo-Gothic (Collegiate Gothic)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, with no major alterations; the form lists its present use as a school.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:00.741581-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/22/7911/63791122/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89000749.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000749/73bae50ff7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000749/73bae50ff7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WakefieldMA_StJosephsSchool.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</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:WakefieldMA_StJosephsSchool.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63791122","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph_School_(Wakefield,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7401566"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/st-josephs-school-89000749/"}