{"nrhp_refnum":"89001343","name":"South Junior High School","other_names":["Reay E. Sterling Middle School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"444 Granite St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Quincy","county":"Norfolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.24011576500004,"lon":-71.01586354399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-09-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Classical Revival junior high school at 444 Granite Street in southwest Quincy, Massachusetts, built in 1927 to designs by the Boston firm Shephard and Stearns. It is now the Reay E. Sterling Middle School.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is a well preserved example of 1920s secondary school architecture by a noted Boston firm. It is also tied to Quincy's 1920s population boom and its long school building campaign. It is the best preserved of Quincy's three 1920s junior high schools and one of two intact pre-1930 schools not already listed.","narrative":"Built in 1927 at 444 Granite Street in southwest Quincy, this beige brick school was designed by the Boston firm Shephard and Stearns as the city's third junior high school. It went up as Quincy responded to a 1920s population boom and to overcrowded high schools, and it included a theatre, gymnasium, woodworking shops, mechanical drawing room, art and music rooms, and a print shop alongside classrooms and laboratories. The symmetrical five-part facade has projecting end pavilions, a central section with giant pilasters, three entrances with Greek pediments, and brick diaper-pattern panels on the pavilion ends. The brick was meant to resemble stone. The building reports no major alterations and remains in good condition as a middle school. It is the best preserved of Quincy's three 1920s junior high schools and is recognized at the local level for its architecture and its link to the city's early twentieth-century school building campaign.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Shephard and Stearns","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a middle school; condition described as good, with no major alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:01.96675-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7925/63792526/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/89001343.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001343/b735b64c97-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001343/b735b64c97-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sswonk","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Junior_High_School_Quincy_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sswonk</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:South_Junior_High_School_Quincy_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63792526","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reay_E._Sterling_Middle_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7567586"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/norfolk-county/south-junior-high-school-89001343/"}