{"nrhp_refnum":"94001634","name":"Butler School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"812 Gorham St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lowell","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.630571694000025,"lon":-71.30775769299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1995-02-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick Queen Anne style public grammar school at 812 Gorham Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, built in 1882 with a large matching addition completed in 1895. It was designed by Frederick W. Stickney.","why_significant":"Under Criterion A, the school reflects the late 19th century growth of Lowell's school system, which expanded to serve a population swelled by textile industry growth. Under Criterion C, it is a well-preserved example of the Queen Anne style adapted to a school building, with an 1895 addition that matches the original.","narrative":"Butler School is a large brick grammar school on Gorham Street in Lowell, Massachusetts, built in 1882 to a Queen Anne design by Frederick W. Stickney. A gabled pavilion marks the seven-bay facade, and the hipped slate roof carries gables and dormers. A matching brick addition was completed in 1895 to ease overcrowding as enrollment rose with the expansion of the Lowell textile mills and the Lowell Bleachery. The school was named for Benjamin F. Butler, a member of the first Lowell High School class. It housed grammar, junior high and evening classes before serving as an elementary school, and its period of significance ends in 1920, when Lowell introduced junior high schools. The building is valued for showing how the city's school system grew and how its interiors were arranged for graded teaching, and for its well-preserved Queen Anne design. It is now vacant and needs exterior repair and repainting.","period_of_significance":"1882-1920","architect_builder":"Frederick W. Stickney","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Queen Anne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant, not in use; the exterior is described as needing considerable repairs and repainting.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.755096-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/7958/63795869/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/94001634.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001634/6941878a6c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001634/6941878a6c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lowell_MA_Butler_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lowell_MA_Butler_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795869","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butler_School_(Lowell,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5002647"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/butler-school-94001634/"}