The Johnson School is a historic former school building on School Street in
North Adams, Massachusetts. Built about 1898, this
Romanesque Revival school is a significant work of the prominent local architect
Edwin Thayer Barlow
Edwin Thayer Barlow (April 2, 1869 – July 8, 1959) was an architect with Carrère and Hastings in New York City and at his own architectural practice in North Adams, Massachusetts.North Adams, E. T. Barlow obituary ''Springfield Union'' 9 July ...
. It was the last of the city's neighborhood schools to be closed. The building was added to the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1985.
It is now used for
Head Start and other social programs.
Description and history
The Johnson School is located on the north side of School Street, occupying the entire block between Williams and Cady Streets in the city's Amity Square neighborhood.
[Oehler, Kay; Sheppard, Stephen C.; Benjamin, Blair and Li, Lily]
"Shifting Sands in Changing Communities: The Neighborhoods, Social Services, and Cultural Organizations of North Adams, Massachusetts"
North Adams: Center for Creative Community Development, 2006. p.13 It is a two-story brick building, with a hip roof and granite foundation, with red sandstone trim elements. The roof is pierced on three sides by gabled center sections, that on the southern side, over the main entrance, more prominent than the others. The main facade is nine bays wide, the central three (below the gable) slightly recessed. Windows in the outer bays are set in segmented-arch openings, with sandstone sills and brick lintels with slightly projecting keystones. Windows in the central section are set in square openings with stone lintels and sills, except in the gable, where there are three windows set in round-arch openings. The main entrance is recessed in a round-arch opening with brick pilasters at the corners. The interior of the school retains significant original finishes.
The school was built in 1896 to a design by Edwin Thayer Barlow, a prominent local architect, at a time when the surrounding neighborhood was experiencing significant growth. In 1924 the school was enlarged, to a sympathetic design by
Springfield
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architect Newton Bond. The school was one of the last neighborhood school in North Adams to be closed, and is now used for
Head Start and other social programs.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
References
External links
*
{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts, state=collapsed
1896 establishments in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in North Adams, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Romanesque Revival architecture in Massachusetts
School buildings completed in 1896
School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Schools in Berkshire County, Massachusetts