Murphys Grammar School is a historic school building in

Murphys Murphys or Murphy's may refer to: * Murphys, California, United States, an unincorporated village ** Murphys Grammar School, on the National Register of Historic Places ** Murphys Hotel, one of the oldest hotels still operating in California, on ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Built in 1860, the school was the first public school in Murphys. The school was designed in a vernacular

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style, which was popular at the time of its construction; its design includes a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

held up by square

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s, a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

ed gable, and a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

over the entrance with its own cornice and square pilasters. The school operated continuously from its opening until it closed in 1973; at the time of its closing, it was the longest continuously running school west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Albert Abraham Michelson Albert Abraham Michelson FFRS HFRSE (surname pronunciation anglicized as "Michael-son", December 19, 1852 – May 9, 1931) was a German-born American physicist of Polish/Jewish origin, known for his work on measuring the speed of light and espe ...

, the first American to win the

Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...

, attended the school. Murphys Grammar School 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 ...

on June 8, 1973.

References

External links

* School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Greek Revival architecture in California School buildings completed in 1860 Buildings and structures in Calaveras County, California Schools in Calaveras County, California National Register of Historic Places in Calaveras County, California 1860 establishments in California {{CalaverasCountyCA-NRHP-stub