School Architecture

Forbes Public High School // 1924

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The former Forbes Public High School in Westborough, Massachusetts, is an excellent example of a civic building in the Classical Revival style. Built in 1924 for a growing suburban community, the building was constructed as the town’s high school with the grounds and substantial funding donated by Francis and Fannie Forbes, life-long residents of town with Francis having roots going back to the earliest settlers here. The building was permitted in late 1924 and plans were drawn by the firm of Ritchie, Parsons & Taylor. who designed the large school with stone and brick construction, large arched windows, and pilasters breaking up the bays. Inside, the new building had 14 classrooms, a gymnasium, a shop room, and cooking rooms, all with fine carved woodwork. After WWII, Westborough further consolidated its schools, and built a new High School nearby. This building was repurposed as the Forbes Municipal Building, containing city offices and the Police Department headquarters.

Former Eli Whitney School // 1907

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Built a few decades after and located behind the Harvey School in Westborough, Massachusetts, the former Eli Whitney School is a landmark example of an educational building designed in the Neo-Classical style. Built between 1906-7, the school building replaced an earlier school on the site that was outgrown and outdated. Designed by architects Cooper & Bailey, the building stands two-stories tall with a central pedimented pavillion containing the entry that is framed by monumental fluted columns. The school was named after Eli Whitney, the famous American inventor, born in Westborough, who is widely known for inventing the cotton gin in 1793, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution, and later moving to New Haven and manufacturing weapons. When Westborough schools consolidated into modern facilities in the second half of the 20th century, this building was then occupied by the YWCA, and have rented the facilities from the town until it was purchased in 2000.

Old Rockland High School // 1908

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Rockland, Massachusetts, was incorporated in 1874 as the result of a dispute over the construction of an expensive school building in Abington Center in 1871 and the belief that East Abington could develop into a more successful industrial community if separate from Abington. By the turn of the 20th century, there were approximately 900 children in Rockland between the ages of 5 and 15 who were being educated in the local school system, largely comprised of first- and second-generation immigrants, arriving to the area to work in shoe manufacturing. Many smaller, schools dotted the landscape until a larger, consolidated school was built 1892. Decades later, prosperity and a growing population necessitated a new school, and the architectural firm of Cooper & Bailey, designed the town’s first brick school building. Classical Revival in style, the building features a prominent pediment supported by two, two-story Ionic columns and dentilated cornice. The building is now a community center – housing a day care, pre-school and meeting spaces for Girl Scouts. The building also housed Rockland’s senior center prior to the construction of a new senior center elsewhere in town. It suffers from deferred maintenance and is in need of some attention.

Canterbury Center District School // c.1860

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The Center District Schoolhouse of Canterbury, Connecticut, sits behind the village church and is the town’s best-preserved example of a district schoolhouse. Built c.1860, the vernacular, Greek Revival one-room schoolhouse served the central village through the 19th and into the 20th centuries with its twin entry, double-hung windows to allow light and air into the classroom, and a belfry with bell to notify pupils when class was about to start. Like many similar one-room schools in rural New England, pupils attended class with neighbors and siblings in the small, intimate classroom of varied ages. 

Former Broad Street School // 1861

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The oldest extant school building in present-day Central Falls, Rhode Island, is this brick schoolhouse, constructed in 1861, to serve as the main village school. The rather plain two-story brick building was built just before the Civil War, during a period of rapid industrialization and growth in Central Falls, when it was then the dense core of the town of Smithfield, Rhode Island. The building contained classrooms for pupils from elementary through high school. Italianate in style, the rather unadorned building does feature oversized windows with some containing rounded tops, deep eaves, and a subtle recessed arch in the central bay on the facade. The school has been vacated for some time, and in 2024, plans materialized to convert this building into affordable housing. Hopefully the renovation/restoration is thoughtful for such a significant piece of the city’s history.

Old Chicopee High School // 1917

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The Old Chicopee High School building is located at 650 Front Street, between the two major population hubs of Chicopee Center and Chicopee Falls and is one of the finest examples of Collegiate Gothic/Neo-Gothic Revival architecture in Massachusetts. The school building was constructed in 1917 from plans by architect, George E. Haynes as a central high school, a single building where pupils from all over the city could be educated. The population growth of Chicopee in the early decades of the 20th century necessitated additions and reworking of the spaces of the building, eventually outgrowing the building after WWII. In 1961, plans for a contemporary high school were completed and this building became a middle school for the City of Chicopee. Architecturally, the building stands out for its siting and high-quality design. The main facade features a central clock tower which contains the main entrance. The use of brick with cast stone trim and the castellated parapet add much dimension to the large building. The City of Chicopee have done a commendable job maintaining this important landmark.

Holy Name Science High School // 1925

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The third and final extant building on the former Church of the Holy Name of Jesus complex in Chicopee, Massachusetts, is this former school building, a stunning example of Colonial Revival architecture. Located behind the former church and rectory buildings, this three-story building was built in 1925 as a “Science” building to accompany an existing girl’s high school. Inside, the building had a “Commercial” department, where young girls could learn important skills like banking, stenography, and typing; with the second floor containing traditional science classrooms and labs along with the school library. Springfield-based architect, John W. Donohue, who specialized in ecclesiastical buildings in Western Massachusetts, designed the building in the Colonial Revival style with brick and stone construction, an elaborate entrance and Palladian window on the second floor facade. The school building closed in the late 20th century, and has seemingly sat vacant ever-since. I sincerely hope this important building could be incorporated as much-needed housing for Chicopee residents!

Administration Building – Elms College // 1932

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Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts began as the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms, a Catholic boarding school for girls established in Pittsfield by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1897. The academy was relocated to Springfield Street in Chicopee through the efforts of Bishop Thomas D. Beaven in 1899. The Academy provided elementary and secondary education with a Normal School component that prepared young women for careers in teaching. In 1924, Bishop O’Leary announced the intention to expand the school into higher education, creating a women’s college. The college charter was approved in 1928 and the Academy became the College of Our Lady of the Elms. Planning and construction of the Administration Building (later renamed Berchmans Hall in 1983) began immediately after the incorporation of the College in 1928. Designed by John W. Donohue, the official architect of the Diocese of Springfield at the time, Berchmans Hall is a landmark example of the Collegiate Gothic/Neo-Gothic style that proliferated higher education and ecclesiastical buildings in the early decades of the 20th century. Completed in 1932, the new building included offices, modern classrooms and laboratories. The back section contained a gymnasium in the basement and an auditorium on the main floor. The building remains the main building on the Elms College campus and serves as an important visual anchor to the school.

Alvord School // 1894

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When the old Broadway school in Chicopee Falls became neighbors with the Overman Wheel Company, an early bicycle manufacturing company, there was so much noise and distraction that the Chicopee School Committee voted to sell the school and build a new school building down the street. A triangular lot on Broadway was purchased and Springfield architect, Francis R. Richmond, was chosen to design the new building in 1894. The school was dedicated to Dr. Samuel Alvord, a Chicopee Falls resident who was first principal of the local high school and local doctor that died in 1892. The Alvord School is a great example of a Richardsonian Romanesque school building of brick and brownstone, with recessed entry within a Syrian arch and decorative terracotta tiles. The school would close in the second half of the 20th century, and today is known as the Helen A. O’Connell Administration Building, a municipal office building.

Old Goshen Academy Building // 1824

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The former Goshen Academy building is located in the central village of the rural town of Goshen, Connecticut, and it is an important vestige of early education in the small town. The Goshen Academy building was built in 1824 from funds by shareholders of the institution. The academy featured a lecture room on the second floor with smaller classrooms downstairs. The academy would eventually close, and it has been occupied by the Goshen Historical Society.

Xavier Hall // 1911

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Xavier Hall was built between 1910-11 on the campus of St. John’s Prep School in Danvers, Massachusetts. The building was constructed by the Xaverian Brothers as classrooms as the first purpose-built structure in what would become a large campus. The Neo-Gothic Revival style building was sited adjacent to Porphyry Hall, an 1880 estate house that the new school purchased in 1891, which was later expanded by the addition of a rear chapel. Edward T. P. Graham, an architect best known for his design of Roman Catholic churches and associated buildings, was hired to design the stately structure built of brick and limestone.

Perley School // 1898

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The Perley School, formerly known as the “The Perley Free School” is an architecturally and historically significant school building in Georgetown, Massachusetts, constructed in 1898 as a result of the former high school being lost to fire. The original funding for the Perley School was made possible by donations from the estate of John Perley. John Perley (1782-1860) was born in town and operated grocery stores, later getting involved in land speculation. He never married nor had children and lived frugally despite having a small fortune, that would end up being distributed to extended family and as gifts to the town, including funding this building and in the local Congregational church. He died in 1860 and was buried in a local cemetery, marked by the town’s most ornate memorial. The Colonial Revival style school would suffer a catastrophic fire in 1935, but was largely rebuilt and added onto, showing the community’s resolve and determination. It remains today as the town’s elementary school.

Georgetown Town Hall // 1905

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Welcome to Georgetown! The Georgetown Central School, now known as the Memorial Town Hall, stands near the historic commercial center of Georgetown, Massachusetts, a rural community in Essex County located about 28 miles north of Boston. The two story wood-frame building was built in 1905 to a design by the Boston architectural firm of Cooper and Bailey, and located at the site of an earlier one-room schoolhouse built in the 18th century. It was Georgetown’s first multi-room school building, and was built after the town’s first high school/town hall burned down in 1898. The Colonial Revival style school building was eventually outgrown and was no longer needed as an educational facility. It was converted to municipal offices in 1974, a use that has remained ever since. The town has taken pride in this building, restoring much of the exterior details and slate roof.

Pennell Institute Building – Gray Town Hall // 1886

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The Pennell Institute was built in 1886 as a privately funded, public school for the town of Gray, Maine. By 1870, Gray High School was located in the former Town Hall, and due to increased enrollment and ever-cramped quarters, demand for a standalone school was of grave importance. As a result, local resident Henry Pennell decided he would help his hometown. Henry Pennell (1803-1884) as a young man, worked as a butcher and traveled to Portland to sell his cuts of meat, later buying and selling livestock. After the Civil War, he dealt in real estate and mortgages, was sheriff of Cumberland County (1857-1858) and served in the State Senate (1872-1873), and became the richest man in the town of Gray. Mr. Pennell, who himself, never had received much formal education, saw the value in it for the youth of the town. Construction started on the school in 1876, where the foundation was laid, but it would take ten years until after the death and bequeathing of his estate in his will, that the building would be completed in 1886. Henry Pennell left the town the school building, the lot it stood on, a trust fund of $25,000 for the school’s general expenses, and a special fund of $5,000 for the library and for laboratory equipment and supplies. The school closed with students educated at a larger, modern building. After disputes between the Town of Gray and the local school district, the building has now been home to the Gray Town Hall, with the town clearly showing pride in their Italianate style building.

Former Appleton Academy Building // 1942

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Appleton Academy (aka the New Ipswich Academy) was established in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, in 1789, being the second oldest private academy in the state. The school was named after benefactor Samuel Appleton, the largest early donor, who grew up in town at his father, Isaac Appleton’s homestead. This is the fourth Academy building in New Ipswich. The original 1789 frame building was outgrown and in 1816, it was decided that the academy would be shared with the new town hall building, occupying the second floor. Sharing a prestigious academy building with the town functions was deemed insufficient, and a new prominent site near Appleton Common was acquired, with a new brick academy building constructed there in 1853. The Italianate style structure was funded by the Appleton Family, and was designed by Boston architect, William Washburn. In January 1941, the main Academy building was destroyed by fire. The next year it was rebuilt, closely following the design of the earlier brick structure. The school closed in 1974 and was used by a non-profit and schools until it sold in 2018 and appears to be a residence now.