Nomination for Adams, John, School

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

NPS Form 10-900 (3-82) OMB No.1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries-complete applicable sections 1. Name For NPS use only received NOV date entered 6 1985 historic Second District School and/or common 2. Location John Adams School (preferred) street & number 16 Church Street N/A not for publication city, town Weymouth N/A. vicinity of state MA 3.

Classification Category Ownership district - public X building(s) X private structure both site Public Acquisition object in process N/Abeing considered code 025 county Norfolk code 021 Status - occupied X unoccupied work in progress Accessible X yes: restricted - yes: unrestricted no Present Use - agriculture commercial educational entertainment - government industrial - military museum park private residence religious scientific transportation other: 4. Owner of Property name Mr. and Mrs. Joseph LoPresti street & number 26 President Road city, town Weymouth N/A-vicinity of 5. Location of Legal Description state MA 02188 courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Norfolk County Registry of Deeds street & number 650 High Street city, town Dedham state MA 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Inventory of the Historic Assets title of the Commonwealth has this property been determined eligible?

date 1978 Form #282 federal X state -yes X no county local depository for survey records Mass. Historical Commission 80 Boylston Street city, town Boston state MA 02116 7. Description John Adams School, Weymouth, MA Condition excellent X good fair - deteriorated - ruins unexposed Check one X unaltered -altered Check one X original site _moved date Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance

Description of the property

The John Adams Sehool, Weymouth, is sited on a rectilinear lot of 7,330 square feet at the historie center of Weymouth, south of Boston. On the northerly side of the lot, there is a paved entrance leading to town-owned common land. The land on the east, west, and south sides is grassed with some trees. The topography is gently sloping toward north and east. This ca. 1855 Italianate-style schoolhouse reflects in its gabled form and corner pilasters, with recessed panels, the earlier Greek Revival style. The quiet rectilinear massing with its matchboarded, symmetrical facade is enlivened by strong architectural ornaments under the eaves--shaped brackets characteristie of the Italianate style. The brackets are reiterated under the door and window lintels, giving the facade a plasticity new for the times.

The front entryways and centrally placed window is topped by three evenly spaced windows; they, in turn, are surmounted by a lobed lunette (presently hidden behind plywood, it is in the attic, intact withits tracery.) The fenestration on the other three walls is also symmetrical, with windows that are six over six, single glazed. The rear, or south side, is crossed diagonally with a fire escape placed there in 1937. The slate roof has its ridgepole pierced in the front section by a flue line, while in the rear is a large (for the period) chimney. The foundation is granite block. The walling material--including matchboarding, elapboards, and corner pilasters--is entirely wood. The interior plan, unlike the exterior, is retardataire in its one-room-per-floor arrangement.

(Elsewhere, the "modern plan," separating recitation activities from' the main classroom, was being used.) Adams School pupils entered through the two front doors. Each door opened onto a stairhall leading to the first floor's large room, or to stairs going up to the second floor. Be tween the two stairhalls on the ground floor is an antechamber and a smaller room. The second floor's main room (approximately 1,000 square feet) included a patterned tin ceiling, with walls made up of matched horizontal boards below slate boards, which in turn were topped by a textured metal wall covering. The ground floor has similar dado decoration but has simple plaster walls and ceiling. The interior windows, adorned with a simple stylized Greek pediment, indicate another retardataire element in the structure. All these decorative elements are retained.

The basement has a small room for the heating unit; half of it is less than normal height. The attic, reached with a ladder through an opening on the ceiling (northeast side), is unfinished.

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Significance wonn Adams School, Weymouth, MA Period prehistoric 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 X 1800-1899 - 1900 Areas of Significance - Check and justify below archeology-prehistoric -- community planning archeology-historic conservation agriculture - economics X architecture X education art engineering commerce exploration/settlement communications .. industry invention Builder/Architect landscape architecture law literature military _music philosophy politics/government religion science sculpture social/ humanitarian theater transportation other (specify) Specific dates Ca. 1855 Statement of Significance

Statement of significance

(in one paragraph) Unk nown The John Adams School, Weymouth, retains integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. The building is an excellent example of Italianate-style school architecture, with a wel1-preserved interior as well as exterior and with good detailing throughout. Historically, the school is significant as the earliest standing school in town, built near the site of Weymouth's first school and located adjacent to ithe town common, in an area of important 18th and 19th century settlement. The John Adams School thus fulfils Criteria A and Cof the National Register of Historie Places. The John Adams School, so named in 1870 to commemorate the second president of the United States, was first known as the Second District School, indicating its location in Weymouth Heights, north of the present town center.

The permanent school committee of the town of Weymouth, established in 1191, votec in 1799 "to choose a committee to divide the town into school distriets; eight were sent out, the 2nd being in the North Parish." It was also voted at this meeting each distriet provide its own school house and that each shall be considered a free school." The Second Distriet is mentioned for the first time in the "Schedule of Expenses of the Town of Weymouth from March 1835 to March 1836." The first clue leading to the date of the school's construction lies in the relation of John Adams to the High School.

- In 1851 in the "Report of the Special School Committee," it was decided that "one high school be located in each section of the town, according to the following division: the first to include lst, 2na, and loth distriets appropriated to the support of each High School;" and "that $500 be The first Town Hall, built in 1852, housed this newly established high school. In 1854, it was the turn of the 9th Distriet School and in 1855 in the list of expenditures for the high school is written "Paid 2nd District School for use of school room 83.25." The second major clue lies in the following year's report, ending March 10, 1856: the School Committee quotes -..we wish to say a word in relation to our school houses.

The Second Distriet during the past year (1855) have erected a large and beautiful house, whose liberal and convenient construction is indeed very creditable" and, continuing under the heading of the Second Distriet, the committee notes " -..the school being now located in the new school house..." The report of the High School notes "the committee decided to accept a room in the new house of the Second District." It can therefore be reasonably assumed that the Second District School (later, the John Adams Sehool) was built in 1855, not only from evidence culled from the Town Reports but also from visual architectural evidence. The third clue Continued 9.

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

Major Bibliographical References Coolidge, John, Mill and Mansion. Columbia University Press, Reissued 196/, Dy Russell and Russell, New York. Developer's Kit for the Surplus John Adams School. School Reuse Committee, Weymouth, Massachusetts May 5, 1933. Continued 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property 7,330 sq. ft. Weymouth Quadrangle name Quadrangle scale UT M References * Lugl Lal 31 9 4101d Zone Easting L416.716/81913 Northing Northing 1:25,000 Zone Easting DLL CLL E F GLUJLLILLI LILILL HLULILe LiLiLu Veranted sevendescripte naddjustitication Bounded Northwesterly by an easement, hereinafter seventy-three and 37/100 (73,31) feet; Northeasterly Pter n dms mos, distnce of one hndred and0/100 now or formerly of (100,29) feet; Continued. List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state N/A code county code state code county code 11.

Form Prepared By name/title Minxie Fannin/Montique Lehner organization Preservation Consultants Fannin Lehner street & number 271 Lexington Rd,/72 So. Pleasant St. date August 1984 telephone Fannin 369-6703 Lehner 749-1806 city or town Concord 01742 Hingham 02043 state Massachusetts 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national _ State X local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated accordingto the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service.

State Historic Preservation Officer signature Executive Director, aluie A Talmage title State Historic Preservation Officer date Octsber 23,1985 For NPS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register Mueuy yeu Fatored far keeper of the National Register ¿atlonal Begiaton date 12-5-85- Attest: date Chief of Registration GPO 894-785 NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form OMB NO. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 Far NPS usa anly received dale entered Continuation sheet John Adams School, Weymouth, Item number 8 Page 1 lies with the first Town Hall, built in 1852 in a style that was pure, simple Greek Revival in form, massing, and decorative details.

Had the Second District been built earlier than 1855, it surely would have followed the same architectural formula. built earmier thán 18 later Three years later, it is conceivable that the committee wished to build in the newly developed style of the incipient revivalism. As John Coolidge noted in his book, Mill and Mansion, "The earliest monuments to show the influence of revivalism were the chur ches and the public buildings (town hall, markets, and schools.) " The transition in the John Adams School from the past Greek Revival style of the Town Hall to the new "Italian Style" is subtle; it is found in the adornments of the structure, the brackets, the emphasis on the beautllully lobed gable window, the heavy window and door lintels. Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, in this same period (ca. 1850) was experiencing school building activities similar to Weymouth's.

The schools were also called "school houses," denoting the residential scale of these structures dwellings). (often, later metamorphosed into private "School" meant a level of instruction and "school house" was the physical building. Up to the Civil War, these school houses were relatively small in size, for they were meant to accommodate only the immediate ie moant 0 neighborhood scholars. The Adams Sehool's two-story plan is unusual. Located on the rise of the hill in Weymouth Heights, the John Adams School sits squarely in a historic neighborhood closely related to John Adams, who became the second President of the United States, and his wife, Abigail.

close proximity to the schoolhouse are the Abigail Adams Homestead (birthplace of Abigail Adams), the First Church of Weymouth, otherwise known as Old North Church, and the Old North Burying Ground, the cemetery in which are buried Abigail Adams' parents and other well-known Weymouth citizens of the 18th century.. The John Adams School also stands across the street from the site of the first Weymouth schoolhouse of 1681 and at the edge of Weymouth Common, permanently designated town land. Architecturally, the John Adams Sehool is significant as the oldest extant school building example of the transition from Greek Revival to the Italianate style, with fine detailing- ARCHAEOLOGY With its small lot size and the presence of some ground disturbance, the Adams School is not likely to have substantial archaeological remains present.

But because of its location at the center of an area of 18th and 19th century settlement, adjacent to the town common and the site of Weymouth's first school, the nominated propertymay be considered to have some potential for historic archaeological remains. And its proximity to the tidal flats of the Weymouth Fore River indicatesa low potential for prehistoric remains if the ground surface has not been too severely altered. NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form OMB No. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 Far NPS use only received date entered 9. Continution sheet John Adams School, Weymouth, ltem number MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES 9 Page 1 History of Norfolk County Massachusetts 1622-1918. Louis A. Cook, Supervising Editor. Volume 1. New York, Chicago: The S.J.

Clarke Publishing Co., 1918. History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, Volume 2, Historical. Published by the Weymouth Historical Society, 1923. Kevitt, Chester B., Weymouth Massachusetts: A New England Town. Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1981. Mussey, Barrows, Old New England. New York: A. A. Wyn, Inc., 1946. Nash, Gilbert, Historical Sketch of the Town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, From 1622 to 1884. Published by the Town of Weymouth, 1885. Report of the Selectmen of the Town of Weymouth. Year ending March 1, 1870. Survey of Architectural History in Cambridge, Report Three: Cambridgeport. Cambridge Historical Commission, distributed by the MIT Press 1971. Weymouth 350th Anniversary Committee. Weymouth 350th Anniversary, 1972. Weymouth Town Reports 1834 to 1860. 1836, 1840, 1853, 1854, 1855, 1856, and 1860.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet John Adams School, Weymouth, Item number OMB NO. 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 For NPS use only received date antered 10 Page 1 10. VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION AND JUSTIFICATION Southeasterly by lands now or formerly of James M. and Margaret T. Tower, sixty-four and 57/100 (64,57) Ieet; southwesterly by land now or formerly of said Tower one hundred and 58/100 (100, 58) feet. See plan of a part of Weymouth; Scale: one inch = 100 feet (1908) Engineering Division Department of Publie Works Sheet 13, Revised January 1, 1984 Area 174 See plan of Land, Weymouth, Norfolk County, Mass. February 19, 1982.

WASO Form - 177 ("R" June 1984) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET Adams, John, School Norfolk County MASSACHUSETTS resubmission nomination by person or local government owner objection appeal Substantive Review: Reviewer's comments: J sample -request 85003068 Working No.- NOV 6 1985 Fed. Reg. Date: 2/3,87 Date Due: _ 17/5/81 -12/21/83 Action: LACCEPT 12-5-85 Enteredin the National Hegister -RETURN _ REJECT- Federal Agency: -appeal L NR decision Recom./Criteria Reviewer Discipline Date see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: technical corrections cited below .substantive reasons discussed below 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5. Location of Legal Description 6.

Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? yes no 7. Description Condition excellent good fair deteriorated ruins unexposed Check one unaltered altered Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use Check one original site - moved date 8. Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) Builder/Architect summary paragraph completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other 9. Major Bibliographical References 10. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name.

UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national _state local State Historic Preservation Officer signature date title 13. Other Maps Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Signed - Date - Phone: - Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet SCHUC The John Adams School 16 Church Street Weymouth Heights Photo by Monique B. Lehner, July 1984 72 So. Pleasant Street Hingham, MA 02043 Negative with photographer Photo #1 of 5 Facade, North Side The John Adams School 16 School Street Weymouth Heights Photo by Monique B. Lehner, July 1984 72 So.

Pleasant Street Hingham, MA 02043 Negative with photographer Photo #2 of 5 East Side Elevation The John Adams School 16 Church Street Weymouth Heights Photo by Monique B. Lehner, July 1984 72 So. Pleasant Street Hingham, MA 02043 Negative with photographer Photo #3 of 5 West Side Elevation The John Adams Schoo1 16 Church Street Weymouth Heights Photo by Monique B. Lehner 72 South Pleasant Street Hingham, MA 02043 Negative with photographer Photo #4 of 5 SouthSide (rear) Elevation The John Adams School 16 Church Street Weymouth Heights Photo by Monique B. Lehner, July 1984 72 South Pleasant Street Hingham, MA 02043 Negative with photographer Photo #5 of 5 Detail: Gable with brackets and lobed window of facade. P 284 880 609 VTE LIA NAD Crt The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of State Michael Joseph Connolly, Secretary Massachusetts Historical Commission Valerie A.

Talmage Executive Director State Historic Preservation Officer October 24, 1985 Carol Shull National Register of Historic Places Department of Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013-7127 Dear Ms. Shull: Enclosed you will find the following nomination forms: Boston, Hingham, Hull, Quincy, Weymouth and Winthrop, Boston Harbor Islands Archaeological Distirct, Boston Harbor, 21 islands. Boston, Dudley Station Historic District, Washington, Warren and Dudley Streets, 40 properties. Lawrence, 34-30 Summer Street, 4 properties. HPCA pending, no number assigned. Lynn, Central Square Historic District, Central Square, Munroe, Union and Willow Streets, 15 properties. HPCAs pending: The Peavear Building, 101-127 Munroe Street, #0758-85-MA. New Bergengren Block, 1-21 Central Square, #0653-85-MA. Weymouth, John Adams Schoo1, 16 Church Street, 1 property.

Wrentham, Plimpton-Winter House, 127 South Street, 1 property. HPCA complete: #MA-85-0727. Al1 have been voted eligible by the State Review Board and have been signed by the State Historic Preservation Officer. Owners were no- tified of pending State Review Board consideration 30-75 days before 80 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 (617) 727-8470 NOV 6 1985 the meeting and wereafforded the opportunity to comment. Comments received to date are attached to the nomination forms. Sincerely, sarau J. Zimmenan Sarah J. Zimmerman Director, Preservation Planning Massachusetts Historical Commission Enclosures SJZ/dr