Washington School

The Washington School, East Weymouth, was designed by Boston ar chitect S. S. Woodcock in 1887. It is a fine example of late Queen Anne architectural design applied to an institutional use. The school faces north and occupies a high, flat site overlooking a busy intersection at Jackson Square, commercial, civic, and cultural focus of this village, one of four that have historically made up this coastal town 14 miles south of Boston. A graduated granite retaining wall, 12 feet at its highest point, defines the southern and eastern edges of the property. constructed of wood, sheathed in a mix of clapboard and patterned shingles, this large, two-story building with full basement and unfinished attic is in good condition on interior and exterior and retains almost all its original features.

The building's plan is essentially symmetrical, a I-shaped structure composed of main block and projecting central pavilion, with covered porches tucked on either side and with balanced fenestration. The building's exterior displays a number of Queen Anne/Shingle Style decorative elements--fishscale and serrated shingles, clapboards, quarter-round sunbursts, turned spindles, and delicate lunette--common to the dynamism of this late 19th century style. The foundation is constructed of massive, rectangular cut-granite blocks; the roof is clad in asphalt shingles. windows, which are 6/6, are for the most part original. The larger block at the rear of the building, four bays deep by six bays wide, has a high hip roof, which is broken in the rear by one gabled dormer.

The central pavilion (four bays deep by three bays wide), which has a pitched jerkinhead roof with a gabled dormer on each side, was once surmounted by a square open tower with a pyramidal roof topped by a weathervane.

Architect Shepard S. Woodcock (1824-1910) Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Washington School, Weymouth, retains integrity of location, design, materials, feeling, workmanship, and association. Built in 1887-1888, the school stands as a rare survival: a virtually intact wood-frame example of a late 19th century educational structure, built on a domestic scale. It is a fine example of the Queen Anne style, architect-designed, with well-preserved detailing on both interior and exterior. The building thus meets Criterion C of the National Register of Historic Places on the local level. East Weymouth was one of four villages that evolved within the Weymouth bounds (incor porated 1635,. In 1681, the first school was built near the town common, west of the nominated property.

By 1799, eight school districts were established, each of which was to provide its own schoolhouse. The district system continued in use in weymouth until 1871. By the mid 19th century, East weymouth, one of the cores of weymouth's population, had four single-room schoolhouses, the High, Pleasant, School, and Grant Street Schools. None are believed to be extant, although it is possible that the materials from several of the schools may have been incorporated into later residences. Under the aegis of the town's first Superintendent of Schools and his successors, Weymouth undertook a building program that began ca. 1870 and lasted until 1915 and was designed to provide new, modern facilities for the town's schoolchildren.

East weymouth developed as a small, compact industrial center with a distinct residential section. Its development was centered around the juncture of three colonial-per1od roadways: present-day commer cial, Broad, and High Streets. Shoemaking was common throughout the town during the late 18th and early 19th century, with "ten-footers" (small shoeshops) scattered across weymouth.