Old Central High School | |
Location | Pittsfield, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°27′3″N73°14′56″W / 42.45083°N 73.24889°W |
Built | 1898 |
Architect | Pierce & Brun |
Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
NRHP reference No. | 80000428 [1] |
Added to NRHP | August 6, 1980 |
The Old Central High School is a historic school building at 99 2nd Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1898, it is one of the most architecturally elaborate school buildings in the city. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. [1] It is now residential housing.
Pittsfield's Old Central High School is located northeast of the city center, on the east side of the old town common. It is a U-shaped 3-1/2 story masonry structure, finished primarily in cream-colored brick, with marble trim and terra cotta detailing. It has a hipped roof pierced by dormers, and is set on a high sandstone foundation. Its centered entrance is flanked by Corinthian columns and topped by a full entablature with balustrade. The interior design echoes the color schemes of the exterior. [2]
The land on which the school stands was originally part of Pittsfield's first cemetery, whose graves were relocated to the Pittsfield Cemetery on Wahconah Street between 1850 and 1872. When the city's previous high school burned down in 1895, the city held a design competition for its replacement. Of 130 designs submitted, the city selected one by the New York City firm of Pierce & Brun. It was completed in 1898 at a cost of $200,000, well over the $135,000 it had been estimated to cost. A new high school was built in 1931, after which this building became a junior high school. It sat vacant from 1953 to 1959, and in 1961 became the first home of Berkshire Community College. [2] It has since been converted to residences.
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield’s population was 43,927 at the 2020 census. Although its population has declined in recent decades, Pittsfield remains the third-largest municipality in Western Massachusetts, behind only Springfield and Chicopee.
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Pittsfield Cemetery is a historic cemetery at 203 Wahconah Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Established in 1850, it is good example of a rural cemetery and is the resting ground of many prominent Pittsfield residents with a number of architecturally significant elements. It also houses a number of Pittsfield's earliest burials which were relocated here from a cemetery near the city center. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
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Hyde School is a historic Romanesque Revival school at 130 High Street in Lee, Massachusetts. The school was built in 1894 from locally quarried marble. It is named for Alexander Hyde, who established the town's first school in his house on West Park Street, and was built on the site of the town's first public school.
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. It was the last of the city's neighborhood schools to be closed. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It is now used for Head Start and other social programs.
The Old Central Fire Station is a historic fire station at 66 Allen Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1895, it is the city's oldest surviving fire station, and a prominent local example of Romanesque architecture. The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and was included in an expansion of Pittsfield's Park Square Historic District in 1991. It now houses offices.
The Old Town Hall is a historic building on Park Square in the heart of downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts. This 1832 building served for 135 years as the center of municipal government. Built in the Federal style to serve as the town hall, it became City Hall when Pittsfield became a city in 1891, serving in that role until 1968. It is the city's oldest municipal building. The hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and included in the Park Square Historic District in 1975.
The Park Square Historic District is a historic district in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The district is centered on the historic heart of Pittsfield encompassing a number city blocks adjacent to Park Square, which is at the junction of North, South, East, and West Streets.
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Providence Court, previously St. Luke's Hospital, is a historic former hospital building at 379 East Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The Colonial Revival building was constructed in 1926, and was the first Roman Catholic hospital in Berkshire County. St. Luke's merged with Pittsfield General Hospital in 1967 to form Berkshire Medical Center, in the nation's first mergers between religious and non-sectarian hospitals. The building was converted into elderly housing in 1978–1981. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Wollison–Shipton Building is a historic commercial block located at 142-156 North Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Designed by architect H. Neil Wilson, it was built in 1888 when the area north of Park Square developed as a commercial and retail part of downtown Pittsfield.
Pittsfield Universalist Church is a historic church at 112 Easy Streets in Pittsfield, Maine. Built in 1898–99 with parts dating to 1857, it is one of the town's finest examples of Queen Anne architecture and is noted for its artwork and stained glass. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
H. (Henry) Neill Wilson was an architect with his father James Keys Wilson in Cincinnati, Ohio; on his own in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and for most of his career in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The buildings he designed include the Rookwood Pottery building in Ohio and several massive summer cottages in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Harding and Seaver was an architectural firm based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, active from 1902 to 1947. It was the partnership of architects George C. Harding (1867–1921) and Henry M. Seaver (1873–1947).
The Franklin Pierce House was a historic house at 52 South Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire, United States. Built in 1852, it was a significant local example of Second Empire architecture, and was one of two surviving Concord homes of President Franklin Pierce at the time of its listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Pierce died in the house in 1869. It was destroyed by fire on September 17, 1981.
Joseph McArthur Vance was a prominent architect in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His portfolio comprised residential, commercial, industrial and recreational buildings. Much of his work was centered in Pittsfield, then a thriving commercial, industrial and resort city, but he was also commissioned by clients elsewhere in Berkshire County. He also pursued projects in neighboring states. Among the buildings he designed are the Colonial Theatre, the Allen Hotel – originally the Park Hotel – (1915), and the Frank Howard Building (1916) – all in Pittsfield; Bascom Lodge (1932-1937) atop Mount Greylock, the state's highest peak; and the Hotel Aspinwall in Lenox, Massachusetts (1902), which burned to the ground in 1931. Several buildings he designed are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.