MassachusettsThe Myrtle Street School at 64 Myrtle Street in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield is a well-preserved educational complex of four interconnected brick buildings, built in three stages between 1868 and 1915 and displaying Second Empire and Classical Revival styling. The original 1868 building, a mansard-roofed Second Empire structure designed by local architect James M. Currier, is the second-oldest surviving school in Springfield; imposing Classical Revival additions of 1903 and 1914 fronting Myrtle Street were designed by the prominent firm of E. C. and G. C. Gardner, and the 1914 gymnasium is notable for its rare Egyptian Revival entrance. Built to serve the planned mid-19th-century mill village of Indian Orchard, the school's three phases reflect the evolution of schoolhouse design, and its 1914 assembly hall made it the community's social center. Eugene C. Gardner was a nationally known theorist on schoolhouse design and pattern-book author. It was listed under Criteria A and C at the local level.
Myrtle Street School
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Myrtle Street School is a landmark in Springfield, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 42.1583, -72.5064 near Springfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Indian Orchard Fire and Police Sub-Station, Old (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Indian Orchard Branch Library, Rieutord Block, and Immaculate Conception Church Rectory and Garage.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
Serving Springfield's Indian Orchard mill village, this school grew in three campaigns spread across nearly fifty years, and the layers are still legible. Major additions in 1903 and 1914 brought classrooms, an auditorium, a gymnasium, and connecting corridors, all in Classical Revival dress with pilasters and pedimented central pavilions facing Myrtle Street; they wrapped around the original Second Empire block, which now sits at the rear of the roughly U-shaped complex. Wooden staircases and decorative molding survive inside the oldest section. Listed on the National Register in 1985, the building has been converted to housing.
Sources: en.wikipedia.orgmhc-macris.net
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