Pine Street School (Northfield, Massachusetts)

The Pine Street School is a historic schoolhouse at 13 Pine Street in Northfield, Massachusetts. The school was built in 1904 and served as such until 1940, and represents a well-preserved specimen of an early 20th-century school building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.^[1]

The Pine Street School is located north of the village center of Northfield, on the south side of Pine Street east of Main Street. It is a 1-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a clapboarded exterior and crossed gable-on-hip roof. The central portion of the roof is truncated, with a square section surrounded by a low balustrade, next to the brick chimney. The main entrance is sheltered by a porch with square posts and a plain balustrade above. On the first floor it has a large vestibule, with hanging hooks for student coats. Doors lead into two equally sized classrooms which still have original electrical fixtures, wooden bead-board wainscoting, and plaster walls. Stairs from the vestibule lead up to a third, larger classroom.^[2]

The building was designed by Westfield architect Augustus W. Holton in 1903,^[3] and was completed in 1904. It was the first of Northfield's schools to have indoor plumbing and central heating. The building was used as a schoolhouse from its construction until 1940, when a fire destroyed the town's Center School. The town then consolidated the elementary grades into a newly built Center School building. The Pine Street school building has served as the town museum since 1943.^[2]

• Northfield Main Street Historic District, just outside which the school sits
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Franklin County, Massachusetts