H. O.
WHEELER SCHOOL
ARCHIBALD STREET
BURLINGTON, VERMONT
NOMINATION TO
THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
The H. O. Wheeler School represents a fine example of the "large,
symmetrical, two or two-and-a-half story Colonial Revival school
buildings built in the first quarter of the twentieth century"
property type identified under the Education context of the Vermont
Historic Preservation Plan. The school is significant under National
Register Criteria A for the role this building has played in the
educational history of Burlington and under National Register
Criteria C for the merits of the design and the significance of
its architect, W. R. B. Willcox. This nomination is being submitted
under the multiple property form titled "Education in Vermont"
by the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation. The H. O. Wheeler
School clearly meets the registration requirements of this multiple
property submission. The historic context which this property
falls under is Education. (A full discussion of this context is
included in the multiple property nomination, "Education
in Vermont.")
One of about a dozen neighborhood schools serving Burlington during the early 20th century, the H. O. Wheeler School is a significant representative example of the large school buildings which Burlington and other Vermont communities were investing in to improve their educational facilities during this period of rapid population growth and relative prosperity. The school continued to serve the educational needs with few physical alterations through the 1940's. By 1954, the bathroom facilities were upgraded and administrative offices and a large gymnasium were added. Further growth of the population of the neighborhood following the construction of a housing project nearby prompted the city to construct an additional classroom wing in 1966. These additions are typical of Vermont schools as they were adapted to meeting increasing enrollments and facilities requirements.
Built at the corner of Archibald Street and Elmwood Avenue, the
H. O. Wheeler School (or Archibald Street School as it was first
called) was constructed in 1904 and 1905 for the City of Burlington
to meet the rapidly growing population of the North End neighborhood.
By the end of the 19th century, the existing neighborhood school,
which opened in 1888 in a retrofitted 1873 Baptist French Mission
Chapel, was seriously over-crowded, with pupils being sent to
the Pomeroy and Lawrence Barnes schools in adjacent neighborhoods.
School records show that since the late 1890's, the need for larger
facilities was evident, with frequent notes in annual reports
that the capacities of the schools had been exceeded. In April
of 1902 a crisis point was apparently reached when, according
to newspaper accounts, 54 "Hebrew" students boycotted
the Pomeroy School, alleging that they had been insulted by the
principal.
At that time, both the Archibald Street and Pomeroy Schools served
Burlington's main Jewish neighborhood, with a student population
of 19 Protestant, 85 Catholic, and 30 Jewish pupils reported at
the Archibald Street school and 194 Protestant, 74 Catholic, and
82 Jewish at Pomeroy School in 1902. School records suggest that
the construction of the new school was seen as a way to help relieve
tensions by grouping together most of the Jewish pupils in one
school. Of the 300 students attending the new Archibald Street
school in 1906, 126 were Jewish.
The new school was completed in the spring of 1905 at a cost of
$35,000 with eight rooms to accommodate 320 students. The old
school was moved to 74-76 LaFountain Street by J. E. Lanou, who
used it as a warehouse for his plumbing business. It was later
converted into apartments. While the school was under construction,
classes were held in nearby St. John's Hall.
By 1915, the annual city school reports refer to the school as
the H. O. Wheeler School. Wheeler (1841-1917) was born in Williston,
Vermont, and grew up in South Hero, Vermont, where his father
was principal of the South Hero Academy. After serving in the
Union Army during the Civil War, he graduated from the University
of Vermont and established a law practice. Wheeler was elected
Superintendent of Burlington Schools in 1880. He served at this
post until 1912. Eight new school buildings were built in Burlington
under his tenure.
The H. O. Wheeler School was designed in the Colonial Revival
style by W. R. B. Willcox (1869-1947), a Burlington native who
went on to become the innovative head of the Department of Architecture
at the University of Oregon. Other notable Burlington examples
of his work include Edmunds High School (1899), Burlington Savings
Bank (1900), Fletcher Free (Carnegie) Library (1902) and John
Dewey Hall (1902) at the University of Vermont. One of the only
architects with professional training (Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and University of Pennsylvania) practicing in Burlington
at the turn of the century, Willcox also designed several important
houses in the city's fashionable "Hill Section" before
moving to Seattle, Washington, in 1907. He was appointed chairman
of the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon
in Eugene, Oregon, in 1922, where he developed an innovative educational
philosophy which rejected many of the features of the traditional
Beaux-Arts architectural education system.
As mentioned above, the H. O. Wheeler School is a significant
representative example of the "large, symmetrical, two or
two-and-a-half story Colonial Revival school buildings built in
the first quarter of the twentieth century" identified under
the Education context of the Vermont Historic Preservation Plan.
The design is similar to other schools built during this period
in Burlington and around Vermont from the formal, symmetrical
brick facade to the classrooms flanking wide interior corridors.
Its plan is typical of school houses of this type, and its design
embraces the reform standards first set in 1904 by the Vermont
Board of Health. These features include the multiple large windows
in the classrooms to allow for natural light, a steam heating
system, and modern, indoor bathrooms. The majority of the original
plan and stylistic features remain intact with the exception of
the front entrance porch which was removed. Plans are underway,
however, to restore the front facade, replicating the original
entrance.
While the design of the H. O. Wheeler School reflects Burlington's
early twentieth century progressive era investment in education,
its construction also marks a period of rapid population growth
occurring in the city's North End neighborhood. The later additions,
although they do not contribute to the significance to the Wheeler
School, also reflect the continued population growth of the North
End community in the middle of the twentieth century. Although
the additions were built after 1904, their construction does not
intrude on the original design of the main block or the identification
of the building as a school.
An extensive rehabilitation of the building completed in 1994 restored the building's original front entry on the south facade.