H. O. WHEELER SCHOOL
ARCHIBALD STREET
BURLINGTON, VERMONT

NOMINATION TO THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES


STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE


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.


Continue to Bibliography

Back to HO Wheeler School Title Page