Southwick Consolidated School Building -Southwick, MA
Posted by: neoc1
N 42° 03.198 W 072° 46.291
18T E 684408 N 4658096
The Art Deco Southwick Consolidated School Building, a.k.a. Southwick Town Hall, is located at 454 College Highway, Routes 10 and 202, in Southwick, MA.
Waymark Code: WM14YGB
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 09/12/2021
Views: 0
The Southwick Consolidated School Building was constructed in 1928 in the Art Deco style and designed by local architect Malcolm Bennett Harding. The purpose of the building was to consolidate all he one room schoolhouses into a single building. He chose to create a step design suggesting an open book. The central section is set back from the rest of the building and the side wings project out in a series of steps.
The central section is three bays wide with two-story high, green, rectangular windows separated by brick columns at each bay. Below the green roof line is a section of light colored stone blocks with bas relief designs at the top of the brick columns and the inscription, in Art Deco lettering:
SOUTHWICK CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL
ERECTED 1928
The central section is flanked by a pair of protruding sections containing the entrances which are recessed within light stone blocks having stylized Ionic capitals at the top corners. The rest of the wings step outwards with brickwork at the bottom and light stone blocks above.
When enrollments declined the building was converted into the town hall and community center. Presently, it also houses the offices of the town clerk and the public works department.