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Property Location
Property Features
2017 - Resurveyed
AHI #9693 is Washington Middle School (Washington School), formerly Washington School Center and Washington Junior High School. The north half of the school is a two-story, brick, Collegiate Gothic-style building constructed in 1920. The symmetrical façade faces Washington Road to the north with a projecting entrance bay at each end. Collegiate Gothic detailing is largely limited to the entrances, and consists of stone pointed arch door surrounds. Other Collegiate Gothic design elements include a continuous stone water table beneath the first-story windows and continuous stone coursing at the cornice level. Between the entrances are five equal fenestration bays, each separated by a square brick pilaster. Windows are grouped in sets of three, with openings on the first story considerably smaller than those above. Atop the middle three window bays are name stones reading “Washington School Center.” Side wings extend to the south from the outside of each entrance bay. The east and west side elevations are mostly identical, each consisting of a central entrance bay flanked by a set of six windows on each story. The secondary entrances feature the same pointed arch stone door surrounds as the façade. A stone shield ornament accentuates each end of the side elevations. Despite replacement windows and some brick-filled and boarded-up window openings, this oldest portion of Washington School appears to retain exterior integrity.
The south half of Washington School is a one-story, modernist addition constructed in 1965. The exterior is dominated by brick cladding, punctuated only by pairs of narrow, concrete-framed, full-height window openings on the west elevation. A sloped concrete cap encircles the flat roofline. An entrance to the addition is located at the southwest corner beneath a flat concrete canopy. About half of the addition is a windowless gymnasium.
When the school opened in 1920 it was Kenosha’s third junior high school. Initially, the school also provided space for community events, so it was called Washington School Center. An identical school, McKinley, opened in 1921 (AHI #9573). Despite the opening of Lincoln Junior High School just a few years prior in 1917, the two schools were needed due to the population of Kenosha County doubling between 1910 and 1920. The addition in 1965 increased the size of Washington School two-fold, providing more classrooms, a library, cafeteria, gymnasium, and locker rooms.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
HI9693
Architecture & History Inventory
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5804 SHERIDAN RD (STATE HIGHWAY 32)
112325
Located in Kenosha, Kenosha County
