Searles High School, now Methuen City Hall, is a historic former school building at 41 Pleasant Street in

Methuen, Massachusetts Methuen () is a 23-square-mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Midd ...

, and an excellent example of English Renaissance Revival architecture. It was designed by

Henry Vaughan Henry Vaughan (17 April 1621 – 23 April 1695) was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author and translator writing in English, and a medical physician. His religious poetry appeared in ''Silex Scintillans'' in 1650, with a second part in 1655.''Oxfo ...

, a favorite of wealthy industrialist

Edward Searles Edward Francis Searles (July 4, 1841 – August 6, 1920) was an interior and architectural designer. Life Searles was born on July 4, 1841, in Methuen, Massachusetts, US to Jesse Gould Searles (1805–1844) and Sarah (Littlefield) Searles. His f ...

, who funded construction of the building in 1904. Searles was a major presence in the town, also funding construction of the Vaughan-designed

Methuen Memorial Music Hall Methuen Memorial Music Hall, initially named Serlo Organ Hall, is a music hall built by Edward Francis Searles to house "The Great Organ", a very large pipe organ originally built for the Boston Music Hall. The hall was completed in 1909, and ...

. In the atrium rests an early small demonstration version of the

Emancipation Memorial The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman's Memorial or the Emancipation Group is a monument in Lincoln Park (Washington, D.C.), Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It wa ...

, which Searles purchased from its designer, Thomas Ball. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1984. It now houses offices of the City of Methuen.

Description and history

The building is set on the southeast side of Pleasant Street, east of Methuen's central business district and facing the former Searles estate to the south. It is a large 3-1/2 story brick and stone building, surrounded by a stone retaining wall. The building has three front-facing gable sections, which are joined by cross-gabled sections. Each of the three sections has a central projecting multi-story bay, that in the center section rounded and topped by a balustraded. The two joining sections have arcaded lower levels and windows with quoined surrounds above. Four brick chimney towers rise above the building, with stone quoining and false arches on the long sides. The school was built in 1904 as one of many gifts to the town by local son Edward Searles. It served as the community's high school until 1957, and then as an elementary school until 1975. It then housed school administration offices until 1983, when it was sold to a private developer for conversion to offices. The town repurchased the building in 1992, and it now houses municipal offices. image:Searles.gif, Searles High School circa 1909 Image:Searles High School Class of 1907.jpg, Searles High School Class of 1907 Image:Thomas Ball Emancipation Memorial small.jpg, This smaller version of the

rests in the Methuen City Hall atrium.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Methuen, Massachusetts School buildings completed in 1904 Former school buildings in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Methuen, Massachusetts Town halls in Massachusetts 1904 establishments in Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References