- Built
- 1910 (documented)
- Style
- Beaux Arts/Classical Revival Classical Revival
- MACRIS
- NWB.1674 ↗
History
The brick building with concrete trim is Beaux Arts/Colonial Revival in style and typical of school design around the turn of the twentieth century. It rises from high concrete foundations with a windowed basement two stories high to a stepped parapet with copper coping that shields a flat roof.
The symmetrical building is U-shaped, with wings extending towards Maple Street, and the original main entrance centered on the five-bay block, which is set back to connect the wings. This entry, which was sheltered under a heavy concrete cornice supported by scrolled brackets, has been enclosed with a brick wall and a picture window. Above the entry is an inset concrete tablet with the inscription ALBERT CURRIER SCHOOL. Centered above this on the flat parapet and resting on a continuous concrete cornice is a concrete Beaux Arts-style cartouche bearing the number 1910, the date of construction.
Larger concrete diamond insets centered above the cornice and smaller insets below it on the stepped parapets of the wings provide decorative accents.
The Currier School was built as a grammar school to serve the growing population in the Belleville section of Newburyport, which stretched from Oakland Street to the Artichoke River. Annexed to Newburyport, after several decades of attempting to secede from the agricultural town of Newbury to join the port, at the time the town became a city in 1851, Belleville had long been the primary center of shipbuilding for the port and remained so through the 1880s.
The area inland from the shipyards was more rural than the densely settled port section. After annexation, it provided lots for many new homes. As shipbuilding declined later in the century, the old yards became sites for new industrial uses, which attracted workers.
Planning work on this building?
Reviews that may apply
Newburyport Historic District (National Register, listed 1984) · Demolition Control Overlay District (DCOD) · Parcel 62-35-XC · Zone R2
Zoning Board of Appeals may decide
In the DCOD. Whether removing more than 25% of the exterior walls needs a DCOD special permit depends on the building’s status in the 1984 National Register nomination, which this site has not matched for this lot yet; the Office of Planning and Development keeps the list.
Newburyport Historical Commission decides whether to impose a delay
Built 1910, so 75 or more years old: removing more than 25% of its exterior walls, changing the roofline (pitch, towers, cupolas, anything projecting above the roof), moving it, or adding a dormer that misses the setback and pitch rules is "demolition" under the demolition delay ordinance. The Commission holds a hearing within 30 days and may impose a delay of up to 18 months. Parts of the building documented as younger than 75 years are excluded on a written determination by the Zoning Administrator.
Code of Ordinances ch. 5 art. X, §§5-307–5-308 (June 2026) ↗
Holder of the preservation restriction consents
The state inventory records a preservation restriction on this building. Whatever the recorded restriction covers, exterior and sometimes interior and site, needs the holder’s consent, separately from every other review. The City lists the restrictions it holds and links each document.
Zoning Administrator first stop
Every project starts with a zoning determination from the Zoning Administrator, which says which of these reviews apply and whether the work also needs zoning relief (a special permit for a non-conformity, or a variance). Fees, forms and filing deadlines are on the City’s site.
Not legal advice, not an official City publication, and not the position of the Historical Commission or any board. Says what the ordinances say as of September 30, 2026; the Zoning Administrator decides what applies. Boundaries: Merrimack Valley Planning Commission / City of Newburyport GIS (MIMAP); 1984 status from the National Register nomination's district data sheets. City's quick guide to the DCOD and demolition delay ↗ · Do I need approval? Project by project →
More built 1900–1945
Sources
- Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, NWB.1674