JANESVILLE, Wis. – The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of three Janesville elementary schools in the National Register of Historic Places on April 1, 2025. Adams Elementary School was originally constructed in 1939, Roosevelt Elementary School in 1929, and Washington Elementary School in 1939. All three schools are located in Rock County.
The Janesville Board of Education’s early 20th century building program and the State Department of Education (now the State Department of Public Instruction) recommended the establishment of a three-tier school system in Janesville consisting of graded elementary, junior high, and senior high schools in the 1920s and 1930s. Adams Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School and Washington Elementary School were built pursuant to these recommendations.
Adams Elementary School
Adams Elementary School is a representative example of the Classical Revival style for an institutional building designed by Madison-based Law, Law, and Potter, an architectural firm well-known for their school projects. The first of three additions was completed in 1952 by the same firm, then expanded to Law, Law, Potter, and Nystrom, and was designed to match the aesthetic of the original school building. The subsequent additions were completed in 1976 and 1995 to the side and rear of the elevations with minimal impact to the historic character. The architectural design includes symmetrical fenestration punctuating the elevations with brick and cast stone features; similarly, the interior classrooms incorporate wood doors and surrounds, built-in wood cabinetry and chalkboards, fireplaces, and marble windowsills. The architecture is highlighted by elements of Stripped Classicism, exhibited in the central bay of the principal (north) elevation and the rounded bays along the west elevation which are rhythmically organized by unadorned, cast stone pilasters that are emblematic of a colonnade.
Additional information for Adams Elementary School is available at: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2818
Roosevelt Elementary School
The first two additions were completed in 1939 and 1952 by Law, Law, and Potter that created the original Georgian Revival design and matched the aesthetic of the original school building. Although not explicitly designed in the Georgian Revival style, the 1969 addition was sympathetically designed to mimic the characteristics of the original school and the 1939 addition. Roosevelt Elementary School exhibits distinctive Georgian Revival features raised quoins, a Palladian window, oval windows, elongated keystones, corbels and orderly façades rhythmically punctuated by double-hung multi-pane windows. Entrances are highlighted by a portico with freestanding columns, a shallow projecting bay marked by a prominent open pediment, and an elaborate portico with freestanding classical columns. The interior features elliptical arched transoms and decorative elements such as decorative swag medallions and raised panel pilasters.
Additional information for the Roosevelt Elementary School is available at: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2819
Washington Elementary School
Architecturally, Washington Elementary School is a locally significant example of the Classical Revival style, heavily influenced by the contemporaneous Stripped Classical style. It was constructed in 1939 by the Madison-based firm of Law, Law, and Potter and was subsequently expanded with an addition in 1952 designed by the same architecture firm, then named Law, Law, Potter, and Nystrom, and was designed to match the aesthetic of the original school building. A second addition was constructed in 1994 at the juncture of the rear elevation of the original school and the first addition. The architectural design includes symmetrical fenestration punctuating the elevations with brick and cast stone features. Interior classrooms incorporate wood doors and surrounds, built-in wood cabinetry and chalkboards, fireplaces, and marble windowsills. Stripped Classicism is presented in the three pilastered sections on the main façade: the semicircular kindergarten bay; the two-story pilaster colonnade; and the rotunda. The two-story pilaster colonnade has stylized, simplified ornamentation with horizontal incising at the pilaster bases, horizontal and vertical incising at the pilaster capitals, and a stylized entablature with groups of guttae. The entablature continues as an unadorned flat cast-stone belt course around the rest of the building and is enriched at the pilaster colonnade with a simple, narrow band of classical molding.
Additional information for the Washington Elementary School is available at: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2817
To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/.
About the Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.
