Pascoag Grammar School

265 Sayles Avenue
Pascoag, RI
Plat 157    Lot 159

Lot size
1.19 ac.

Total building square footage
25,000 s.f.

Zoning
R-12
Uses Permitted: Apartments

Prior use
Public school

Type
Rehabilitation

The Pascoag Grammar School had been the site of a public school since the mid-1800s.  In 1917, after the previous structure burned, the Town built what was then a junior-senior high school.  In 1936, the school was converted to an elementary school as the Town’s consolidated high school, Callahan School, was built.  A front addition in 1964 was constructed to adapt to the burgeoning grade school population.  The school held upt to 460 pupils until it closed in 1995.

Developers Bob and Denise Jensen, owners of Excel Management in Lincoln, Rhode Island, purchased the property from the Town of Burrillville in 2004. Despite its dilapidated condition, the Jensens were able to restore it to its former glory.  The front addition was removed  and new mechanicals were installed.  Nineteen affordable apartments were built, in part due to the use of state and federal historic preservation tax credits.  Because of these efforts, the building is now on the National Register of Historic Places as a good example of Georgian Revival public buildings from that period.