Altaville Grammar School

The schoolhouse is a vernacular adaptation of the Greek Revival style popular in the Unites States between 1820 and 1860. The last date of the Altaville Schoolhouse falls after the heyday of the style which was in the 1830s and 1840s. The date of the schoolhouse is governed largely by the historical development of the Mother Lode region which occurred primarily after 1848 with the beginning of the Gold Rush. The popularity of the style is to be noted in the fact that the general style of the locale was Greek Revival. As noted by historian Harold Kirker, this style “remained the domestic vernacular on California’s architectural frontier until after the completion of the Pacific Railroad”.  

The Greek Revival style appeared in the United States in 1798 with a design by William Latrobe, the first professionally trained architect in the United States. The popularity of the style spread quickly due to its political associations, it was the style of ancient democracies, and social associations, it was a welcomed break with the English-based Georgian and Federal styles, and the popularization of the style with the publication of carpenter’s pattern books that presented plans and detailing. Since the Altaville Schoolhouse presents the typical aspects of domestic versions of the Greek Revival style with simple rectangular block, pediment suggested by cornice returns and frieze but does not display and Greek Revival detailing, it suggests that a local builder was able to translate the major characteristics of the plan, pediment, cornice, and frieze, but relied on his vernacular knowledge of brickwork when dealing with details such as door and window frames. Therefore, the Altaville Schoolhouse is representative of the process by which an architectural style is introduced and subsequently translated into a local context.  

The Altaville Schoolhouse operated as the only education facility in Altaville for ninety-two years, when it was closed in 1950, when it was replaced by the Mark Twain Elementary School. The Schoolhouse fell into disrepair following its abandonment but was restored in 1989 by the Calaveras County Historical Society. 

Altaville Grammar School, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 17th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858462.

Altaville Grammar School, Wikipedia. Accessed December 17th 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altaville_Grammar_School.