Francis M. Drexel School

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Coordinates: 39°55′42″N 75°10′21″W / 39.92833°N 75.17250°W / 39.92833; -75.17250
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Francis M. Drexel School
MPS
Philadelphia Public Schools TR
NRHP reference No.86003272[1]
Added to NRHPDecember 4, 1986

The Francis M. Drexel School was a historic

facade.[2]
: 2 

The school was named for

Anthony J. Drexel, founded Drexel University
two years after the construction of the school.

The school

Interior of the school in 1897. Gaslights hang down from the ceiling, and the moveable classroom walls have been folded and stored.

At the time of the Drexel School's construction, Philadelphia's school system had a decentralized administration, with Drexel being a part of the Twenty-sixth Section.[3] The school buildings, however, were designed by the central administration.[4]

The Drexel family was intensely involved with education at this time. Anthony J. Drexel, as the partner of

African-Americans. This work led to her beatification by Pope John II.[6] Two other nieces, Elizabeth Drexel Smith and Louise Drexel Morrell, founded and endowed the St. Francis Industrial School at Eddington, Pennsylvania in 1888.[7] The George W. Childs School, also designed by Anschutz, was built in 1894 just three blocks north of the Francis M. Drexel School.[4]
: 33 

Completed in 1889,[2]: 2  the Drexel School included features common to late nineteenth-century Philadelphia schools. Earlier schools were generally built entirely of brick, and the 1870s saw the introduction of stone schools, but schools built between 1883 and 1900, including Drexel, typically combined brick walls and brownstone finishing.[4]: 6 

Anschutz worked in the tradition of Samuel Sloan's "Philadelphia Plan" of school architecture: On each floor, classrooms opened onto a single corridor, and were divided by moveable partitions. Coatrooms were provided in each classroom. Stairways and other non-classroom space were located at the end of the corridor, near the outside of the building.[4]: 9–10  The architectural plans closely follow these principles. The school's windows were enlarged in 1914, and in 1922, lighting was changed from gas to electric.[8]

Although it originally housed classes for both

elementary and secondary students, Drexel was built at a time when school boards were beginning to open separate schools for different purposes.[3][4]: 11  It remained in use by the Philadelphia Public Schools into the late twentieth century.[2]
: 1 

Recognition and demolition

In 1986, the Francis Drexel School was listed on the

multiple property submission.[1]

The Drexel School was demolished in February, 2010.[9]

Gallery

  • Crews preparing to demolish the school
    Crews preparing to demolish the school
  • Exterior of the school as demolition begins
    Exterior of the school as demolition begins

References

  1. ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Mintz, Elizabeth. Pennsylvania Historic Resources Survey: Francis M. Drexel School. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, August 1986. Accessed 2010-02-15.
  3. ^ a b Custis, John Trevor. The Public Schools of Philadelphia: Historical, Biographical, Statistical. Philadelphia: Burk & McFetridge, 1897, pp. 429-435.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Moak, Jefferson M., et al. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Philadelphia Public Schools Thematic Resources. National Park Service, August 1986. Accessed 2010-02-15.
  5. ^ Childs, George W., in Harper's Weekly, reprinted as "Two Noble Lives" in the Pennsylvania School Journal, V. 42, Sept. 1893, pp. 102-104.
  6. ISBN 081221966X
    . 9780812219661. Ch. 13 "Two Social Revolutionaries" pp. 149-161
  7. ^ Loughlin, James F. (1913). Charles George Herbermann (ed.). The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 5. Encyclopedia Press. p. 159., p. 159
  8. ^ Original architectural drawings are available online at www.thedrexelschool.com sub-page "Blueprints"
  9. ^ View of the school provided by this picture

External links

Media related to Francis M. Drexel School at Wikimedia Commons

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