Classic Pre-war Secondary Schools
I've always loved old brick/masonry high schools. The kind that the main character in a 90's/early 00's sitcom would go to, but you never knew anyone growing up who actually went to a school like that.
Some of my favourites I've come across on Google Maps binges: Duluth Historic Central High School This one stood out to me because of the striking resemblance to the old Toronto City Hall. the architecture is much more reminiscent of what you see in the commonwealth countries compared to pre-war Rust Belt cities. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...igh_School.jpg El Paso High School The most Texas design ever, where the entire school sits perched atop the football field, and the back steps basically turn into the stadium seating. https://live.staticflickr.com/281/31...d496675c_b.jpg Little Rock Central High School https://www.lrsd.org/cms/lib/AR02203...utterstock.jpg |
chicago has loads of grand old pre-war highschools.
my personal favorite is Carl Schurz: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9471...!7i8704!8i4352 |
In my region, the big districts have been renovating old schools in almost wholesale fashion. Generally the old school is renovated and the 1960 addition is demolished and replaced.
The coolest might be Stadium High School in Tacoma. Some might recognize it, and its ravine-shaped stadium, from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. |
Cincinnati has some really stunning high schools:
Hughes (Cincinnati Public): http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WiZ4ASaqHo...DCC_5348xx.jpg https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1286...7i16384!8i8192 Walnut Hills (Cincinnati Public) https://www.soapboxmedia.com/images/...alnuthills.jpg https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1402...7i13312!8i6656 Withrow (Cincinnati Public)- featuring a beautiful bridge and tower out front https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ce_500_pix.jpg https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1401...7i16384!8i8192 and finally, my alma mater: https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/aa1...y=50&width=640 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1310...7i16384!8i8192 |
I'm a big fan of art deco Asheville High School. I took my SAT's here.
https://www.pfarchitects.com/wp-cont...630.jpg?x52466 Source. |
the high school of my suburb, university city. tennessee williams went here
http://cdn.schoolblocks.com/aa970b11...es/-ettc4s.png schoolblocks.com https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pr...e6sOu_KpvdQWlh lh3.googleusercontent.com |
Central High in Little Rock will always be my favorite high school, the art deco design is just so incredibly awesome. I used to go there a few times a year just to stare at it when I used to live in Arkansas.
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Ogden High School (1937) is probably the finest Art Deco building in Utah
https://www.intermountainhistories.o...4997158d45.jpg Source https://nthp-savingplaces.s3.amazona...ation_Edit.jpg Source |
Jarvis Collegiate - this is pretty typical of Toronto's pre-war schools, which were mostly built in the Gothic Revival style: (and mostly followed a very similar template)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped.../Jarvis_CI.JPG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarvis...iate_Institute Central Technical School - likewise here, though this one is a bit more impressive: https://i.imgur.com/EuZeziE.jpg https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...rticle4956002/ Harbord Collegiate - this one's a bit more unique as it's in the Romanesque style with vaguely Moorish influences: https://i.imgur.com/moRwKvU.jpg https://teamatomica.com/shop/harbord-weekday/ Humberside Collegiate: https://i.imgur.com/22J4STx.png https://juliekinnear.com/toronto-nei...on-real-estate Havergal College - do private schools count? I delivered pizza here once though and the interior is straight outta Hogwarts: https://live.staticflickr.com/1007/9...d9d162fe_c.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/snuffy/964479857 |
Quote:
https://live.staticflickr.com/132/35...d6106739_c.jpg Flickr: YoChicago https://live.staticflickr.com/163/35...940fcd34_c.jpg Flickr: YoChicago https://live.staticflickr.com/165/35...c1b644da_c.jpg Flickr: YoChicago |
South Boston High School looks nice. It opens up to a park behind it too (the exterior front courtyard could use some sprucing up though, like maybe anything but a parking lot):
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3329...7i16384!8i8192 |
Lane Tech in Chicago gets a lot of fanfare.
https://live.staticflickr.com/2554/4...975a40fa_h.jpg Lane Technical High School by Eliezer Appleton, on Flickr |
more chicago classics:
Von Stueben https://news.wttw.com/sites/default/...%20Steuben.PNG source: https://news.wttw.com/2020/01/24/von...ontact-student Lakeview https://chicagohistoricschools.files...6/dsc_8470.jpg source: https://chicagohistoricschools.files...6/dsc_8470.jpg |
Miami High (1926) in Little Havana
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/c6...bb84033702.jpg Miami Edison (1928) in Little Haiti https://www.google.com/maps/@25.8316...7i16384!8i8192 https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...xHbDw&usqp=CAU |
One of my favorites, Jefferson High School in San Antonio:
https://tclf.org/sites/default/files...y_2018_002.jpg https://tclf.org/sites/default/files...y_2018_006.jpg |
I used to live behind Monroe School (museum today).
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/DH19T0/mon...ens-DH19T0.jpg Alamy |
St. Louis has a ton of primary and secondary pre-war schools—both public and private—but due to population loss many of the public school buildings are in various stages of neglect (and more than a few have been lost). In particular, St. Louis architect William B. Ittner, who is widely accredited with revolutionizing school design (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Ittner), designed most of the turn-of-the-century/pre-war public school buildings in St. Louis. A number of them have been repurposed as apartments and such, and a number are still awaiting rehab. Sticking to secondary schools per the thread, here a few of my faves:
Union Avenue High School (now Soldan High School): https://i.postimg.cc/9f8McFxv/Union-...gh-School1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/cJ9qvKGB/Union-...gh-School2.jpg Roosevelt High School: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Louis%29_2.jpg image source https://i.postimg.cc/sxP38VbQ/Roosev...gh-School2.jpg Sumner High School (alma mater of many notable African American St. Louisans such as Arthur Ashe, Chuck Berry, Grace Bumbry, Billy Davis Jr., Tina Turner, etc.): https://i.postimg.cc/9MrpJ0Rb/Sumner-High-School1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/qqKGHFGC/Sumner-High-School2.jpg Cleveland High School: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...al_Academy.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/8cNHR4G8/Cleveland-High-School.jpg McKinley High School: https://i.postimg.cc/8z8rmNGx/Mc-Kin...gh-School1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/8CJBPt1V/Mc-Kin...gh-School2.jpg Yeatman High School (later Central High School—sadly, it resides in a very disinvested part of North City): https://www.builtstlouis.net/schools...h-school23.jpg image source https://media1.fdncms.com/riverfront...?cb=1454773029 image source https://i.postimg.cc/R0N2ts0W/Yeatman-High-School.jpg There are also a number of lovely old Catholic high schools throughout the city. One of my favorite is the former St. Elizabeth's Academy (Catholic, Sisters of the Most Precious Blood, now the International Institute of St. Louis—center of aerial view below) nestled in the Tower Grove East neighborhood not far from Roosevelt (top right corner of aerial view below): https://i.postimg.cc/SxZYPLMh/St-Elizabeth2.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/D0mqCCxR/St-Elizabeth1.jpg St. Louis University High School (Catholic, Jesuit) https://i.postimg.cc/G3YFKPWf/SLUH1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/QMH5Tcg0/SLUH2.jpg Villa Duchesne High School (Catholic, Society of the Sacred Heart): https://i.postimg.cc/P5ccZQsq/Villa-Duchesne0.png image source https://i.postimg.cc/wBgxKzMJ/Villa-Duchesne1.jpg https://i.postimg.cc/15FyfXNw/Villa-Duchesne2.jpg |
Wish schools were still built like these.
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Growing up in Massachusetts, I frequently visited lots of pre-WWII high schools similar to what have been shown in this thread so far for sports and sometimes for AP classes or SAT stuff. What often doesn't come across in movies and TV shows set in these schools is how crappy the student experience can be. Depending on how much money the school district has spent on renovations over the years, a science class with lab work can be like stepping back in time. My high school was a late 1960s modernist mistake - but we had a freaking mass spectrometer. A neighboring high school was set in a gorgeous neoclassical building from 1890s; the building physically couldn't support the HVAC system needed for basic chem hoods.
What always gets me is when I see those California open campus style high schools in movies and shows (think Clueless or Veronica Mars). I have no way of relating to that student experience. My wife went through the Cupertino-Sunnyvale school system in the 90s and claims to have never had an indoor cafeteria. I think she's massaging the truth on that one - it's gotta rain sometime in the South Bay. But I visited her elementary school once and it legit did not have an indoor cafeteria. That seems like a lawsuit just waiting to strike. |
Delta Collegiate in Hamilton is great:
https://goo.gl/maps/rBwZEcowE36XYuDY9 While not quite as impressive, Etobicoke Collegiate is where “Mean Girls” was filmed: https://goo.gl/maps/dWtac9mtzjcPQ5ZX6 |
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