School architecture in California

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THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

SCHOOL

ARCHITECTVRE
IN CALIFORNIA:

School Architecture
in California

Issued by

The Superintendent of Public Instruction
Sacramento, Cal.

CALIFORNIA

STATE FEINTING OFFICE
1914

Santa Paula Grammar School. A practical adaptation of the old Spanish colonial architecture.

Santa Paula Grammar School. Eight rooms about a simple court.

INTRODUCTORY.

To £/££ School People of California:

Five years ago we sent you the first handbook on school architecture
ever issued by the State. It was introduced by this sentiment:

"It is almost as cheap to build a beautiful schoolhouse as an ugly one, when
we know how. California, like old Greece, is a land of beautiful things. Sun
and sea and mountains, streams and trees and flowers conspire to make it a
place inspiring to the painter, the poet, the musician, and delightful as a
dwelling place for man. This attractiveness and beauty are practical assets of
priceless value to the State. We who live here now should give to our land
scapes tasteful and harmonious schoolhouses, not dreary shanties surrounded
by slovenly barnyards. Our schools, reflecting the public spirit, should be
handsome and prosperous, and must not teach slatternly lessons of unthrift
to the little boys and girls who are coming on. Here is our Opportunity to
touch and to improve the long procession of the future."

This handbook made its mark upon the State. Schoolhouses arc
better lighted because of it and school grounds are of larger size. It
created public interest in the school plant. There are constant calls
made for it long after the supply is exhausted, and it seems desirable to
have something of the kind on hand constantly for sending out to inquir
ing school officers.

It is not possible to prepare and publish exact plans and specifications
ready to use in every particular place. Only broad types and general
ideas of buildings can be treated in this way. The specific structure for
the particular district must be worked out by the local people on the
ground, suited to local conditions.

The plan of this second booklet is to show in a graphic way some
excellent examples of the different types of school buildings that are
being constructed to-day in California, so as to build up in the minds of
the people a distinct ideal of what modern schoolhouses ought to be.
The pictures and plans have been chosen from the whole State by a jury
of competent and well-known school architects, who have given their
work for the good of the cause. I hope the volume will be studied by
those who are concerned in building our schools, and that its tendency
may be toward better conditions for the boys and girls and finer land
scapes for the Golden State.

EDWARD HYATT,
Superintendent Public Instruction.

Old school in Mendocino County before remodeling.

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Remodeled Mill Creek School in Mendocino County, showing what can be done in many

country districts.

FOREWORD.

On the evening of June 17, 1913. the Jury of Architects appointed by
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, met at the San Francisco
Architectural Club where the photographs and drawings of California
schools submitted for publication had been displayed.
The following architects were present :
Lewis P. Hobart of San Francisco.
Chas. S. Kaiser of Sacramento.
John W. Woollett, State Architect.
J. J. Donovan of Oakland.
C. H. Cheney of San Francisco.

Some four hundred photographs, drawings and blue prints were
received, and of this number the Jury selected about thirty-five as
advantageous for publication.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

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A simple one-room country school.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

REPORT OF THE JURY OF ARCHITECTS.

By CHARLES HENRY CHENEY, Secretary.

When in 1909 the Superintendent of Public Instruction sent out a
request to the city and county superintendents throughout California for
examples of the best school architecture in their districts, there was a
prompt and hearty response, productive of a very large number of school
drawings and schemes. These were later published under the title of
"School Architecture in California."

However, while there was a great demand for this pamphlet and the
buildings embodied therein certainly did much to stimulate a further
interest in school building, it was obvious that by getting out a new
volume there might be a great opportunity to improve the standards and
character of school architecture, if the architects of the State would
co-operate in advising the best schools to be published and thus draw
them to the attention of boards of trustees and school people generally.

An advisory committee of architects was therefore appointed from
different parts of the State to act as a Jury to pass on all designs and
plans submitted. It was understood at the outset that only such designs
as this Jury professionally advised would be printed in the report.

The Basis of the Judgment.

As the object of this publication was to draw attention only to the
better school architecture, it was decided that of the plans submitted
only those which were sure to set a standard for the school boards of
the State should be considered. Thus the question immediately arose as
to what is the chief problem of school architecture in California and how
best to direct attention towards its proper solution.

During the school year 1912—13 there was set aside and expended in
this State for new buildings the sum of $7,372,215.18. This was dis
tributed over kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools, and normal
schools. Hence, the importance to the State of obtaining not alone the
highest practical results, but also the best designs and architecture.

If so many buildings at such great cost are set up annually as an
object lesson to all the younger generation, is it not absolutely essential
that they should advance the highest and noblest ideas possible, that they
should form a nucleus for the patriotic sentiments of their respective
communities ? Should they not help to attract the incoming population
which most of this State is so anxious to have?

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Open-air classroom at Pasadena. Note simplicity and freedom.

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Another view of open-air classroom at Pasadena.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

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Open-air classroom unit from Pasadena, valuable for simplicity and economy.

8

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Place Good Buildings Where They Can Be Seen.

The placing of fine schools or other public buildings to block the end
of a street receives much attention in other countries. America is just
beginning to take cognizance of this idea, owing to the checkerboard
plan with which our cities are generally afflicted.

Good architecture is one of the strongest of favorable impressions that
any municipality can make on its visitors, and if buildings can be so
placed as to call attention to the fact that the taxpayers' money is well
spent, the prestige and civic pride of the city can be greatly enhanced.

Two-room country school.

The featuring of fine schools or other public buildings stopping the vistas
of long streets forms a distinct relief to the monotony of the checker
board plan.

This is a matter to be kept in mind by school boards in selecting future
sites. It is in no way necessary, however, that school buildings be made
monuments of architecture. Most attempts in this direction have
impaired the value of the buildings as schools, as well as giving a false
face to their function. In fact, it is unfortunately. true that the lighting
and efficiency of many buildings in this State are completely spoiled by
attempts of this kind to make a big show.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

The Plan and the Exterior Design.

School architecture is a special problem. The practical requirements
are many and diverse and the solution of the planning problem alone
requires an experienced and well trained architect. While California in
most parts of the State does not present the rigorous climatic conditions
of the Eastern States, the problems of school design are nevertheless
very much the same throughout the country.

There are two distinct sides to the architect's problem : planning, and
the design of the exterior and interior. While from the practical stand-

Front and rear views Grant and Jefferson four-room Grammar School at San Diego.

point the plan has the preponderance of importance, the problem of
obtaining an attractive and dignified building is also of final consequence
to every school board.

It requires more than a good carpenter or contractor to obtain either
of these results, yet it is unfortunately true that in the interior and coun
try communities it is very difficult to obtain a well trained architect to

10

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Floor plan of Grant and Jefferson School at San Diego.

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Grammar School at Santa Paula. See frontispiece for elevation.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 11

undertake the work. While it may also be true that local pride might
favor a local design, such preference is very liable to be the undoing of
school boards.

Good Architecture a Matter of Evolution.

Is it right for local boards to work for anything but the highest results
in buildings which are to determine the future efficiency and health of
the generation ? Should they not have at their command the best sources
of information possible and be cognizant of the latest development in
school ajchitecture ? Should public money be spent for anything but
the finest buildings possible? Good results in architecture are largely a
matter of evolution, of study, with a knowledge of the previous forward
steps in design.

It is evident that if the foremost examples of each type of school
building in these United States could be distributed to each member of
every board of trustees in California, they could then go on improving
and making over until we had built up a school architecture founded
upon the best that is in existence.

The School Site.

With this in mind, it is easier to undertake the school problem. First
to be considered are the requirements for the study of a school plan.
What is the orientation, the approach, the size and drainage of the site?
The number of classrooms, special rooms and their relation one to
another? How much playground space is necessary? The amount of
preliminary study put on these points largely determines the value of
the solution.

The first problem, the size of the site, is a matter which is undergoing
a tremendous change for the better in this State at the present time.
The great value of organized play and the increasing interest in the
opening of school buildings to the larger community for use after school
hours, has led to the now generally adopted idea that every school should
have ten or twelve acres of ground if possible. While the congested
conditions in some cities make this impracticable in many cases, it is still
significant to see municipalities as large as Los Angeles and Oakland
purchasing such sites.

The orientation or placing of school buildings with relation to the
points of the compass is an exceedingly important matter. A site where
the general directions of enclosing streets are at an angle with the north
and south is greatly preferable in that it admits the sunlight at some time
of the day to the most of the rooms of the building. The beneficent
effect of sunshine as a germ destroyer can not be denied and must be
sought wherever possible. High ground, that is ground sloping off from
the building site, is equally important from the sanitation standpoint.

12

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

A one-story example in brick. Artesia Grammar School.

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Detail of Artesia Grammar School.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 13

The New One-Story Multiple Unit School Building.

As the sites grow more ample there is no question but that school
buildings all on one floor are greatly to be desired. For hygienic reasons
the girl students at least should not be subjected to too frequent climbing
of stairs. The added danger of panic in the case of fire or earthquake
has made the tendency all in the direction of one-story buildings.

The satisfactory new multiple unit building has also the advantage
that if only part of the classrooms are built at first additional rooms can
be added comfortably and conveniently as they are required, without
ruining the appearance of the building until the maximum advisable
under one principal (generally twenty- four classrooms) has been
reached. The present movement for open air classrooms can also be
easily handled by having the window side of the room entirely re
movable. Some very good examples of the one-story type were sub
mitted and are published herein.

The Typical Classroom.

In studying out a plan, the chief problem is to so simplify the require
ments as to get their proper relation one to another. For instance, the
size and arrangement of a typical schoolroom has been studied upon for
years and in the Oakland investigation of 1912 the amount of data
collected on this subject led the authorities there to as final a conclusion
as has been made on this subject anywhere in the United States. Yet
it was evident at the present exhibition at the first glance that nine out
of ten of the school designers represented seemed absolutely unfamiliar
with the findings so close at hand.

Briefly, the best typical schoolroom would have all the light on one
side of the room, the window area of glass being approximately twenty-
five per cent of the floor area, with the one entrance door near the
teacher's desk. The wardrobe should have two doors opening out of
the classroom, one on each side of the teacher, but with no doors enter
ing into the hallway. It should make room for a maximum of forty
pupils' desks.

Having settled upon a classroom unit the grouping of these units
about the central vestibule and assembly hall, together with the arrange
ment of other special rooms, the principal's office, teacher's room and
music, manual training, domestic science rooms, etc. (if they are to be
included), is the next problem.

Special Rooms Other Than Classrooms.

The determination of the special rooms required, other than class
rooms, is a matter now provoking much important discussion. The
assembly room with its moving picture apparatus and other fittings is
being included in most of the new buildings in Oakland and Los Angeles,

14

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Rear view of eight-room Grammar School at Artesia.

Main floor plan of Grammar School at Artesia.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 15

and it is generally considered by educators a necessary and very useful
adjunct to every school building. Placed where it can be cut off from
the rest of the building for use in the evening, it can be of great service
to the community both for educational and entertainment purposes.

A community club room to be used also as a branch public library or
a possible voting booth, is another recent improvement widely accepted.
Principal's and teachers' rooms and the arrangement for gymnasia for
boys and girls, preferably in adjoining wings, form the basis for many
neat adjustments in making a good plan. Toilets must be conveniently
placed with respect to each group of classrooms and the classrooms
arranged with corridors on the side opposite the lighting and in such
a way as to make a short and convenient communication between the
different parts.

The discussions of the Jury finally led to the other members unani
mously requesting Mr. J. J. Donovan of Oakland to submit a brief
outline of the work being done there for publication with this report.

With these points adjusted the question of design of the exterior
should become a simple expression of the arrangements within.

The Buildings Selected for Publication.

The above outline of building requirements was briefly the basis upon
which the architects of the Jury acted in considering the buildings to be
offered as examples of the best school architecture in the State. While
there is no question that a splendid lot of buildings were selected, many
of them fell short in one particular or other. However, the Jury was
much delighted at the sum total of really good buildings that have
already been constructed in California and unanimously expressed the
opinion that this State has a decidedly beautiful and advanced trend to
its school architecture.

In considering the different classes of buildings the Jury was imme
diately impressed by the very small number of country schools of any
kind submitted, although by actual count the district schools of the State
greatly exceed all others in number.

The Jury was asked by Mr. Hyatt to freely criticize the drawings to
be published, with the understanding that whatever was said would be
accepted for the good of the cause. The points where the designs
selected could be improved upon are therefore frankly gone into in this
report with the hope that the architects concerned will accept the criti
cism in good faith and understand that the Jury were unanimous in the
selection of each drawing as representative of the best type of school
building in California.

In hanging the drawings the buildings were grouped into seven types,
according to the announcement sent out, and the Jury appointed was
careful to select the best examples presented in each class. However,

16

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Beautiful rambling wooden High School building at Nordhoff.

Wild Rose Grammar School at Monrovia. Good handling of a two-story building.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 17

there was sometimes more than one building in each group that seemed
worthy of having attention directed to it, and in some cases several
examples have been published.

One-Room Buildings.

The problem of the one-room school is a good deal more difficult to
handle than may be supposed. If reduced to its first elements, it is
almost an axiom of school building that the best light is obtained from
one side of the room. Most of the mistakes seen in our rural school-
houses would immediately be eliminated if this were adhered to, but
unfortunately the fact that the one-room school usually has three
exposed sides seems to offer great temptations to architects to use them
all for lighting, causing bad cross lights and generally bad cross
draughts. The problem of the entrances is really small in comparison.

A one-room school from Visalia showed an interesting plan, with
many admirable features. The opening of the cloakrooms into the
vestibule was criticized as not being controllable from the teacher's desk
and the monumental entrance porches deprecated.

The remodeled district school of Mill Creek, Mendocino County, pro
voked much comment upon its neat character, considering what had been
done with the old building.

The simple open air classroom unit from Pasadena is valuable both
for its simplicity and dignity, also for its clear-cut and economical
arrangement. Here, again, the Jury preferred the opening of the cloak
room into the classroom only. The question of cross light was brought
up, but was thought to be properly handled. On the whole the design
is highly complimented and attention is directed to this successful solu
tion of the problem.

Two-Room Buildings.

The two-room plan published was found by the Jury to have the same
suggestion as to cloakrooms and generally as to the number of outside
doors to the classrooms. The Jury was practically unanimous in agree
ing with the recent findings of the Oakland School Building Commission
that it is best to have one outside door only to each classroom, and that
as near to the teacher's desk as possible in order that she may have
absolute control of the children.

Four-Room School Buildings.

The Grant and Jefferson School of San Diego furnished an admirable
example of a simple arrangement for a four-room building. It has the
great advantage of being extensible without destroying the architecture
of the building. It also has a straightforward plan and is in the appro
priate Spanish style, with provision for the addition of another group of
rooms in the rear.

18

SCOOHL ARCHITECTURE.

Front view of the Lincoln Grammar School at Madera, a beautiful and commodious building.

Rear view of the Lincoln Grammar School at Madera. Observe the fine effect of design
in red bricks against a white background of cement bricks.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

19

Side view of the Lincoln Grammar School at Madera.

Floor plan of Lincoln Grammar School at Madera.

20

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Grammar School Buildings.

Another impressive example of the Spanish style was found in the
Santa Paula Grammar School, which presents eight classrooms arranged
as simply as possible about an admirable cloistered court. The Jury
again questioned the cloakrooms opening into the passageway, but on
the whole found both plan and elevations commendable.

The Artesia Grammar School is a splendid example of good architec
ture, particularly well studied and pleasing. There has been a good deal
of discussion about circular headed windows for classrooms, since the
arched opening makes a very undesirable shadow on the ceiling, and
hence an uneven reflected light. In this case the overhang of the roof

The Wilmington High School presents a refined and beautiful exterior.

casts a shadow which perhaps relieves this somewhat, but there is no
question that the near grouping of square-headed windows as in Santa
Paula is more desirable.

An interesting example of a rambling one-story building at Nordhoff
was also considered worthy of publication.

The Wild Rose Grammar School of Monrovia presents a simple
arrangement of a two-story building and was considered a good handling
of this problem, where crowded city conditions make land too scarce to
build all upon one floor.

As a grammar school with a group plan and assembly hall, the new
Lincoln school of Madera is both interesting and out of the ordinary.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 21

The use of brick patterns on the exterior contrasts with the white sur
faces and furnishes a very good example of possibilities of design which
have been scarcely attempted in California as yet.

Detail of entrance to the Wilmington High School.

High School Buildings.

The Wilmington High School, Los Angeles, presents a refined and
beautiful exterior and typifies an architecture of the civilization to which
California really belongs. The use of brick in school buildings is here

22

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Monrovia Polytechnic High School, showing remarkable open-air auditorium.

Monrovia Polytechnic High School, showing beautiful cloister between the main building
and the Manual Arts Building.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

First floor plan of Monrovia Polytechnic High School.

Second floor plan of Monrovia Polytechnic High School

24

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

carried to an extremely high order of art and inspired the Jury with
much hope for the future.

The Princeton Union High School shows the simple handling of the
requirements of a small union district.

Santa Monica Polytechnic High School on top of a hill overlooking the sea. Easily foremost

in recent development.

Polytechnic High Schools.

The Santa Monica group was easily foremost in recent developments
of this character shown. The building is particularly well adapted to its
site on the top of a hill. The group plan has been well arranged upon
the site and with reference to the central building, and the grouping of

Princeton Union High School in Colusa County.

the rooms is well studied and incorporates most of the latest develop
ments in modern school building. The placing of special rooms and the
arrangement of the manual arts building also have much to commend
them.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

25

Detail of main entrance, Santa Monica Polytechnic High School.

26 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

The Monrovia High School also offers a well handled idea in its open
air auditorium, which is here reproduced. High school pageants, folk
dancing, dramatics, debating and other matters which demand audi
torium space are being increasingly turned into the open air. It is very
evident that California presents unusual possibilities in this direction, and
every opportunity should be encouraged to provide open air theaters.

Normal School Buildings.

The State Normal School at San Jose presents a striking contrast to
most school buildings in this State, and with its enclosed arcaded court
and tile roofs presents an exterior which the Jury felt was highly to be
commended. The simple arrangement of the plan is noteworthy, with
the light all uniformly on the outside of the building and the passageways
open to a protected court.

The drawings for the new Los Angeles State Normal School are again
different in character and smack of good design. The group plan
around an irregular court, ties in very well the related buildings, pre
senting a campus arrangement on a small scale which at a glance shows
the size and importance which these, the real present-day colleges of the
country, are fast assuming. The location of the manual arts and kinder
garten rooms and dining hall to one side, and the placing of the athletic
field and agricultural gardens all show a very happy solution of a difficult
problem.

The Santa Barbara School of Manual Arts is a different type which
has many requirements common to other schools and the way they have
been developed may well be studied.

Recommendations of the Jury.

The above selections on the whole present surprisingly good examples
of school architecture and there is no question that if the types pointed
out be followed as a basis for future building, the school system of this
State and the cities in which the structures are located will be a great
deal better off.

This is, indeed, the earnest hope of every member of the Jury. Every
effort was certainly made to give an impartial judgment, the chief regret
being that an even larger number of typical buildings were not sub
mitted, particularly from San Francisco and the northern part of the
State.

There is no use overlooking the fact that there is little effective guid
ance of school trustees and school people generally to secure the
acceptance of good designs only. With this idea there was passed at
the last session of the legislature a concurrent resolution appointing a
committee of architects and hold-over senators and assemblymen to draft
an effective and comprehensive law, providing for the establishment of a

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

27

Grand tower of San Jose State Normal School. Cost of building $250,000.

Entrance to the great court of the San Jose State Normal School.

28

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

First floor of San Jose State Normal School.

Second floor of San Jose State Normal School.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 29

state art commission, to be reported to the next legislature in 1915 for
action. Such a commission now exists in several Eastern States and in
the city of New York, where it has been a great success in raising the
standard of public buildings generally.

It is proposed that a commission of architects and others versed in
matters of art be established to act without pay, to pass upon all school
buildings and upon state, county and municipal buildings, with the sole
purpose of preventing by veto power the erection of unsightly and poorly
designed structures.

While this is somewhat of a new idea in California it certainly is the
most effective method yet found to insure expert inspection of our school
buildings. Undoubtedly such a commission could do a great deal of
good and would meet with the wholesome respect of the community. If
men of the highest type agree to give a small part of their time each
month, as they are now doing in New York and elsewhere, to the good
of their state, there is reason to believe they will prove equally public
spirited in California.

While some opposition will undoubtedly be met until the value of
such a commission has been demonstrated, it must be remembered
that this is not in any sense a new idea in America and that California
is no longer a pioneer state. It now stands, particularly in its school
system, as nearly the highest exponent of culture and learning in the
United States. Our school buildings must needs live up to our school
teaching standards and become typical of the greatest advance in school
building and school architecture in America, instead of being sadly
unsuccessful in design, as in so many cases.

There is every reason why California with its unusual climatic con
ditions should develop an architecture of as cultivated and distinguished
a type as any old world country. Such a development must be a steady
progress in design — the sifting and holding up to public notice of the
best buildings, and the discouragement and elimination of poor ones.

It is sincerely to be hoped that the next legislature will provide for
such a state art commission and that capable men be appointed to it with
ample powers and tact to make its judgments secure a real advance in
the standards of school architecture.

In closing this report the Jury unanimously expressed the conviction
that such an inspection of the progress in school building as has been
attempted herein, if repeated annually for the next decade, might be pro
ductive of a concentration of thought in the State along the right lines,
until California had indeed developed a demand for real architecture, and
would not permit the perpetration of anything else.

30

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Main court of Los Angeles State Normal School.

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Buildings and grounds of the Los Angeles State Normal School. Twenty-two
acres of land. Cost of buildings $600,000.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

31

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First floor Santa Barbara State Normal School. Cost cf building $125,000.

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Second floor of Santa Barbara State Normal School.

32 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

It may be well next year, and in succeeding- years, to select and pub
lish, first, plans of the best new buildings of the year, and secondly,
plans of the best of the old buildings which the progress of the year still
holds worthy to be taken as examples, adding thereto such buildings as
had been overlooked in previous reports and eliminating those displaced
in standard by the new buildings. There would then be a sort of pro
gressive competition leading to a definite indication of the progress
made.

As soon as the community as a whole begins to know and distinguish,
there is bound to be a sharp advance in both the demands of school
trustees and in the knowledge and the character of design offered by
architects themselves.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 33

NEW SCHOOL BUILDING WORK OF OAKLAND.

By J. J. DONOVAN.

On January 12, 1912, the Board of Education of the city of Oakland
appointed an honorary committee to study and consider the needs for
the proposed school work which was to involve an expenditure of
$2,000,000. This honorary commission was composed of the following
persons :

J. W. McClymonds, City Superintendent, Chairman ;

A. C. Barker, Assistant Superintendent ;

Morris E. Cox, Assistant Superintendent ;

Dr. Leonard P. Avers, Associate Director Russell Sage Foundation ;

Dr. C. G. Hyde, University of California ;

Dr. D. S. Snedden, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education;

Mrs. Fred. C. Turner, Oakland ;

John Galen Howard, University of California;

Dr. Lewis N. Terman, Stanford University;

Dr. F. B. Dresslar, U. S. Bureau of Education ;

The Supervising Architect.

Dr. Dresslar, Dr. Snedden and Dr. Ayers were to aid the Commission
by correspondence. The principal of each school was a member of the
commission so far as his own school was concerned.

Some few years ago it was comparatively a simple matter to plan and
build a school building to meet the needs of the times, but now, with the
demands made upon the school, the task is more complex and difficult.

The active members of the Commission met regularly, and at each
meeting vigorous discussions were entered into. Some of the questions
were as follows : What rooms, other than regular classrooms, are
needed? This brought out considerable discussion, which evolved the
Assembly Hall, Neighborhood Club Room, Branch of the Public Library,
Principal's Suite, Teachers' Rest Room, Teachers' Lunch Room, and
various other rooms, as desirable adjuncts to the modern school.

What rooms could be made to serve more than one purpose?

Give an estimate of floor space needed and the proper proportions of
a classroom, in the three grades, namely, Primary, Grammar and High.
Give size of other rooms needed, other than regular classrooms.

Provided there are classrooms on either side of the corridor, what
should be the width of the corridor ?

If classrooms are placed on one side of the corridor, what should be
its width ?

A question which brought out interesting discussion was : Should the
basement floor level be below the outside grade? It was unanimously
decided that the basement floor, when used for playroom purposes, should

34 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

not be lower than the outside ground level, and it was also unanimously
decided that in no case should classrooms be placed below grade level.

The question of gymnasiums indicated fully in the answers that the
open air gymnasium was most desired, but just how to accomplish this
and have the gymnasium serve its purpose on rainy days was only solved
in the preparation of the drawings and careful study of this feature.

Something like 200 other questions were asked, all of which were
reported on, some favorably, others unfavorably, but the drawings and
the buildings themselves are the best answers to all the questions.

The committee were unanimous on many points, but principally upon
these : that the buildings should be constructed of permanent material ;
that the classrooms be so designed that they could be easily converted
into open air rooms without exposing the children to the danger of
drafts ; that the sanitary and plumbing systems should be most modern ;
and that the heating and ventilating apparatus should be as perfect as
modern heating engineering could devise.

The factor of safety practically determined the materials which were
used, and in all cases reinforced concrete or steel frames fireproofed with
concrete and curtain walls of brick and architectural terra cotta or con
crete treated with a pleasing plaster finish were the materials which were
used in the construction. It will be noticed that almost all of this work
consists of one-story school buildings, located on liberal grounds. This
idea was earnestly urged by various civic organizations of the city.

The Open-air Classroom.

Just how to obtain the open air classroom and building was a problem
which gave us much thought and it required the elimination of many
window patents, for of course this must be acquired by the use of a
window which would take the place of the old double-hung, which at its
best can only allow one half of the frame open. The sash finally used
opens out to a sloping or horizontal position and the entire frame open
ing, which extends from a point two feet above the floor to the ceiling,
is divided into thirds, so that these three sashes are easily operated. This
permits the entire frame opening to be utilized for fresh air.

Coupled with this sash arrangement transoms, five and six in number,
were placed in the opposite wall of the classroom above the blackboard
close to the ceiling and opening into the corridors or cloisters.

In the schools now finished this proves to be a happy and desirable
arrangement, extremely healthful for the teacher and children. On a
warm day the entire side of one of these classrooms is opened, and with
the transoms opened on the opposite side the air is fresh and free from
odors.

The question might be asked, How does this operate on the sunny side
of the building? As a matter of fact the orientation of the building was

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

35

Inside of open-air classroom, looking toward the windows. Intended for anaemic children.

Interior of typical classroom, looking toward the ventilating transoms that open into the

corridor.

36 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

planned so that sunshine might enter all classrooms at some time of the
day. The order of desirability in this section is east, west and south,
respectively, so one can easily see that at some period of the day the open
side of the classroom will receive the sun. The sashes, however, may be

A modern corridor, showing arrangement of transoms opening from classrooms. Note
ventilation, fire gong and hose reels.

opened to any angle up to 145 degrees with the normal, and opening the
sashes to the same angle, with the shades on the under side, the room
may be thrown open almost completely without sunshine coming into
the room.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 37

The Classrooms.

To return to the building proper it is necessary to take the classroom
as the first unit, and in following the recommendations of the committee,
a model room has been developed. The size of the room is 20 feet
6 inches (wide) by 31 feet 6 inches (long) and 13 feet high in the clear.

Back of the teacher's desk, about 4 feet 6 inches in width, and extend
ing the width of the room is the wardrobe and teachers' closet divided by
a low partition. On the various plans shown herewith the classroom
is well outlined, but it may be of service to the layman to further describe
it. The windows face on the east, west and south, as above mentioned,
as this orientation is adaptable for the Oakland climate, but in the
interior of the State, where the temperature is higher during the day,
the east, west and north orientation is much better. Light should enter
the classroom only from one side of the room, and that should be on the
left of the pupil, with the windows towards the rear of the room as far
back as possible and permissible with good construction and design. In
no room should light enter from more than one side, for if windows are
placed at the back of the room, not only is it disagreeable for the
teacher, but cross lights will occur on the desks of the pupils.

Classrooms have but one entrance and in the work in Oakland these
doors have been made 3 feet 6 inches in width. The wardrobe is inside
the classroom and free from the corridor in order to give the teacher
control and discipline. This, too, prevents petty pilfering, and in time
of danger from panic the teacher has many advantages at hand to pre
serve order.

As for the material of the rooms, this is a matter of choice depending
entirely upon economy, but in no case should anything but slate black
boards be used and substitutes chosen as a last resort. Chalk writing on
slate blackboard requires hardly any effort on the part of the student,
and the slate assists the child to acquire a legible form and an easy style.
On the other hand the usual substitute tends to retard the chalk and the
hand drags. On various tests made it was found that more chalk dust
is thrown off by the composition than by the slate. The height of the
chalk rails for the primary classes has been established 2 feet 2 inches
from the floor, for the grammar grades 2 feet 9 inches, and for the
high school grades 2 feet 10 inches. The height of the blackboard itself
is 3 feet, but the board back of the teacher's desk is 4 feet 6 inches in
height.

Sanitary picture molds and bases are provided in all classrooms and
corridors, and the door stiles and window stools have very little projec
tion, thus eliminating dust-catching surfaces.

38

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

The room is heated both by air drawn from above the roof, passing
over a steam radiator stack and forced by fans into the rooms through
ducts leading from the fan chamber, also by direct radiation ; that is, by
radiators placed under the windows. The indirect system is to be used
only on very cold or damp days and the direct system when it is neces
sary to warm the room for a brief period when the sunshine is not on
that side of the building. A complete account of the heating system is
given later on.

Rooms other than Classrooms.

The honorary commission were unanimous in the opinion that all new
school buildings should contain an Assembly Hall which would seat from
400 to 800. Inasmuch as the Assembly Hall was to be used for public

• — 'jpr-.^*- - -

£ ijfeag

J4L.-JB*

Floor plan of the Emerson School, nineteen rooms. The patios are paved and have
fountain in center. Includes rooms for domestic science, modeling, plants, manual training,
lunches, principal, assembly, play, rest and kindergarten.

purposes, such as lectures, political discussions and free entertainments,
and as it was an adjunct to the Club Room and the Branch Library, these
rooms were in all cases placed close to each other. The corridors to the
classrooms are shut off from trespass by collapsible gates.

Each Assembly Hall contains a fireproof moving picture room elec
trically equipped for both stereopticon and kinetoscope pictures.

The Principal's Suite generally consists of a reception room, main
office, and small library with a map room in close proximity.

Teachers' Lunch and Rest Rooms, have been provided, and in the
former a small kitchen, in the form of an alcove, is a part of the room.
This kitchen will contain gas range, sink and cupboards so that the
teachers can provide a warm lunch for themselves. In nearly all cases

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

39

the Teachers' Rest Room has been placed in a pleasant location and
possesses a pleasing outlook. Toilets and lavatories are provided in
connection with the rest room, and the Board of Education intends to
furnish these rest rooms with comfortable and suitable furniture. The
Medical Room, which is located near the Principal's Suite, contains bath,
toilet and medicine closet, together with an electric heater for preparing
water quickly.

Considerable discussion arose at one of the meetings as to the uses of
the Club Room, it being debated whether this room should be given up
entirely to club freedom and privileges, which would include smoking
and possibly billiard playing. The latter was not seriously considered,

Emerson School, one story, reinforced concrete, cement finish, trimmed with brick, red
tile roof. The cloisters serve as playgrounds during wet weather, and give openness and
freedom of circulation. One of the very best examples.

but in regard to the former it was thought that this club room should be
a place where the men of the community might go in the evening and
feel at home and enjoy the comforts and pleasures a man might expect
in a well regulated club. Accordingly the room was to be pleasingly
designed, and in many cases it contains fireplaces, reading tables, and
comfortable chairs.

As the Mothers' Club was also to meet here, in the afternoon, it was
thought wise to provide a small kitchen, with gas range, sink and cup
board, so that afternoon teas might be served there to the members.

The Library, adjacent to the Club Room, will be used as a reference
library for the Club's use as well as for distribution of books.

40 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Now to the casual reader it may seem that the city of Oakland has
gone to considerable expense in providing these features. The criticism
may arise from some quarters that this is not a part of the school build
ing, but the Commission to a unit were heartily in favor of it, believing

.
.r ..

J. B. McChesney School, built of reinforced concrete, with panels of cement and brick

trimming.

that the civic good warranted the expense, and that it would bring the
people in closer touch with their schools as well as provide a meeting
place where questions relating to the public good might be thoroughly
discussed and understood, and inasmuch as almost every community has
its Improvement Club, banded together for the general welfare of its
section, there is no doubt but that these few building adjuncts will well
serve their purpose.

Fire Precautions.

A word on the precautions taken. To prevent fires and to give warn
ing should they occur : All boiler rooms have been encased by walls and

J. B. McChesney School, 7 classrooms. Note the open arcade, giving abundant
playroom in wet weather.

ceilings of fireproof material. The doors leading to these rooms are
metal clad, likewise the frames and the window sashes. In some cases
the outside windows are constructed of hollow metal and all buildings of

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

41

the future will contain this provision. Hose reels are placed every 100
feet and fire-alarm gongs are placed near them.

Another precaution, taken to prevent danger from panic is that of the
arrangement of the doors and hardware attached. First of all the class
room doors open outward, and can be locked only from the outside and

Fifty-fourth and Market Primary School, one story, six classrooms.

never can the door be closed to one inside the room. What is true of
the classroom doors is also true of all doors in the building and every
entrance door is equipped with panic bolts, locked only from the exterior,
which when pushed against open wide.

The electrical work, while not elaborate, has been well studied. All
grammar classrooms are lighted by semi-indirect fixtures for evening

Fifty-fourth and Market Primary School, looking toward playground. Note how cloisters
and corridors are formed. Fixed sashes shut away the noise of railroad trains 200 feet away
which pass every two minutes.

42

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

study. The halls, corridors and club rooms are also equipped with light
ing fixtures.

Some of the special features are the intercommunicating telephone
system and the program clocks and gongs. The former system is such
that the principal may talk to one teacher or all of the teachers at the
same time. The program clocks are regulated by a master clock and
the program gongs controlled by push buttons in the principal's office.

Manual Training Building.

It will be noted that the building is composed of pavilions connected by
corridors. It is two stories in height and the lower left-hand pavilion
is to be used for the Commercial courses. The pavilion next to it is the

Fifty-fourth and Market Street Primary School. Six classrooms, kindergarten, assembly,
neighborhood club room, principal's suite, teachers' rest room, emergency room, lunch room,
One story, with patios inside the cloister.

Academic Department and the central building is the Administration
Department and Assembly Hall, the latter seating 1,700 people. The
pavilion next to the Assembly Hall is the Science Department, to be
used in the study of Chemistry, Physics, Geology and Botany. The
pavilion toward the lower right-hand corner is for Domestic Science
and Arts, and contains classrooms for Millinery, Dressmaking, Cloak-
making, Cooking, Laundering. A very unique feature, on the second
floor, is the Apartment Suite which in itself contains a Living Room

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 43

with its fireplace, Dining Room, Kitchen, Pantry, Bedroom and Bath
room. Two girls will be assigned each week for the care of the apart
ment and the entertainment which will be connected with it.

The pavilion just to the west of this is the Drawing Department, so.
placed as to receive the best light, and this department will probably be

¥-•;

Elevation of Lockwood School on a 17-acre site. Ten rooms at present.

one of the best equipped of its kind in the country. On the second floor
are the free-hand, modeling, photography and architectural drawing
rooms, and on the lower floor the mechanical drawing rooms with rooms
for models.

* - - «

4 »

* I
« »

:IIM:: i:jprj , .nj-f

: :

Lockwood School, reinforced concrete frame with walls of terra cotta blocks. Note the
open cloister effect. An example of the unit plan.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Floor plan of Lakeview School, three stories high. A notable feature is the boys and
girls outdoor gymnasium and the experimental gardens.

Photograph of Claremont or College Avenue School, eleven classrooms and accessory rooms.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

45

f '

Bird's-eye view of the Claremont or College Avenue School. Reinforced concrete, trimmed
with terra cotta, tile roof.

West street elevation of Durant School. Reinforced concrete, trimmed in terra cotta, with
red tile roof. One of the best two-story buildings.

w . ?W'"^>ML-^v^WL-J -r- '' • " . !..**'«

(\

Bird's-eye view of Dewey School. Reinforced concrete throughout, made up of classrooms
and cloisters. Assembly hall in one of end pavilions, manual training and domestic science
in the other.

46 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Note on the cut below the smaller buildings to the west of the main
building and just north of the campus. These are the shops. There are
four buildings in all, connected by a long corridor which divides each
building into two shops. Building No. I contains the Machine Shop on
the south and the Forge Shop on the north. Building No. 2 the Foundry
on the south and the Electrical Shop on the north. Building No. 3 the
Carpentry Shop on the south and the Metals Shop on the north. Build
ing No. 4 the Pattern Shop on the south and the Cabinet Shop on the
north.

, - - • 4 £

Manual Training and Commercial High School.

Each of these shops is large and spacious, each being approximately
177 feet by 47 feet, one story in height. They are designed and built to
look exactly like shops — both exterior and interior, resembling the
modern motor shops of the East.

The buildings to the south of the campus are the Boys' and Girls'
Gymnasiums, with enclosures at each end.

This building and site cost $600,000. Fifteen months were spent in
study and preparation of the drawings and specifications, and the archi
tectural planning was done in conjunction with the department heads, so
that the success of the school is due almost entirely to this collaboration.
The space required for each department, the arrangements of the desks,
tables and fixtures, was first laid out and then, one might say, the build
ing was built around them. The length of the east fagade is 851 feet.
A unique feature was worked out at the main entrance. Here the
entrance platform is larger than the stage platform and will seat approxi
mately eighty people, and it is here that the graduating classes may hold
their commencement exercises facing the amphitheater-like foreground,
which will be a sloping lawn where as many as 10,000 people may be
seated.

Plumbing.

In the past the plumbing of our schools included the abominable
latrine water-closets and urinals, which are nothing less than open cess
pools. These latrines were cast iron troughs which contain the waste

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 47

matter until a bucket filled by dripping water overbalances and ineffectu
ally flushes the trough. Sometimes this flush works and sometimes it
doesn't, and when it fails to perform its function the janitor is called in
to use a hose. This may be all right in some places where they have a
good janitor, but I can safely say that without exception school build-

Objectionable latrine urinals with cast iron stalls. Out of date.

ings containing these latrines are not fit places for even the lowest
animals to frequent, to say nothing of the little children placed under
the care of a fostering and well meaning community.

The latrines in school buildings, where additions were added, were
torn out, and in all the additions, as well as all the new buildings indi
vidual vitreous china water-closets and urinals of the very best make
were installed.

The water-closets are of the wash-down or syphon jet make, weighing
about 45 pounds each, and are provided in all cases with a back vent,
which is known in the plumbing trade as the Boston vent, the use of
which will be described later on.

The urinals are the one-piece vitreous china urinal, about 18 inches
wide and 4 feet 6 inches high, extending down below the floor and sepa
rated from each other by approximately 6 to 8 inches, so that the space
between each urinal can be cleaned and flushed. The roughing of these
urinals is so arranged that a free vent is obtained from the room to the
utility chamber back of the wall to the rear of the urinals. There are
about 20 of these urinals and 30 water-closets in each school, and we

48

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

have not found this installation much more expensive than the old latrine
system, but we have found it to be sanitary, hygienic, and clean.

Having disposed of what the fixtures of the toilets should be, an all
important question arose as to how the toilet room itself should be
vented, for to force air in at the top of the room and draw it out through
a register face at the base of one of the walls meant that foul odors must
pass across the faces of pupils and into their lungs. To avoid this the

Objectionable and obsolete latrine toilet. Should be discarded.

utility chamber was devised for both water-closets and urinals and a gal
vanized iron duct was brought into the utility chamber from a suction
fan in the basement, which also served to force the foul air from its fan
chamber to the roof. The back vent from the water-closet penetrates
the wall of the utility chamber and the vent from the roughing to the
urinal opens into its chamber and as these chambers were made almost
air-tight, all foul odors and the air of the room are drawn downward
through the fixtures into these chambers, thence to the fan chamber and
thence to the roof.

The supply of fresh air is taken through one of the many windows
which light the toilet rooms, each room lighted directly by daylight.

To further obtain a sanitary condition the walls, ceiling and metal stall
are painted with several coats of white enamel paint on top of three good
coats of lead and oil. The floors of the toilet rooms are laid with a
mastic cement, likewise the sanitary base, so that these rooms are immac
ulately white with the exception of the dark mastic floor.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

49

Sanitary drinking fountains have been amply provided in the yards
and corridors. In the yards the fountains are enameled iron to prevent
breakage, and in the corridors they are vitreous china and of a simple
but good design. Individual vitreous china lavatories have also been
provided, and the faucets attached to the lavatory are of the water clos
ing pressure type, so that all that is necessary for the child to do is to

Modern up-to-date plumbing. Vitreous china urinals and toilets with utility chamber.

press the button on top of the faucet and a stream of water flows for a
period of three to ten seconds as the faucet may be regulated. The
Board of Education at its last meeting, October 6, 1913, abolished
entirely the roller towel. Therefore with the conditions as provided
above good results should be obtained.

Heating and Ventilating Apparatus.

The problem of heating and ventilation for the Oakland schools was
given considerable study with the idea of designing a plant which would
give much better conditions in the schoolrooms than has been the general
practice. It was determined that a fresh air supply of 2,250 cubic feet
of air per minute should be delivered to each standard classroom, this
amount being equivalent to 50 cubic feet per pupil and producing an air
change in the classrooms of approximately twenty-one times per hour or
a little better than a complete air change every three minutes.

The manual training and domestic science rooms have been provided
with about ten complete changes of air per hour.

50 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

The plants have all been designed on the basis of direct radiation for
heating and supplementary air supply for ventilation only, with the idea
that either portion of the system might be run singly if desired, and that
a better heat regulation would be obtained with the double system.

In line with this idea direct radiators have been placed under the
windows in each of the classrooms, provided with solid screens in front
of same to obviate the possibility of any disagreeable radiating effects
on the pupils sitting close to the radiators. Each classroom has been
provided with automatic temperature control arranged to operate the
supply valves on the direct radiators, thereby directly controlling the
amount of heat necessary to supply the demands of the rooms.

The air supply is delivered to the classrooms through a large screened
opening at the platform end of the room and at an elevation of about
9 feet above the floor, and foul air exhaust is provided through the two
coatroom doors and thence through the ceiling of the coatroom to the
attic. This arrangement keeps the coatrooms thoroughly ventilated with
an exceedingly large volume of air at all times.

Each fresh-air inlet opening has been provided with deflecting plates
to break up the direct-air currents, and to avoid draughts in the rooms.

Low pressure cast iron sectional boilers have been installed for the
supply of steam to the direct radiators in the rooms, and also for the
supply of steam to the indirect tempering stacks which warm the air for
ventilation whenever the temperature outside is below the desired tem
perature of the air admitted to the classrooms.

The steam boilers and system of piping have been arranged on the
gravity principle so that no mechanical apparatus is necessary for the
return of condensation to the boilers, and this is effected solely by gravity
both from the direct radiators and from the tempering coils.

The main fresh-air inlets have been placed in or near the roof, as far
from the street level as possible, and the air is drawn into the building
through a large air shaft, then passed through the tempering coil and
finally delivered through the main ventilating fans from which a system
of galvanized iron ducts leads to the several rooms.

In all cases where it has been impossible to locate the air inlet near the
roof of the building, air washers have been installed for the thorough
cleaning of the air. These washers are of the spray type in which all of
the air is drawn through a fine spray of water.

The fresh air supply fans are of the housed pattern, some of the
ordinary paddle-wheel type and others of the later multiblade pattern;
and these are all designed to run at moderate speeds to avoid excessive
pressure and so as to operate without noise. All of the fans are driven
by means of alternating current motors and ordinary leather belt drives.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 51

A thermostat in the main fresh air chamber controls the supply of
steam to the tempering coil and consequently maintains the temperature
of the air admitted to the classrooms at a constant point of about 65 to
70 degrees.

The main toilets in each building are ventilated by a special exhaust
fan of the same general type and style as the fresh air fans above
described. These toilet exhaust fans are designed to handle sufficient
air to produce fifteen to twenty changes of air per hour in the toilet
rooms and all of this air is drawn from the utility chambers behind the
toilet fixtures, each fixture communicating with this chamber by a special
vent opening through the fixture itself; thus producing the very maxi
mum of exhaust ventilating efficiency by drawing all of the air immedi
ately from the most objectionable points.

All of the boilers are operated with fuel oil burned by the latest types
of burners which produce the maximum of economy in fuel consumption.

In the installation of oil burning apparatus an equivalent evaporation
of twelve pounds of water per pound of fuel oil has been demanded and
in the one school tested at the present writing this demand has been
exceeded by a little over 10 per cent.

Burners of the air atomizing and mechanical atomizing types will be
installed, thus supplying the latest improvements in the method of fuel
consumption. The burners and their machinery operate automatically,
thus requiring the minimum of attention and skill on the part of the
person in charge.

In conclusion, do not select a site until you know the size of the build
ing you are to build, and determine the size of the building by the
requirements, then have a sketch made of the building which will meet
the wants, and from that point the size of ttye site can be determined
upon. If this method is followed there will be fewer heart burnings and
disappointments. The usual method, which is generally wrong, is to
guess at the size of the site, misjudge the appropriation for the building,
and in the end receive not what is required but a makeshift instead.

52

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

APPENDIX.

The following pages were prepared after the report of the Jury of
Architects was completed, so that body must not be considered re
sponsible for any of them.

* * *

It is of interest to all school builders to know that the law of 1872,
requiring advertising for plans and specifications and letting of con
tracts to architects whose plans have been accepted is not considered as
operative at the present time. The Attorney General in an opinion
rendered December 6, 1912, holds that the law has been repealed by

The first open-air school. Charlottenburg, Germany, in 1904.

later legislation on the same subject. School boards, therefore, have a
right under the present law to employ architects for school buildings
without advertising for plans when they choose to do so.

'Tis true that we can not spend too much money upon our children.
Undeniably money spent upon the better training of its young people is
a good investment for any municipality, one that returns to the com
munity many times and in many ways.

Yet this should not make an occasion for prodigality or for unwise
expenditures. It is quite possible to spend great sums that do not really
benefit the children, that the children do not need. It is easy to spend the
money that some one else must pay. It is such a simple matter to vote a
hundred thousand dollars in bonds payable twenty or thirty years hence
that thrifty people should take warning and should look somewhat for
ward into the future. These bonds must be paid. Moreover, they must
not only be paid, but they must be paid twice over, since in less than
twenty years the interest exceeds the principal. Worse still, in less than

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

53

twenty years a schoolhouse grows old, inadequate, out of style. The
architecture of to-day is the amusement of to-morrow.

Therefore, think twice before you too heavily saddle the burden of
debt upon the future of your neighborhood. Paying for a dead horse
looks ill to us. Perhaps it may seem still more galling to our grand
children when they are called on to pay half a million for an obsolete,
impossible schoolhouse !

* * *

More strongly every year is California school architecture marked
by adaptations of the outdoor idea. Probably the ultimate plan will be

An English open-air school. Introduced in the suburbs of London in 1907.

practically an outdoor schoolhouse, because this state is peculiarly fitted
for it. If it is better for the health and growth of the children and costs
less money to build, why in the name of Heaven should it not become
the dominant feature of our architecture ? Answer that if you can !

Here follow some pictures showing the development of the outdoor
idea in recent years.

Schools are here and there discarding the time honored school desk
because it restrains freedom of movement and hampers actual work.
It does not fit into real life, because neither before nor afterward do
people live in wooden cages. The increasing variety of school activities
is likely to push out more and more the formal school furniture. The
following letter from a teacher in San Diego County, with its two little
pictures, illustrates this point:

"I want to tell you about a receptacle for the pupils' text-books
that our board has placed in the schoolroom.

54 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

We are using a table and chair for each pupil, instead of a desk,
and like them very much. The pupil may place his table and chair
in any part of the room or in any position that is most comfortable.

But the question has been, What shall we do with the books when
they are to be put away? The library is crowded and each pupil
needs a space of his own. 'Necessity is the mother of invention,'
so we thought out a plan and had a box made along the side of the
room. This box is 16 inches high, 16 inches wide and 33 feet long.

The top has three long lids made of 6 and lo-inch boards; the
6-inch one fastened to the partitions and the lo-inch board fastened
to the 6-inch one by strap hinges.

When these are closed down, it makes a very comfortable seat to
sit on, either at a class recitation or a social center gathering.

Receptacle for text-books at
School. Open.

La Mesa

Receptacle for books at La Mesa School.
Closed, it is useful as a seat.

The box has no back or bottom, so at any time it may be drawn
out and the floor cleaned. It is made of clear surfaced boards at
a cost of about 45 cents per linear foot.

Inside the box are partitions 12 inches apart and each pupil has
one apartment thus made for his books. The teacher also has quite
a large space for supplies that are needed every day. That part of
the box near the stove has a space for coal and kindling.

We don't know how we ever taught school without it. — GRACE)
M. STEPHENSON, La Mesa Heights School."

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

55

An open-air school in New Orleans.

Open-air classroom in Massachusetts. Heat supplied by food and con
fined by hoods and blankets.

56

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Front view of the beautiful Hacienda open-air school in Santa Clara County.

Interior of Hacienda School, showing open-air features.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

57

C. Bryant Shaefer, in the School Board Journal, suggests an idea
that is worth thinking about — placing halls outside instead of inside
the schoolhouse. His remarks and his pictures follow :

Why build schoolhouses with great enclosed hallways?

Why have stairways in a dangerous pocket?

Why make buildings hard to get into and worse to get out of?

It is better for children to accommodate themselves to moderate
accessories than to wean them from open air, activity and self-help
fulness, with old people's comforts. It is more economical now and
in the years to come.

In this suggested design for a schoolhouse a front porch on each
story serves for the usual hallway, which is so costly to build and

An interesting suggestion. Why
not build the hallways outside in
stead of inside?

expensive to heat. The open stairways are independent for each
floor. They do not need ventilation, or heating ; they cannot fill with
smoke and even in a wood structure would be the last thing to burn.

The materials of construction may be concrete, brick or any
accessible fireproof material. That is for the local architect to
decide.

While educators are recommending open windows and open-air
studies would it not be healthier and more economical to dispense
with some of the unnecessary interior arrangements in order to
accomplish the same object?

In building schoolhouses, the school board should well consider what
it owes to the community in the way of protection from fire and panic.
The school board is responsible for seeing that all buildings are panic
proof, all new buildings fireproof and all old buildings fire retarding.

58

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

The terrible Collinwood fire in 1908 burned 173 children and two
teachers to death — a terrible, a heart-rending tragedy. How would you
feel if you were the trustees in like case?

Yet the Collinwood disaster was not the result of unusual carelessness
or unusual construction. It was a brick building with wooden floors
and partitions. The doors were double and the stairs were open. The
cellar was not fireproof and the heating apparatus was defective. It was
no whit worse than tens of thousands of other American schools that
dot the landscape to-day. Most children escape being burned to death

w^J£ 4=-
LLLrl

Side view of open-air school at College Park, in Santa Clara County.

because most fires occur when schools are not in session. Safety results
from two things — careful thought and thoughtful care. Assembly rooms
should be on the ground floor, so that egress shall be easy. Basement
fires spread through open stairways. Halls and stairways should be
unobstructed. Properly built stairs with hand rails make the best fire
escapes and should always be fireproof, because in panics people try to
escape by the exits they commonly use. The use of noncombustible
material for the outside walls does not ensure safety from fire. Wooden
walls may blaze within a concrete shell, as wooden sticks blaze within
an iron stove. In each case the flames are fanned by a draft. Drafts
are dangerous. Stair wells and air shafts should be isolated by fireproof
walls and doors. Cut the attic by a partition. Avoid drafts everywhere
as a pestilence.

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 59

A California school superintendent should make himself an authority
upon school building. He should know what is being done in other
places, should know the good features to be repeated, the bad points to
be avoided, should be able to pass judgment promptly and intelligently
upon school plans, should be able to advise and help school officers with

See this happy little San Diego County school studying under the pepper
trees, where the fierce light is tempered by the shade.

their improvements. The superintendent's office should be a head
quarters for ideas and for discussions about school building and school
improvement. Photographs, plans, drawings, diagrams, books, should
be found there, illustrating the latest and best ideas concerning the archi
tecture, heating, lighting, ventilating, planting and fire protection of our

60

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

schools: The superintendent has a special responsibility here that he
must not lose sight of in the hurly burly of other duties.

* * *

To improve a thing we must reform its worst points. Unquestionably,
the worst point about the rural school is its water-closets. As a rule,
these closets, particularly those of the boys, are in a* filthy and shameless
condition — and for a very good reason — because they are not cleaned
and inspected properly. It seems to be a self-perpetuating nuisance —
the boys of to-day continually see these buildings in a wet, unwholesome

Interior of College Park Open-air School. Observe fine effect in cheerful demeanor of pupils,
even in presence of county superintendent and teachers.

condition, marked by every obscene device and thought that can be made
by knife or pencil or chalk. They become familiar with these things
and expect them to be so — and they are so, and continue so when the
boys grow to be the men. •

It is a bad thing for our small children to come in constant contact
with uncleanness and immorality on their school grounds. This con
dition is not found at the homes ; why should we tolerate it at the school ?
If we can clean up the school closets and keep them clean, it will be a
fine piece of work, one that we shall have a right to be proud of — no less
praiseworthy than floating the American flag from the schoolhouse or
planting it about with trees.

The way to accomplish this reform is this :

First — Put the closets into thoroughly good condition — clean, new,
brightly painted, with no suggestion of their old rottenness to be seen

SCHOOL ARCPIITECTURE.

61

at all. Hinged seats should be provided, or urinals of wood or iron.
Sanded walls are a good thing, too. Everything should be made of
double strength, so that rough and heavy use can not damage it.

Second — Turn the clean closets over to the teacher and janitor, and
insist upon their having the same attention as other school property —
daily sweeping and scrubbing when necessary and constant watchful
ness. The teacher will be able to manage the children if she is held
responsible for it ; and if outside trespassers offend, bring them to
justice if possible, but let the school repair the injury at once. Furnish
the janitor with paint, disinfectants, tools, when he needs them. Have

Open-air classroom at San Bernardino. Who would not enjoy this?

a distinct understanding with the janitor as to the things to be done.
Let the trustee inspect the closets whenever he goes near, and make
somebody smoke for every neglect — and they will stay clean !

Schools are changing continually to admit the real world, to let in
the activities and the life of the men and women who are doing bread
and butter things in the world of to-day. Manual training, for instance,
is eagerly welcomed everywhere.

Now, there are different ways of taking in the manual idea. One is
the perfectly ladylike way, where a beautiful and expensive room is
expensively fitted up with lovely varnished benches, and a world of
bright and shining tools arranged in perfect order in drawers and racks,
possibly tied up with pink ribbon. The children march in stiffly and
spend an hour a week in making cunning little matchsafes, ribbon boxes,

62

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

Here is the famous Fresno Out-door School that has been duplicated so many times in the

State.

Red Bluff Manual Training Building, as originally built by the boys. Size 24 by 40,

cost $600

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

63

pin trays, beautifully sandpapered and adorned with complex designs
in colors.

This sort of a thing is well adapted to school life, but it is not real
life, and the children soon discover that it' is only a feeble pedagogical
imitation of the real thing.

Fortunate is the school that can undertake and carry out a piece of
work that the world can see and recognize, something that is real man's
work or woman's work, some big and striking thing that commands
attention and respect in the work-a-day world outside. The big boys
and big girls don't leave such a school, but stay with it to the end, and

Red Bluff Manual Training Building after first change, size 24 by 60.

develop in it a steadiness and power of will and judgment that .stay with
them and serve them through life. This is genuine manual training.
The idea is graphically illustrated in the four accompanying photo
graphs.

The original building was 24 by 40 feet in size. This proved too
small for the increasing interest, so it was cut in two, one end moved out
and a 2O-foot addition built between the two parts. This again became
too small, so it was split, one side moved out 28 feet and a two-story
building interpolated.

This makes an excellent building 52 by 60 feet, containing blacksmith
shop, wood-working shop and finishing room. It is equipped with
home-made benches and lockers. All of the work, from the drafting of
plans to the painting, including the cement work, was done by the boys
of the school, without any outside assistance. The total cost is less than

64 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE.

$2,000. It is a comfortable size for the fifty boys of the school and it is
their own — they made it. What a magnificent experience it was, to

every one who helped !

* * *

This publication does not give much direct help to the builders of
small, one-room schools. The small schoolhouse naturally does not

Red Bluff Manual Training Building. Splitting its shell for the third transformation. A
genuine piece of work by the boys.

Red Bluff Manual Training Building in its final form, 52 by 60, cost $2,000. All work

done by the boys.

appeal so strongly to architects as do the more ambitious structures,
therefore it never gets so much professional attention. Later we shall
make good this lack by issuing another bulletin devoted entirely to the
rural, one-room school.