Francis M. Drexel Combined Secondary and Primary School Also known as: Francis M. Drexel School.Built (1889)Demolished 2010 Sixteenth and Moore Streets. The Francis M Drexel School was built in 1888, designed by architect Joseph Anshutz and financed by Anthony Drexel. Francis M. Drexel was an artist, a banker, a family man, and a philanthropist who wanted to provide education to all regardless of race, gender, or social class. His son Anthony Drexel realized his vision with the construction of approximately 75 schools across Philadelphia, all similar to the one above. It served the Philadelphia city schools until the 1970s, after which is was declared a surplus property. Very few survive intact or survive at all today. The Francis M Drexel School is the oldest extant Drexel School. In December 2009 it demolition was ordered. It will be replaced with brand new luxury town homes. Unfortunately, it is too late to do anything, and demolition will begin next week. At the time of the Drexel Schools construction, Philadelphias school system had a decentralized administration, with Drexel being a part of the Twenty-sixth Section.The school buildings, however, were designed by the central administration. The Drexel family was intensely involved with education at this time. Anthony J. Drexel, as the partner of J.P. Morgan, was an internationally important financier, and as the partner of George W. Childs, publisher of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, was influential in local affairs as well. He was a close friend of Childs, and together they worked to offer free or inexpensive education to the working class. According to Childs, Drexel gave many munificent gifts to established educational and charitable institutions, as well as founding and endowing the Drexel Institute, which later became Drexel University. Drexels orphaned niece, Katherine Drexel, sought advice from Childs and Drexel on her plans to become a nun in the service of educating Native Americans and African-Americans. This work led to her beatification by Pope John II. 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. Completed in 1889,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. Anschutz worked in the tradition of Samuel Sloans 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.The architectural plans closely follow these principles. The schools windows were enlarged in 1914, and in 1922, lighting was changed from gas to electric. 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. It remained in use by the Philadelphia Public Schools into the late twentieth century.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 03:09:45 +0000
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