Elementary School Building in Bristol CT Closed in 2010

Clarence A. Bingham School, Bristol Connecticut

Date added: November 01, 2024

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Connecticut
School

East (side) and north (rear) elevations of the Clarence A. Bingham School, 1916, (1934)

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Bristol's first school committee was chosen in 1748 at a meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society. The committee was authorized to hire for "three months a master and three months a dame," who would be responsible for educating the town's children. Schoolhouses were soon built in the two principal areas of town; the first on Federal Hill near the green (where St. Joseph's Church stands today) and the other on Chippens Hill. In 1764, a third schoolhouse was built in the Stafford District, and just four years later the town was formally divided into five districts: North, Northwest (including Pine Hollow and Chippens Hill), Northeast (comprised of Stafford and North Forrestville), South, and Southeast. Each district had its own wood-framed, one-room schoolhouse typical of the period. A history of Bristol notes that, "The school-houses were all small, and built on the ancient model, with a bench running around three sides of the room, on which the scholars sat facing the wall for study, and which they climbed over, so as to face the center of the room in recitation. The schools were partially supported by the Ecclesiastical Society, with supplemental funding provided by an additional fee paid (often in kind) by each student's family.

By the time the Town of Bristol was incorporated in 1785, the local school system was comprised of ten districts. This included West Bristol, which would not break away in order to form the Town of Burlington until 1806. In the meantime, control of Bristol's schools passed from the Ecclesiastical Society to a town committee in 1796. The establishment of Bristol's School Society allowed the town to take advantage of a public education endowment, known as the Connecticut School Fund, which was collected by the State from the sale of land it owned in the Western Reserve of Ohio. The School Fund was particularly important for the fact that it helped Bristol manage rising education costs in the industrial districts that had sprung up around the town's budding clock manufacturers. With endowment funds at its disposal, the School Society oversaw the subsequent growth of town's school system and addressed any needs that arose. One such decision came at a meeting held on December 14^th, 1837, in which one of these industrial areas, the Second School District (originally known as the West Center School District), was established. Five years later, at a Bristol School Society Meeting held on January 19^th, 1842, the town was again divided, this time into thirteen school districts based upon actual concentrations of population rather than the arbitrary geographical borders that had largely guided previous determinations. While the more densely populated districts, such as the Second School District (also known as District No. 2), could support their own schools, many of the more rural sections of town needed to combine resources in order to educate their students. As the outer areas grew, they in turn erected their own district schoolhouses as needs arose and resources allowed.

Little changed in District No. 2 for the next 40 years. By the early 1880s, however, the town's population had expanded to over 5,000 people and the district had grown to such an extent that it was faced with the option of merging with District No. 4 to better manage local resources, or build a new school as a means of accommodating all of its students. Rather than give up their autonomy, the Second School District Committee voted to build a new wood-frame structure at the corner of West Street and Terryville Avenue in 1882. The school's first two teachers were Clarence A. Bingham and Sarah Goodenough. Bingham quickly rose to the position of Principal and went on to serve the district in that capacity for 28 years until his death in 1912.

The rate of Bristol's transformation from a rural farming community to a small-scale manufacturing center picked up speed over the course of the nineteenth century. While a burgeoning clock industry had helped push the town's population to over 5,000 people in the 1880s, by the 1890s a diverse array of metalworking firms had driven that number to over 7,000. Even more significant shifts came at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, whereupon Bristol's various industrial entities evolved into large firms with massive factories capable of competing on a national and international level. These plants required substantial workforces, the arrival of which continued to reshape the size and make-up of the city. According to the 1910 Census Bulletin, Bristol's population had grown to 13,502 people, up from 9,643 in 1900. Of the city's total population in 1910, 3,982 were foreign-born workers drawn to Bristol by factory jobs. The growth was such that the City of Bristol was incorporated in 1911.

Bristol's population increases during the late nineteenth century resulted in associated developments in the school system, among the most notable being the establishment of the town's first high school-level classes in 1881. The principal high school courses were conducted in the District No. 3 school on South Street until 1893, whereupon a dedicated building was erected on Federal Hill. By 1907, after the consolidation of two rural districts, the city's school system was comprised of 12 districts staffed by 28 teachers. Of the 2,682 school-age children in the city that year, 2,090 attended public district schools, 174 attended the public high school, and 437 were educated at private or parochial schools. The 12 district schools operated on a combined annual budget of $47,884 and the High School expenses totaled $10,000.

While the city's school enrollment numbers appear impressive, the reality was far from the landscape idealized by Progressive Era reformers, in which the children of the industrialist and the laborer might be educated in a shared environment and at an equitable level. Despite the desire to educate the children of the working class, the reality was that most were concentrated in the city's industrial districts and great many found themselves obliged to drop out of school after just a few years in order to help support their families. This trend is clearly illustrated by the fact that during the 1890s just 45 percent of students in Bristol's working-class Third School District completed grammar school. An even smaller percentage of children in this demographic went on to or completed high school. In 1893, only two of ten high school graduates in Bristol were of non-Yankee lineage, while in 1899 and 1905 they comprised just three of eight and three of nineteen graduates, respectively.

The Progressive Era, which lasted from roughly the 1890s to 1930, was a period marked by widespread social and educational reform, and adherents to the ideologies popularized during this period sought to ensure a public level of responsibility for all citizens, including the poor and less fortunate. Included in the latter groups were the factory workers, often immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, who worked long hours and often lived in cramped and unsanitary tenements in Bristol's North and South End neighborhoods.

Perhaps the best-known education reformer of the Progressive Era, John Dewey (1859-1952), felt that the loss of small-scale industry resulted in a generation of youth who no longer received training in how to be useful and productive members of society. Schools began to figure more prominently in the social lives of students as the instillation of democratic ideology as part of the school curriculum was one of the major tenants of the movement. Children were not only taught addition and English, but they were taught how to become productive and contributing members of society. Although one of the main tenets of the movement was an alleged respect for diversity, in immigrant communities the national trend was toward a kind of assimilation or "Americanization" of students through education. Dewey tested out his curriculum at the Laboratory School at the University of Chicago from 1896-1904. In The School and Society, a series of lectures published by Dewey in 1900, he stated, "When a school introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him with the spirit of service and providing him with instruments of effective self-direction we shall have the deepest, best guarantee of a larger society which is worthy, lovely and harmonious." One might also argue, however, that the result was less categorized by self-direction than an intended course laid out by the educator.

As academic theories evolved, so too did school buildings evolve in character. The physical structure of schools began to reflect the spirit of the aforementioned ideologies and curricula as designs transitioned from wood-frame district schoolhouses to brick and stone buildings of more public character. Democratic ideals were allegedly expressed by an emphasis on cleanliness, hygiene, space, and light. A variety of classical and European revival styles were the most common choice for school architects during this period, all styles having their origins based on the classical and democratic ideology of symmetry and order.

By the 1910s, the ideologies of the Progressive Movement had saturated educational systems throughout the country and they likewise seeped into Bristol where they increasingly inspired a shift in how the city's upper-class citizens viewed the subject of educating the poor and foreign-born. Largely driven by the desire to assimilate, rather than isolate, the working class, the city's elite poured both money and their time into efforts to educate the poor. A common course of study and common graduation exercises were also adopted in an effort to create an equitable and uniform academic system, modern schools were built and staffed to meet the needs of immigrant children, and a variety of English-language Evening Schools were set up to educate working-class adults. As a result, the 1910s and 1920s saw some of the most dramatic changes in the quality and character of Bristol's schools. These efforts were led by both educators, such as Karl A. Reiche, who assumed the role of superintendent of schools in 1914 and served over 40 years, as well as industrialists, such as Albert F. Rockwell, a wealthy industrialist and founder of the New Departure Company who donated land and money for the construction of new, modern schools.

The Clarence A. Bingham/North Side School

As Bristol's manufacturing sector continued to expand during the early twentieth century, a scarcity of housing increasingly created an unstable workforce as employees took jobs in the city but often left shortly thereafter due to the poor living conditions or prohibitively expensive rents. The situation inspired many of the city's factory owners to provide new housing themselves. The New Departure Manufacturing Company, for instance, financed the construction of over 100 houses for its workers in a neighborhood known as Endee Manor (roughly bounded by Mills, Putnam and Sherman Streets) between 1916 and 1917. The Endee Manor development was designed by Bristol architect Harold Hayden and its design, featuring wide, well-lit streets, garden plots, and clean, functional, and attractive private homes, was the epitome of Progressive Era thinking. Endee Manor was the largest of four major housing developments funded by the city's leading industrial or commercial firms, with the Bristol Brass Company (1916), the National Marine Lamp Company (1916), and the Bristol Realty Company (1907-1922), financing the others. These projects provided hundreds of new housing units and thus further contributed to rising school enrollment in a number of districts, particularly on the north and south sides of the industrial central city.

By 1889, growth in District No. 2 had necessitated that two additional rooms be constructed for the Second District School. Eleven years later, in 1900, another addition was erected to house kindergarten classes. By the mid-1910s the school had come to the bursting point. Various newspapers highlighted the strained conditions at the Second District School and its relationship to local industrial growth. A Bristol Press article published in July 1916, announced that the city's North Side would have a new "Model Schoolhouse designed by architect Wilson Potter of N.Y." The author of the article noted that the building committee had completed plans for what they called an "eight room addition measuring 130 x 35 feet to the present building." Each classroom in the new brick structure held between 40 and 45 pupils.

The supplemental space could not come soon enough. In a Hartford Courant article from January 1917 the author stated that Bristol had 60 new pupils at the opening of the winter term, including 12 students from Endee Manor who would be enrolled at the North Side School.

An article in the May 1917 edition of New Departure News, a publication for workers of that company, touted "A New Schoolhouse for Endee Manor". In March 1919, The Bristol Press reiterated that in regard to the North Side School, "the building at the Manor made it necessary to add on the present new brick building in 1916."

The formal opening of the remodeled North Side School took place on January 10^th, 1918. It was touted as a "fine modern building" with eight "well-lighted and well-ventilated classrooms of ample size." Much was made of the fact that the entire structure was fireproof with the exception of the roof. It was also noted that the foundation walls were stone faced with brick, the chair rails and doors were all constructed of ash, and the stairs were iron with "marbeloid treads and safety nosings." The building was heated by "indirect warm air being admitted to each room through air chambers between the walls after being heated." This was supplemented by steam radiators.

All those who worked to complete the building were given praise by the Bristol Press, among them being: William Potter, the architect; Lewis Miller of Meriden, the general contractor; the F. A. Schaffer Company of Bristol, the heating contractor; and the Cassidy & Son Manufacturing, Co. of New York City, electricians. Interior design was completed by G. H. Elton of Bristol. It was also noted that upon completion of the new structure, the old wood-frame building located on its north (rear) side would be retained to house the kindergarten through third grades. Once completed, a total of 156 children and 14 teachers occupied the school under the supervision of Principal Caro Gray.

On June 3^rd, 1920 the Bristol Press reported that a bronze tablet featuring a profile of Clarence A. Bingham had been installed on the North Side School and that the building would be rededicated in his honor. The plaque carried the following inscription: "In memory of Clarence A. Bingham faithful teacher, and principal of the north side district school 1883 to 1912. This tablet is placed by his friends and former pupils. That all many know that honest work of the teacher day by day bears fruit not only in the life, but in the heart of the pupil. - Bristol, Conn. 1920."

Already steadily expanding, the outbreak of World War I caused an additional spike in the breadth of Bristol's manufacturing base as industries shifted to wartime production. As a result, the city's population grew significantly during the 1910s and 1920s. Bristol's citizens numbered 13,502 in 1910, yet boomed to 20,620 in 1920, and 28,451 in 1930. The most significant growth took place on the north and south sides of the city, where numerous housing developments, such as Endee Manor, had been constructed to accommodate thousands of factory workers. As a result, Bristol's school districts were forced to keep pace with these changes. By the early 1930s, the city's North and South Side districts had built several new modern schoolhouses in addition to the Clarence A. Bingham School. The earliest and first of Bristol's Progressive Era school buildings was District No. 3's Park Street School (later dedicated as the Clara T. O'Connell School), which was erected in 1914. A year later District No. 1 erected a substantial addition to its Federal Hill School (later dedicated as the Thomas H. Patterson School), and then in 1920 added a second school on Burlington Avenue, which was dedicated in honor of local educator John J. Jennings. In 1921, the South End's Fifth School District erected a modern addition to its school on Pine Street (later dedicated as the Mary A. Callen School), and then in 1925 erected a new facility on Church Street just southwest of its existing building on School Street.

Perhaps the most prominent of Bristol's schools built during the Progressive Era, however, was its new high school, designed by architect George Wilson Potter and completed in September 1922. The need for larger high school accommodations in Bristol was made clear following the end of World War I. However, it was not until 1919, when Albert F. Rockwell came forward with a proposal to donate 12 acres of land for the site of the school and to finance half of its construction was any traction gained. Rockwell's desire was to build a sprawling park and boulevard running along the south bank of the Pequabuck River and he felt a grand high school would make the perfect anchor to his vision. Rockwell's condition was that the City acquire a 100-foot swath of land between Main Street and the proposed high school site in order to complete the Boulevard. Although support for his plan was not unanimous, notable opposition came from John Nolan, a city planner from Cambridge, Massachusetts, hired to complete a comprehensive study of the city in 1920, a local referendum approved the project in a vote of 5,527 to 362. Upon its opening for the 1922-1923 school year, enrollment at the high school was 560. The $932,000 building served as a bustling community hub, with the gymnasium, swimming pool, and auditorium in its northern wing remaining open to the public outside of school hours.

Even as new schools were completed Bristol's population growth through the 1930s threatened to render them inadequately sized or outdated. The minutes of the Second School District's annual School Board meeting held on June 27^th, 1934 reflect that changes were already being made at the Bingham School in order to keep it up to date. It was noted that the kindergarten was being remodeled in the old school and a stage was built at one end of the building to serve as an auditorium. The original structure was rewired and new lights were installed. The boys' toilets were retrofitted at a cost of $1271.65, and a new roof was put on the heating plant.

These changes, however, provided only short-term relief to the building's shortfalls and after a meeting of District No. 2's School Board held on September 5^th, 1935, the Bristol Press reported that the Second School District had voted to build an addition to the school as a part of a new Public Works Administration (PWA) project. A month later, on October 8^th, 1935, members appointed a building commission to accept a grant from the Office of the State Director of the Public Works Administration of Connecticut. The district had been approved for a grant to purchase land adjacent to the school and to remove the old wood-frame school and erect a new two-story masonry addition and auditorium. The PWA would cover 45 percent of the cost of the purchase of the land and construction. The fact that the Federal government recognized the "emergency nature" of this request is a testament to the speed at which the city was growing.

The new addition to the Clarence A. Bingham School was completed the following year and the dedication ceremony, held on November 13^th, 1936, was a significant event within the community. A pamphlet was produced detailing both the ceremony and the work completed. The total cost of the project was $137,596, which included the following:

"Six standard classrooms to seat 35 pupils each, one modern kindergarten and playroom, one assistant principal's office, one teacher's restroom, one nurse room, one janitor's workroom, one parents and teachers kitchen, one auditorium and gymnasium measuring 48 x 72 with a stage and dressing rooms measuring 18 x 29, one boys playroom, one girls playroom, one shower room and two locker rooms. The heating is a Vacuum Vapor Zone controlled system with automatic ventilation."

The addition's architect was Harold H. Hayden, who maintained offices at 175 Main Street in Bristol. The pamphlet also named the Loucks & Clarke Corporation of Wallingford, Connecticut, as the general contractors, and gave credit for the stage equipment to the I. Weiss & Company of New York City. A dedication address was given at the ceremony by the Honorable William J. Farley, State Director of the PWA.

The Bingham School continued to function as an elementary school throughout the second half of the twentieth century. However, following the conclusion of World War II, Bristol's manufacturing sector began a slow but steady decline. The increasing prevalence of the automobile and rise of suburban development drew many families to the suburbs at the expense of Bristol's densely settled north end neighborhoods. This resulted in a significant change in where new schools were built and how they were operated. Buses allowed for greater centralization and the cost of maintaining a large number of "neighborhood" elementary schools became a budgetary challenge. Large, centralized schools were built on undeveloped parcels in the outer reaches of town throughout the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s, the majority of the city's larger factories had closed, striking a fatal blow for many of the neighborhood schools in the central city. Maintenance of the Bingham School continued via the installation of new classroom doors at the in 1957, and a larger renovation in 1981. This showed a desire to keep the beloved institution viable, however, after many years of debate, the Bingham school was closed in 2010 amid a handful of protests in the local community.

George Wilson Potter, Sr. (1868-1936)

Architect George Wilson Potter, Sr. of New York, renowned for his design of school buildings in the northeast, designed the original portion of the Bingham School in 1916. Before opening his own offices at 3 Union Square in New York City, Potter worked in the offices of Richard Morris Hunt (1827- 1895) and Henry Van Brunt (1832-1903), two icons of architecture who were based in New York and Boston respectively." Potter went on to design school buildings throughout the United States, with the majority located in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. Such was his prominence in the field, that he was featured as a spokesperson for the Natural Slate Blackboard Company in the 1921 edition of the American School Board Journal. In the advertisement, Potter states, "Enclosed is a list of 63 school buildings in all but three of which we used Natural Slate Blackboards". From this statement we can deduce that he was not only a respected architect of school buildings, but also a prolific one.

In the early part of his career, Potter designed two important commissions in Norwich: the Laurel Hill School (1871, and Broad Street School (1897). These were designed in the Italianate and Richardsonian Romanesque styles, respectively. Potter undertook the design of Bingham School at what appears to have been the height of his career. His design for the South Street School in Torrington was completed the same year and shares many design elements visible in the Bingham School, including projecting pavilions, a raised basement, and flat roof, which result in a monumental and solid form typical among Classical Revival-style institutional buildings erected at the time. It also employs glazed brick and terra cotta details, which although fairly new and innovative materials, were increasingly used to replicate a plethora of Classical designs in institutional buildings during the first quarter of the twentieth century.

Potter appears to have been most comfortable working in variations on the Classical Revival and Renaissance Revival-styles as evidenced by his two other significant commissions in Bristol; the Neoclassical-style Bristol Public Library, and the Italian Renaissance-style Bristol High School (1922, now the Memorial Boulevard School). Other of his schools include the Uncasville School in Montville (1918), the South School in Torrington (1915), the United Bank Building in New Milford (1904), and the Southington Public Library (1902).

Harold. A. Hayden (1892-1985)

Harold A. Hayden was a Bristol native well-known for a number of local commissions by the time he designed the addition to the Bingham School in 1936. A graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Hayden went on to establish a prominent and successful local practice in Bristol during the 1910s. One of his earliest commissions was to design the Endee Manor neighborhood for the New Departure Manufacturing Company in 1916. He left soon after to join the military, where Hayden served as a sergeant stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Hayden's informed, yet restrained style is well represented in his addition to the Bingham School. Not only did he manage to design a large and potentially cumbersome addition in a manner that maintained the bright and open nature of the original space, but his work successfully compliments Potter's original design. Rather than seeking to diverge from the original aesthetic of the building, Hayden took elements of Potter's work, such as the chair rails and other trim found in Potter's classrooms, and extended and somewhat exaggerated them in his own design. He also repeated several new motifs throughout the addition in order to unify the structure, this including the use of a diamond detail on the built-in doors, and kindergarten benches.

Hayden maintained his Bristol office for over fifty years, during which time he designed a variety of commercial, residential, and academic buildings throughout Hartford County. In Bristol, he was most notably the architect of Copper Ledges on Federal Hill in Bristol (1924); a stunning Colonial Revival-style building, and the City's World War I memorial, erected at the intersection of Memorial Boulevard and Mellen Street in 1922. Among his dozens of other local commissions were a second housing development, known as Cambridge Park, built in 1942, a large addition to the Mary A. Callen School completed in 1951, an addition to the Greene-Hills School erected in 1955, and a gymnasium/auditorium built adjoining the Clara T. O'Connell School in 1960.

Building Description

The Clarence A. Bingham Elementary School sits on a 3.1-acre parcel located on the north side of the intersection of Route 69 (West Street) and State Route 6 (North Street/Terryville Road) in Bristol, Connecticut. The building is sited almost directly abutting Route 6. The surrounding neighborhood is a mix of commercial, residential, and institutional buildings, with several churches, banks and the West Cemetery located within a one-quarter mile radius. The former New Departure Manufacturing Company factory and its associated Endee Manor neighborhood, which was a catalyst for the construction of the Clarence A. Bingham Elementary School, are located less than one-half mile west of the building, adjacent to Route 6. The building is set close to West Street with only a narrow strip of grass separating the building entrance from the sidewalk. On the west side of the building the lot is mostly cleared with a few mature trees lining the parcel boundary, while on the east and north sides of the structure there are large paved areas used as a driveway and parking lot respectively.

The school complex consists of an original 1916 building, a substantial 1936 addition, and an original 1916 power plant with a brick chimneystack. Erected in 1916, and then greatly expanded in 1936, the Bingham School is two-stories in height and has a reversed L-shaped plan with the auditorium filling the interior corner space on the west elevation. The building is of load-bearing, red-brick masonry construction and was designed in the Neoclassical style by architect George Wilson Potter. The original block consists of a symmetrical three-ranked facade flanked by projecting end pavilions. The 1936 addition and auditorium spaces mimic the exterior decorative elements found on the original 1916 block, including the rusticated red-brick basement level, wooden cornice, and brick parapet. Fenestration throughout consists of one-over-one double-hung sash replacements. The building throughout has a flat roof covered in a built-up asphalt system. The school was in continuous use until 2010, when new K-8 facilities were constructed by the City of Bristol. Despite over ninety years of use, the overall plan of the building remains unchanged and many original features of both the original building and the addition remain intact. These include most of the floors, walls, coved plaster ceilings, door surrounds and trim, built-in cabinets, and blackboards.

The facade (south elevation) of the original building (1916) is composed of a center mass flanked by two projecting pavilions. The main entrance is centered on the facade and is accessed by two concrete steps lined by low cheek walls into a ground-level vestibule. The school rests on a brick and stone foundation set one-half story above grade. The exterior of the raised basement level is finished with a rusticated brick pattern topped by a soldier-coursed red-brick water table. The basement windows are arranged symmetrically and are one-over-one double-hung sash set in simple recessed openings lined by brick headers. The concrete entry surround has a glazed coating and consists of a segmental-arched doorway topped by a keystone and set with a blind "three-light" transom. A lantern (potentially original) has been installed in the center "light". The arched doorway is set within a paneled surround topped by a projecting cornice supported by paneled blocks, which are, in turn, supported by fluted plinths. The original doors have been replaced with a pair of modern metal units, each with a single, narrow light. Above the entrance there is a tripartite window set within a concrete surround ornamented with hood molding. This opening is flanked on either side by large bays containing a run of six windows in each. The same arrangement of a tripartite window flanked by openings containing six windows each is found on the second story. All of these openings feature narrow, glazed concrete sills and soldier-coursed lintels. Above the center window on the second floor is a limestone plaque that reads, "CLARENCE A. BINGHAM SCHOOL". The pavilions are each two bays wide on all three levels and feature brick quoins at the corners. A wide, projecting wooden cornice unites the facade at roof level. This is topped by a central stepped parapet set with a glazed concrete date plaque which reads "1916", and is capped by terra cotta coping. The walls of the original portion of the building are constructed in a simple running bond pattern.

The primary decorative elements of the facade, including the wood cornice, quoining, and rusticated basement level, all continue along the east elevation of the original building. A pavilion at its northeast corner projects slightly from the wall and contains an entry at ground level. This doorway features hood molding composed of a concrete keystone and shoulders set within a brick, segmental-arched surround. Above this doorway there are four windows set in a single opening. The pavilion's central bay is flanked by a single bay on each side; however, it appears that the building originally ended just north of the doorway (as it does on the western elevation). Slight differences in the color and texture of the brick indicate that everything north of the entry was erected as part of the 1936 addition. Furthermore, the sills are limestone throughout the northern portion of the building, as opposed to glazed concrete.

On the east elevation, the center block of the 1936 addition is nine bays long. It features the following symmetrical pattern of openings on both stories: a pair of windows, followed by a run of five within a single opening, one single window, another run of five, and finally a second pair. The nine basement windows are equally spaced along the length of the block. Continuing north, there is a second projecting pavilion matching the proportions and design of the one to the south except for a bay window on the first story, this topped by a copper hipped roof. North of the pavilion, there is the final block featuring a single bay, run of five, and single bay arrangement. The entire elevation is unified by the symmetry of the design, as well as by the continuous cornice, brick parapet, and concrete coping.

The rear of the school complex (north elevation) has a blind wall on the auditorium with a vent stack near its center. On the 1936 addition (to the east), the only windows are found on the west side of the elevation lighting the stairwells. The Flemish stretcher bond pattern used for the additions provides a subtle decorative effect to set off narrow limestone sills and hood molding on the segmental arch door surround for the rear entrance. The entrance is set beneath the windows and features a modern, painted, metal double door topped by a single-light transom. There is no cornice on this portion of the building. The brick and mortar used on the basement level east of and including the door surround is lighter and redder than that found on the upper stories, suggesting a later repair. In 1981, a single window on the first story was bricked up (the sill is still visible). On the far western side of this elevation, the windows behind the stage were also enclosed. A single-story, shed-roofed, red brick power plant with a rectangular brick stack adjoins the rear of the classroom building. Aerial photographs from 1934 indicate that this was original to the 1916 construction.

The original portion of the west elevation is similar to the eastern one with the exception of the auditorium addition. In addition, the cornice and decorative features do not extend beyond the original block (the auditorium does have a much more simple squared-off cornice at the roofline). The auditorium window openings are simple, double-height, recessed openings and the three windows on the western side of the classroom block are treated the same as those found on the other elevations with the exception that they are all symmetrically placed, single units.

The Bingham School contains 50,505 total square feet, with sixteen classrooms in addition to an auditorium, cafeteria, library, and lavatories on three floor levels. The interior of the building has a central entrance stairwell leading from the primary entry up one-half story to the first floor. A wide east-west corridor runs along the rear wall (referred to here as the south corridor) of the original block. It is connected perpendicularly to a north-south corridor (referred to here as the north corridor) that extends along the west side of the 1936 addition. The corridors connect along their north and west walls, respectively, to the auditorium space (refer to the attached plan). Stairwells are located at the east and west ends of the south corridor, and the north and south ends of the north corridor. Eight classrooms located on the two primary floors of the original block are arranged along the front of the building in pairs lining the south side of the main entry stairwell. Eight additional classroom spaces and the auditorium were added during the construction of the 1936 addition. This section of the building has four classrooms on each floor, along the east side of the corridor. Interior details of the classrooms and hallways in the original portion of the building include: maple plank or tongue-and-groove flooring; wide, ash mopboards, chair rails, chalk trays, window sills and trim; slate blackboards; plaster walls; and coved plaster ceilings. The same details found in the original block are carried throughout the addition with the exception of the coved ceilings and the wooden floors in the halls and some classrooms. The north corridor and many of the classrooms were originally finished with composite tile floors (black and white in the hallways and green and white in the classrooms), the majority of which remain intact.

As noted, the primary access to the building is located on the south elevation and leads to a ground-level vestibule via a set of modern, metal, double doors. The floors of the vestibule are finished with rectangular, red-orange-colored tiles with coved skirting tiles. The walls are covered in narrow, glazed yellow bricks. The vestibule leads into the south corridor through a pair of full-height, single-light, doors with ash rails and brass handles. The door surround consists of molded ash trim which is repeated in crown molding at the ceiling. The vestibule doors open to the central stairway, which is constructed of cast iron with paneled risers and concrete treads. The balustrade is composed of a square newel post decorated with a vertical panel design and topped by a simple cap; a wood rail and banister; and simple, straight, cast iron balusters. The vestibule leads into the south corridor, which provides access to classroom spaces on the south side and the auditorium space on the north. A second, short flight of stairs above the vestibule leads up one-half floor to the principal's office. The floors in this office are painted wood and all of the original doors and trim remain intact, as does the private water closet and phone cabinet.

The southern side of the south corridor wall has been fitted with two banks of locker cabinets, each flanked by doors leading into the central classrooms. Beyond these are the outer classrooms (those at the building's southeast and southwest corners), which have only one door each. The frame classroom door surrounds remain intact, however, new doors were installed and many of the transoms were covered as part of a 1957 project.

With the exception of modern lighting, the classrooms remain relatively unchanged. The rooms are flooded with light from tall banks of windows lining the southern walls. Three square windows with wide sills and aprons are set just below ceiling height on the northern walls of the interior classrooms, allowing light to filter into the corridor. Small coat closets and built-in bookcases can be found on the interior walls of the classrooms, and original paneled wood doors with brass hardware can be found throughout the interior spaces.

In the south corridor, a pair of double doors at each end of the north side of the hall leads into the auditorium. Above each door there is a plaque, one depicting what appears to be the landing at Plymouth Rock, and the other the signing of the Mayflower Compact. The auditorium has 22-foot-high ceilings supported by steel trusses and covered in acoustic panels. The space is lit by banks of fluorescent lights and is ventilated by caged ceiling fans. The stage is located at the north end of the room and is trimmed by a molded wooden surround. Six double-height window openings fitted with tall, paired windows topped by a transom, and then shorter, paired windows line the west wall. On the east wall pairs of windows on the upper half of the wall provide views from the second-story corridors. All of the windows have been covered with diamond-patterned metal screens. The walls are glazed yellow brick and all of the windows, doors, and the stage are lined with red bricks set perpendicular to the openings. These continue to the floor in many areas, resulting in a geometric pattern on the walls. Metal double doors provide access to this space from the north and south corridor, as well as from the area rear of the stage.

The classrooms and hallways in the rear block retain the majority of their original details, however, dropped ceilings have been installed in several spaces including the original administrative spaces at the south end of this block. The level of finish in the addition is slightly more elaborate than on the original block. The north corridor features black and white composite tile floors, glazed yellow brick wainscoting trimmed by red brick headers, and plaster walls above. The classrooms include green and black composite tile flooring, detailed wood trim, and wood built-ins and closets incised with a repeating diamond pattern. Some of the classrooms retain their original brass central vacuum inputs.

The two northernmost classrooms served as the kindergarten. The south side of the kindergarten retains a high level of detail such as a curved brick hearth, brick fireplace, and chimney breast in the southwest corner of the room. Paneled benches (with the aforementioned diamond pattern) are located on either side of the fireplace and in a bay window on the east side of the room. The benches flanking the fireplace have cubbies built beneath them. Small coat rooms and bathrooms line the north end of both of these rooms.

The stairways throughout the building are well lit and have wood floors and plaster walls in the original building; and composite tile and brick wainscoting in the addition. The same design of cast-iron stairs and railings is found throughout the school.

The layouts of the second floors of both blocks are almost identical to the first except that there are four full classrooms along the east wall of the north corridor instead of administrative spaces. The second-floor classrooms retain the same level of integrity as those on the first. The large windows looking down onto the gymnasium-auditorium space below from both the south and north corridors and are lined with cast-iron balustrades topped by wood railings.

Basement classrooms have been fitted out in the original 1916 building. The walls are built of exposed stone at the base with brick walls above and have been painted. The floors are finished wood. Segmental-arched brick openings, including some containing early built-ins, are found throughout the basement. The floors in the hallways are composite tile and the walls are brick. Modern metal doors lead into the cafeteria space. This was constructed in 1981 and contains a full kitchen. As noted, classrooms continue along the east side of the north corridor, with an art room and library located at the far northern end of the hall. The mechanical room/custodian's space is located in the attached power plant at the far north end of the hall to the west.

Perhaps the most noticeable change to the building has been the replacement at an unknown date of the original multi-paned windows with one-over-one double-hung sash set in bronze frames. The 1981 renovation of the building resulted in the construction of cafeteria and library spaces in the basement, installation of metal fire doors and glass-block transoms at the stairwells throughout, and the renovation of the existing administrative spaces on the first floor of the north ell. The floor in the auditorium was also covered in composite tile at that time.