Romanesque Revival School Building in Illinois Served all Grades
East Dubuque School, East Dubuque Illinois
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The East Dubuque School is an outstanding example in Illinois of a school in the late Romanesque Revival style.
It is the only major historic public building in East Dubuque, and was the dominant educational institution in the town for 85 years. Built in 1893 as both the grammar school and high school for East Dubuque children, it also supplemented the one-room schoolhouses in the surrounding countryside by serving as a high school for these small school districts. As the population grew, the school expanded its capacity to approximately 350 East Dubuque high school students before it closed in 1978. The school is prominently sited on a bluff overlooking the town and is a commanding visual element in the skyline of East Dubuque. It was the work of one of Dubuque's leading architects in the 1890's, Thomas Carkeek.
In East Dubuque (formerly Dunleith), a small railroad town along the Mississippi River, the East Dubuque School building, completed in 1893, had 5 classrooms on the first floor, used for the grammar school; 4 large rooms on the second floor for the high school; and a gymnasium in the attic. The 1914 addition is highly sympathetic to the design of the original building. This east wing provided an office and 2 classrooms on the first floor, an auditorium/study hall on the second floor, and a new gymnasium in the basement, which was later converted to a shop area. The recent gymnasium, an adjacent brick structure added in 1952, is at a lower grade which reduces its impact by partially obscuring its wide bulk and metal roof. These structures were ultimately used entirely by the East Dubuque High School, which moved into a new building in 1978. The small frame house was provided for the school's superintendent, who also functioned as a principal, teacher, and custodian. Later used for storage, the house has been vacant and has suffered from neglect and vandalism. Although the house has an identifiable subsidiary relationship to the school, its lack of visual distinction and its deteriorated condition suggest that preservation is neither worthwhile nor feasible.
The architect of the original building, Thomas T. Carkeek, was born in Cornwall, England in 1843, the son of a stonemason, and emigrated to Wisconsin with his parents in 1849. He was a self-taught architect who progressed from cabinetmaker to carpenter and became a draftsman at Carr, Ryder and Wheeler in Dubuque, a manufacturer of architectural woodwork, sash and doors. He left the firm in 1891 to start his own architectural practice. Carkeek designed and supervised over 200 structures including many commercial buildings and residences in Dubuque, among which were the Dubuque engine house (demolished) and the East Dubuque engine house (extant, altered to house the police station). The East Dubuque School is Carkeek's major work in the town, and is characteristic of his work in the Romanesque Revival and Richardsonian Romanesque styles in Dubuque.
The school's construction was accompanied by the aspiration that it would play an important role in the development of East Dubuque. In the dedication speech given by the mayor' in 1893, he expressed the hope that a fine new school would help East Dubuque grow faster than Dubuque, its Iowan neighbor across the Mississippi River. In 1890, the population of Dubuque was 30,311 and Dunleith township had 1,282 inhabitants. Ten years later, Dunleith had increased by only 82 people. By 1910, Dubuque had grown 6.1% to 38,494. Today, East Dubuque is a community of about 2,400, whereas Dubuque is a city of around 65,000. Thus the Mayor's aspirations were not fulfilled, although the reasons had less to do with the school than with Dubuque's topographical advantages that attracted the railroad and industrial development along its flatlands.
Building Description
The East Dubuque School is a freestanding brick building situated on a bluff overlooking the town of East Dubuque, Illinois. The overall plan of the original 2-story building, completed in 1893, is rectangular with a square 3-story bell tower and curved 2-story bay window set into its southwest corner. The 5-bay gable-roofed west end intersects a hip-roofed north-south section, with the transition provided by a gable-roofed dormer flanked by a pair of chimneys on the north elevation and a gable terminating at the bell tower, which is capped by a pyramidal roof. The north elevation has 10 bays; the symmetrical south elevation has 7 bays and is accentuated by a gable-roofed dormer. The masonry bearing wall construction has dark brick exterior walls in common bond with one header course in every 7 or 8 courses. The bricks vary in shade, presenting an irregular, mottled appearance. The foundation is composed of quarry-faced limestone. The asphalt shingle roof is laid in a diagonal pattern of gray squares and is in fair condition.
A 2-story east wing completed in 1914 is well integrated with the original building. Approximately 36 ft. x 68 ft., the rectangular hip-roofed addition has four bays on the north and south elevations and eight bays on the east, dominated by a 2-bay gable-roofed central dormer. The addition is connected to the original building by a 2-story gable-roofed link which provides two entrances from the outside. Entrances to the original building are marked by a massive round arch over a door on the west elevation of the tower, and a pair of pillars flanking the door frame at the north elevation.
Decorative elements include (1) the bell tower, with its entrance arch, corbel table and light stone horizontal bands accentuating the arched openings in the third story; (2) the use of round-arched windows on the original building and in the dormer of the addition; (3) the pattern of vertical divisions created by the round-arched windows on the original building and continuous hood molds on the addition, and horizontal bands of brick and stone at the imposts, lintels, sills, and foundation, as well as white stone lintels; (4) receding dark brick panels between stories, at cornice level, and in gables, and a carved stone panel above the entrance arch which reads "Public School Erected 1893"; (5) corbelling at the cornices of both buildings; (6) rounded light stone finials on the entrance pillars; (7) diaper work in the gable over the north entrance. These decorative elements contribute substantially to the Romanesque Revival qualities of the building.
The interior layout is fixed by bearing walls, and remains unchanged with the exception of partitions subdividing rooms, and related doorway alterations. Finishes are plain and institutional, with some wood trim remaining, and hardwood floors. The interior is seriously damaged from heavy use and vandalism, unlike the substantially intact exterior. All of the windows are broken and the multi-paned sash over the tower entrance has been destroyed. The tower bell is on display in the lobby of the new high school.
A major outbuilding at the eastern end of the site is a gymnasium built in 1952. One story with brick walls and a low, curved metal roof, the rectangular gymnasium (approx. 77 ft. x 96 ft.) occupies a larger area than the classroom buildings. Another outbuilding, in a corner between the east wing and the gymnasium at the northern edge of the site, is a modest one-story wood frame house on a rubble foundation. This was formerly the school superintendent's house and may date from the early 20th-century. The house is in poor condition. The gymnasium is connected to the 1914 addition by an enclosed passageway.
The proposal for adaptive reuse of the East Dubuque School and gymnasium into housing for the elderly calls for exterior repairs, site work and landscaping, replacement windows and doors in existing openings, and new roof coverings. Bearing walls in the school interior will remain, with housing units in subdivided classroom space. New interior finishes, an elevator, and new electrical and mechanical systems will be part of the rehabilitation. Dormers and windows will be added to the gymnasium to make it suitable for housing, and a new connector to the east wing will be constructed. Demolition of the frame house is planned to provide a pocket of landscaped open space at the northern end of the gymnasium near the connector entrance.
Other manmade elements on the site include an asphalt parking area, concrete sidewalks and steps, and retaining walls. Vehicular access to the school is from Montgomery Avenue to the west. A visually significant pedestrian approach is the dramatic northward ascent of 69 steps from a street below to the tower.
South facade and bell tower in southwest corner of East Dubuque school. 1914 addition at right (1981)
View of East Dubuque from roof of gymnasium adjacent to East Dubuque School (at right), on bluff (1981)
West elevation of East Dubuque School with bell tower in corner (1981)
North elevation and part of west elevation of East Dubuque School. 1914 addition is wing at left with rectangular windows at second story (1981)
