Arlington School, St. Louis Missouri

Date added: September 05, 2023 Categories:

View northwest toward front elevation (2007)

Arlington School is situated in what is now known as the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood in northwestern St. Louis, Missouri. In the first half of the 19^th Century, the area was primarily farmland. Following the Civil War, St. Louis experienced a period of rapid growth and the city boundaries were increased in both 1870 and 1876. The latter boundary increase brought the land where Arlington School now stands into the city limits and touched off a period of speculative property subdivision. Julius Pitzman's map of 1878 shows the area in transition from a rural collection of agrarian communities into a densely settled urban neighborhood, a process that took a remarkably short period of time. The map shows that the land on which the school sits had already been platted into the Arlington Grove Subdivision (from which the school takes its name). At the time, the lots were mostly empty, but their situation just north of the busy macadamized road to St. Charles (St. Charles Rock Road, now Martin Luther King Blvd.) and just east of the town of Rinkleville, ensured quick development. By 1880, a sufficient number of residents had petitioned the Board of Education for a school and the Arlington building was constructed. This building was designed by Public School Board Architect Thomas Furlong. Furlong's design was a functional two-story, two-room brick school house that was built, at the instruction of the Board, to be easily expanded.

By the fall of 1890, population growth in the area necessitated the anticipated expansion of the school. This task fell to Board Architect Charles K. Ramsey whose plans were implemented in the fall of 1890. The Ramsey addition was apparently built as a separate, two-story, four-room building to the south of the original school. The building was constructed in two, adjoining two-room sections, and when completed increased Arlington's capacity to six classrooms. Even this expansion was inadequate to accommodate the rapidly developing neighborhood and in 1893, School Architect August H. Kirchner submitted plans for a two-story addition. Though plans for this expansion have not been located, it appears that the Ramsey and Furlong sections were connected at this time with the addition of a central hallway and staircase, and a final set of classrooms was constructed to complete the overall square plan. These earlier sections of the school now form a portion of the northern wing and central block of the current school, though from the exterior, only a portion of the original Furlong School is visible at the northwest corner.

On March 23^rd, 1897, the Missouri State Legislature took steps to solve problems of political infighting and inefficiency that had been plaguing the St. Louis Public School Board for years. By legislative act, they disbanded the problematic Board and called for the special election of a new Board to be held in May 1897. On June 22^nd, the newly elected Board chose William B. Ittner as Commissioner of School Buildings and Architect. Wanting to act swiftly to fix the problems the school system had with overcrowding and inadequate buildings, the Board immediately handed Ittner a list of projects that were in need of immediate attention. The list included twelve new schools and school additions and was arranged in order of urgency; the first task on the list was an expansion of Arlington.

Following his election as Building Commissioner, but before beginning any design work, Ittner embarked upon a whirlwind tour of various school districts across the country. The trip was designed to allow him to study school architecture and current thinking regarding building design. He traveled to Chicago; Minneapolis; Milwaukee; Detroit; Boston; and Springfield, Illinois, meeting with school architects and discussing common goals and problems. This quest certainly familiarized him with school construction in the United States and confirmed his Opinion that there was a great need for innovation in school design. While Ittner desired to continue his school tour in Europe, he had an obligation to the Board to begin work on its list of urgent projects. As such, he began his first foray into the design and construction of schools at a time when his architectural imagination was stimulated, but his ideas were still forming.

Though Elliot and Sherman Schools are often cited as Ittner's first attempts at school design in St. Louis, the list should be expanded to include Arlington, Monroe, and Jackson. All five of these schools are H-plan buildings that Ittner began constructing in 1898. Excluding Arlington, these are the earliest schools that were designed completely by Ittner's hand. However, they all apparently post-date his extensive reconstruction of Arlington. Ittner's version of Arlington was a clear and substantial step toward a classic H-plan building. For this reason, Arlington can be regarded as the experiment that created and tested a functional H-plan prototype. Ittner could have expanded Arlington in any number of ways; he chose to create a long central axis with perpendicular wings at either end flanking a one-story kindergarten centered on the rear of the building. While this new design incorporated the old block of the earlier school, it was clearly driven by Ittner's theoretical goals. The extent to which the resulting design completely absorbed the former building into a new and purposeful whole renders the fact that Arlington contains structural portions of an older school largely irrelevant. Ittner took the old Arlington, an example of an earlier paradigm in school design, and created a building that reflected his progressive ideas regarding light, ventilation, and internal systems. These ideas and the H-plan were considered revolutionary enough that two of his early examples, Eliot and Sherman schools, were included in Edmund Wheelwright's seminal 1901 work School Architecture.

One major concern that Ittner had in the designs of all of his schools was organizing the floor plans to maximize the amount of natural light that could penetrate each classroom. Like other early H-plan schools such as Elliot, Sherman, Monroe, and Jackson, Arlington was reconstructed in order to take advantage of a shape that Ittner theorized would facilitate the creation of well-lit, well-ventilated hallways, stairwells, and classrooms. The wings that grace these schools were intended to maximize the size of corner rooms that received light and air from more than one side. Toward this goal, Ittner removed a major portion of the eastern wall of Arlington's Kirchner-designed section and extended the old rooms further to the east and well beyond the plane of the former wall. This decision greatly increased the size of the corner classrooms, and also gave symmetry to his new unifying facade. In further pursuit of aesthetic harmony at Arlington, Ittner even re-clad all but the northwest corner of the earlier building (in the rear) with smooth stone and facing brick to make it indistinguishable from the new construction.

Another way Ittner's H-plan schools were designed to take advantage of outside light was by utilizing a corridor running the length of their central block (from wing to wing) with purposefully concentrated fenestration in the stairwells at both ends. Through the proper placement of both exterior and interior windows, transoms, and unbroken interior space, Ittner was able to allow light from all four sides of the building to wash from end to end, and side to side, throughout multiple stories. While existing structural elements at the north end of the building prevented this plan from being completely executed at Arlington (an entryway/vestibule and stairwell are situated perpendicular to each other at the south [new] end of the building, while only the stairwell is located at the north end), one can clearly see the H-plan driving the manner in which the buildings was oriented, and halls and stairwells were organized.

Like other early H-plan buildings (Eliot; Sherman; Monroe; Jackson), Ittner gave Arlington a kindergarten in the form of a flat-roofed rear addition centered between the wings. This placement allowed for windows on three sides of the room and was a deliberate decision intended to take light and ventilation one step further for the youngest students. While his H-plan designs still resulted in what Ittner considered unsatisfactorily dim corridors, they represented his first efforts at putting his theories regarding educational architecture into practice.

Though his early designs were cautious and his architectural ideas were still evolving, even Ittner's first schools reflected his fully-formed policy of bringing internal systems up to the highest standards of the time. Ittner's schools were the first in St. Louis to have indoor plumbing. They also enjoyed state-of-the-art heating and ventilation systems, and his schools were the most fire-proof to date. Not satisfied with the city's recently updated fire code, Ittner's stated policy was to exceed code requirements whenever feasible. Furthermore, he insisted on electrical lighting and even began to employ technology to facilitate the educational process. Arlington was no exception and the school was constructed to his exacting standards. The older portions of the school were retrofitted to the standards of the new construction and technological improvements were added throughout. In an effort to improve safety, communication, and efficiency, he even included a telephone in every room that connected to a central switchboard located in the administration office. Ittner painstakingly documented the work he carried out at each school in reports he submitted to the Public School Board. These reports demonstrate the extent to which he was involved in every detail of the selection of materials, construction, furnishing, and operation of his schools.

Interestingly, Arlington may be Ittner's first major work for the St. Louis Board of Education. Arlington's building permit was issued in March of 1898, which predates Monroe (May), Elliot (September), and Jackson (November). Sherman apparently also has a permit date in March of 1898. While the March permit date for Sherman cannot be confirmed or denied, it is worth noting that the school was considered less urgent than Arlington on the first list of projects given to Ittner by the Board upon the start of his career as building commissioner.

Because the reconstruction of Arlington took a small older school built in installments according to staid, board-dictated specifications and turned it into a large, ultra-modern school designed according to William Ittner's theories regarding the relationship between architecture and education, Arlington can truly be considered an Ittner design. Though technically an Ittner addition/alteration, Arlington stands in stark contrast with his other school expansions. For example, Harrison school was similar to Arlington when Ittner was tasked with expanding it in 1899. Designed by August Kirchner, Harrison was a one-story block of four classrooms divided by a central hallway (a standard plan adopted by the Board of Public Schools largely because it could be easily expanded). In his initial expansion, Ittner simply added two stories to the Kirchner building and left the floor plan the same. When it came time to expand the building again in 1909, he built a three-story addition at the rear of the school which created additional space, but did not reflect any overarching theoretical design goals.

In 1899, Ittner also expanded Mount Pleasant School (another one-story Kirchner building). Once again, he added two stories while maintaining the original floor plan; he later added a one-story addition in 1913.

Another well-documented Ittner addition is found at Grant School. This building was also a Kirchner design, but was expanded by Ittner near the beginning of his career with the SLPS. Kirchner's 1893 building was a three-story, twelve-room block divided by a central hall and staircase. In 1901, Ittner added a three-story, six room addition to the rear of the school. This addition differs significantly from the original building. While it succeeds in creating more space for the school, it does not fulfill any overarching design goals in terms of creating a unified whole and its appearance is clearly that of an addition.

A final example of an Ittner addition to an earlier building could once be found at the now demolished Chouteau School. Tasked with expanding Chouteau in the same year as Arlington, Ittner built a tall and narrow addition three stories high and two rooms deep to the original foursquare block. While the style of the new sections harmonized with the earlier school, it made no attempt to create a symmetrical facade or an H-plan like Arlington. As noted by Patrick Steele, the Ittner portion looked disproportionately narrow when contrasted with the massing of the original school and stood out clearly as an addition. Though many of these buildings demonstrate the master's unique abilities as an architect, Arlington appears to stand alone in the extent to which Ittner's ideas subsumed the original building.

Throughout the first decades of the 20^th Century, Arlington continued to struggle to keep pace with the growth of its student population. While the school itself had been expanded in the past to accommodate these needs, the Board took to building temporary, portable school rooms on the Arlington grounds for this purpose beginning in 1900. No major work was done on the school itself until 1925 when architect Rockwell Milligan oversaw a renovation of the building. This renovation had no real impact on the appearance or design of the school and was primarily concerned with updating the fire-proofing and remodeling the rear coal-shed into an extension of the kindergarten.

Building Description

Arlington School, located at 1617 Burd Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri, is a three-story, iron-framed brick Classical Revival school with a hipped roof and terra cotta and stone ornament.

The interior floor plan is typical of the H-plan once widely used in local public school architecture.

The result of Ittner's 1898 expansion of the school created a symmetrical five-part front elevation with two projecting wings separated from a front-gabled center section by recessed entrance bays with arched entrances. Windows are arranged in traditional bays. The red brick walls are adorned with limestone stringcourses and sills (along with limited sandstone courses from the earlier building) and a red terra cotta cornice that wraps the entire building. While mostly symmetrical in plan, the north wing does not extend as far west as the south due to its incorporation of the earlier building. A kindergarten addition at the center of the west elevation was expanded by architect Rockwell Milligan in 1925 to form a long, narrow one-story wing that meets the alley in the rear of the building. Each interior floor is divided into six rooms on H-shaped halls; cast iron staircases are located on the western ends of the corridors. Despite removal of many of the decorative lion heads on the cornice, replacement of the roof tiles with asphalt shingles, the absence of some windows and some masonry damage, the exterior conveys its historic appearance. The interior retains millwork, wooden floors and other original features. A one-story flat-roofed building to the north of Arlington School was built on the site in 1961.

In front of the school is an iron fence. To the south (left) of the center gate, a cast iron stand supports a name plaque. Centered granitoid steps rise from Burd Avenue to the school, where the original path diverged to gender-segregated entrances. The symmetrical front elevation consists of five sections: a front-gabled center section flanked by slightly recessed entrance bays with projecting hipped-roof wings at each side. The ridge of the hipped roof system meets the gable of the center section. The foundation is limestone, with cut stone on the projecting wings and rubble stone on the center sections. The bottom two stories of the center section are part of the older Arlington School, and its foundation appearance dates to its earlier construction. A belt course at the second-floor sill line is white Carthage limestone except in the center sections, where it continues in red sandstone; this sandstone was retained from the earlier building. Above the third floor, three stepped brick courses create a cornice under the attic story. Under the roof is a second cornice of red terra cotta originally punctuated by lion heads at regular intervals; two of these heads remain centered in each entrance bay.

Each wing is divided into three window bays, with recessed spandrels between the second and third floors that create the appearance of pilasters dividing the bays. Each window opening originally contained two-over-two wooden double-hung windows under single transom windows. The attic story bears single-pane wooden awning-style windows, while the basement windows are double-paned awning-style windows. Many sashes are missing, and the sashes on the first floor were replaced with six-over-six windows.

Each entrance bay features groupings of three somewhat narrow window openings on each upper floor above a wide arched doorway opening. The widths of the opening were determined by an existing grouping of windows on the second floor of the northern entrance bay. The window openings contain one-over-one windows under single-pane transoms; the third-floor windows share projecting limestone sills. Two concrete steps with stone side walls lead to the entrances. Originally, these entrances bore double doors under fanlight-style transom windows. The transoms are now covered by plywood and the original doors replaced by shorter, newer ones. The center section is divided into three window bays. The center openings carry paired windows while the outer bays carry wider windows. All windows are two-over-two under single-pane transoms. A projecting limestone sill runs continuously under the third floor openings. The two-pane awning-style basement windows make use of a light well and are taller than those of the wings. The wall is slightly recessed between the outer piers above the second floor; brick roundels accentuate the piers at the attic story. The piers are topped by stepped terra cotta caps with now-missing lion heads in the centers. In the center of the gable with a limestone sill is a half-round window opening that originally contained a fanlight-style window. Centered above this window is an ornate cast iron turnbuckle.

The symmetrical south elevation, designed entirely by Ittner, consists of seven bays. The foundation is of cut limestone, and the belt course and cornice on the front elevation wrap this elevation and run its full width. The terra cotta cornice has sustained significant damage. In the entablature between cornices, brick roundels mark the ends of each bay section. In the center bay on the first floor above three concrete steps is a doorway bearing two replacement doors; above the doorway is a transom window covered by plywood. Side walls project from the foundation on each side of the steps. There is a brickwork surround that forms a cornice above the entrance. High on the wall, narrow window openings flank the entrance; both windows are boarded. Above the entrance on each floor are paired windows flanked by tall, narrow windows placed higher on the wall. These and the spandrel between are recessed from the wall plane. The windows in all of these openings were originally one-over-one, but some have been inconsistently replaced. An attic window opening with a missing sash is centered on this bay. On each side of the center bay is the same arrangement of three bays. On the basement level, the windows are bricked in. On the first floor are openings bearing two-over-two windows under transoms. On the second and third floors, the outer bays are the same as on the first floor while the center bays and spandrels are recessed with paired windows in the openings. These were originally two-over-two windows under transoms, but some have been replaced with various other window types. Attic window openings that are missing their sashes, are centered on these bays. Windows that are not situated along the belt course that forms the second-floor sill line have limestone sills.

The asymmetrical north elevation consists of seven bays grouped in three sections. The leftmost (east) section, reconstructed during Ittner's expansion, is articulated exactly like the side sections on the south elevation. The center section consists of groups of two window openings (each with a limestone sill) on each floor over bricked-in basement window openings; these are segmental arch openings on the first two floors and jack arch openings on the third. These windows are four-over-four, except for the leftmost (east) window on the second floor that was altered to accommodate a vent. The rightmost (west) section of the elevation shows a marked contrast from the rest of the elevation due to Ittner's incorporation of the older school building. The boundary between the two buildings can be seen where the newer cut stone foundation ends and a rubble stone foundation begins. Likewise, the newer limestone belt course ends and one of original red sandstone continues, and the window openings are three panes smaller. The first two stories of this section as well as those on the west wall are the only portions of the building that appear as they did before Ittner's expansion program began. The first-floor window openings have segmental arches with sandstone sills, while the second-floor openings have jack arches with the belt course forming their sills. The openings contain the four-over-four windows original to this section of the school. On the third floor are three widows with jack arches and four-over-four windows (except for the rightmost window, which has a nine-over-nine replacement window). A triple-pane awning-style attic window is centered in this bay section. Each window bay on this elevation includes a basement window; all of these windows are filled with brick. The brick and terra cotta cornices extend the width of this elevation; the terra cotta cornice is damaged. In the entablature between cornices, brick roundels mark the ends of each bay section.

The asymmetrical rear elevation is divided into five sections. The leftmost (north) section is divided into three bays, with segmental arch windows on the first floor and jack-arch windows on the second and third. There are typical basement and attic windows in each bay; the basement windows are filled with brick. Ornamental turnbuckles are centered under and above the second-floor window openings. The sandstone belt course wraps the width of this section along with the cornices; roundels flank the attic windows. Three turnbuckles between the second and third floors mark the original cornice line of Arlington School. To the right of this section, there is a wide first-floor doorway to the right of a narrow window high on the wall. A rowlock course runs across the wall near the top. Above the first floor, the wall is deeply recessed. There are groups of two windows marking the two staircase landings in this bay. An attic window is centered in this section above.

To the left (north) of the center section is a tall smokestack that gives the appearance of a tower with a pavilion roof. On all four sides of the top are round-arch windows with exaggerated brick voussoirs under a stepped brick cornice. Limestone-capped projecting piers run up from the foundation to the top of the second floor on each side of the symmetrical center section; these wrap the corners. The wall below the third floor here was retained from the older school building as previously mentioned. The first floor features a projecting wing described below; above that are two paired windows on each floor centered under segmental-arch attic windows. Between the attic windows is a large brick roundel and on the outer sides are large brick squares. Projecting courses maintain the lines of the cornices that wrap the other sections of the building. To the right (south) of this section is another entrance that is a mirror of the other one on this elevation; above here the wall is recessed with fenestration similar to the other entrance section. To the right (south) of the entrance is the projecting end of the south wing, with a three-bay articulation identical to that on its other (east) side.

Centered on the rear elevation is a one-story kindergarten wing, a hallmark of Ittner's early H-plan designs. The wing was extended further to the west by Rockwell Milligan in 1925 by building over a below-grade coal storage room that was also part of Ittner's design. The rubble stone foundation is topped by a cut stone course. On the side elevations, four window openings bear paired windows under transoms. The windows are nine-over-nine wooden double-hung windows; the transoms are covered by plywood. A rowlock course runs continuously across the wing at the height of the window tops. Each opening has a rowlock sill course. The rear elevation features three tall, narrow windows centered on the wall. These openings bear single nine-over-nine windows under transoms. The foundation wall is high here because the alley runs below the level of the schoolyard; there are two openings placed irregularly here.

Each floor is based upon an H-shaped corridor plan with a similar room arrangement. Cast iron stairs are located on each of the western heads of the "H." The southern stairs are cantilevered from the walls with space between the staircases. The northern stairs have the cases adjacent to each other to provide space for a wire-enclosed wardrobe to one side. On the first floor, the entrances on the east elevation lead into vestibules where steps rise to center doorways flanked by sidelights. These doorways lead to the hardwood-covered corridors. Plaster arches separate the north-south corridors from the east-west corridors on all three levels.

On each floor, classrooms are located in each corner and on each side of the center of the "H." On the first floor, the classroom on the west side was originally the aforementioned kindergarten wing that projected from the building. This room was later enlarged, but retains the original closet near the entrance from the corridor. Another later change to Ittner's plan is that originally there were wardrobe areas at the end of each corridor on all three levels at the north side and on the upper two levels at the south side. These have since been converted into classrooms with the addition of partitions of wooden framing and drywall. On the upper two levels of the east side, above the first-floor vestibules, rooms between the classrooms are original. Toward the south end, these were originally lavatories for the teachers; toward the north end, on the second floor the room was the principal's office and on the third it was the library.

Throughout each floor, wooden millwork forms baseboards, window and door casements and chair rails. The millwork is restrained, with plain blocks at corners on the door and window casements. Most of the millwork is still intact. Although many are broken or separated from the walls, blackboards remain in the classrooms. The doors have mostly been replaced with newer wooden doors. No original lighting fixtures remain. A 1925 fireproofing plan led to the removal and replacement of all ceilings; the vaulted plaster ceilings in place now may not reflect the original appearance of the rooms but are consistent with the overall historic style. In general, the interior reflects its historic appearance despite deterioration and some ceiling collapses wrought by water damage.

The basement level also features an H-shaped plan; playrooms are located in the northeast and southeast corners, with latrines in the northwest and southwest corners. A large boiler room is located in the middle of the west side, with the fan room in the middle of the east side. Walls are painted limestone and floors are concrete throughout.

North of Arlington School is a "portable school" building built in 1961. The wood-framed building is one story with a flat roof. Classrooms have external entrances on the east elevation, with windows on the east and west elevations; many are boarded. The north and south elevations are blind. The building is clad in weatherboard painted white.