This School Building in Saint Louis MO was Abandoned in 1993

Franklin School, St. Louis Missouri

Date added: December 29, 2023

Do you have an update on the current status of this structure? Please tell us about it in the comments below.

Franklin School building at 814 N. 19^th Street is a direct descendent of the original Franklin School in St. Louis; it also served the same general area. Named for American statesman and philosopher Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the first school to open with this name did so in 1857 at the corner of 17^th and Christy, just one block to the southeast. During renovations to this building in 1874, a temporary facility at 19^th and Christy (on an adjacent block) retained the name Franklin School. From 1876 until 1910, Franklin Elementary School returned to its original site; it moved in 1911 to the new facility at 814 N. 19^th Street. A change in Franklin's name occurred in 1923, with a shift to "Franklin Intermediate School for White Children," reflecting the building's new function within the District. In 1934, the Franklin name was retired, as "Booker T. Washington Vocational High School [for African-Americans]" became the building's new name, reflecting further rearrangements in the district. Booker T. Washington's (1856-1915) position as an African-American educator, former slave, and later founder of the nationally known Tuskegee Institute for Vocational Education made his name the logical choice for the vocational high school at 814 N. 19^th Street.

Franklin School is an example of the U-plan subtype established by William B. Ittner. The school is a reflection of master architect William B. Ittner's versatility, for Franklin School's plan deviates from the archetypical U-plan school in response to the space needs of the unique educational programs housed at Franklin. Franklin School is notably larger than the U-plan archetype, containing 24 classrooms rather than the typical 20. The increase in size was achieved with the inclusion of a one-story shop wing at the back of the building, which houses four large classrooms for manual training. An additional feature that increases Franklin's size is the two-story auditorium located between the flanking wings of the U. Built to seat 1,213, the auditorium is significant as only the second Ittner-designed auditorium in an elementary school.

Ittner's integration of the auditorium with the flanking U wings is of particular interest. No hallway runs the entire width of the building on the basement level, which is divided into separate halves for boys and girls. On the ground level, the auditorium serves as the only connection between the halves, with doors on its north and south sides. As a two-story structure, the auditorium incorporates the west wall of the first floor hallway into its design as its east wall. Windows cut in this wall do not open to the outside; yet, in keeping with the U-plan's maximization of natural light with one-sided corridors, Ittner ingeniously ensures that light filters through these interior windows by incorporating skylights in the auditorium's roof.

Unlike in an archetypical Ittner U-plan school, Franklin School's kindergarten is not located in a separate one-story wing at the back, for the one-story shop wing fills the ground in this spot. The auditorium's location centered between the wings of the U also eliminated a possible site for a kindergarten wing (as in Carr School). For these reasons, Ittner placed the kindergarten within the primary classroom wing of the building, providing it with the building's only bay window.

Some of the 47 William B. Ittner-designed schools in St. Louis, Missouri include Edward Wyman, Rock Spring, Horace Mann, Eliot, Jackson, and Eugene Field, Sumner High School, Carr School, and Harris Teachers College.

The first Franklin School in St. Louis opened in 1857 at 17 Street and Christy Avenue. A grammar school and "two primary departments" originally filled the building designed for "nearly 1200 scholars." Franklin's design was such that an "intermediate department" and "another Grammar department" could be organized "as soon as the number of pupils [requires]." After one year open to students in lower grades, preparations were made for one room of the new building to be set aside for the Normal School, where prospective teachers underwent training for careers in the district.

A City building permit for the construction of a "4-story fire proof" school was issued to the Board of Education on July 20^th, 1909. The school building at 814 North 19^th Street was to be completed originally on August 15^th, 1910, but the School Board granted its contractor, E. C. Gerhard Building Company, an extension until January 9^th, 1911 for the completion of the $210,000.00 project. This date brought the transfer of pupils from the old building to the new with "no change in the number of teachers or in the number of rooms occupied."

The new Franklin School differed from the building it replaced in that it "provided extensive shop space for the purpose of offering … unusual opportunities for the training of boys and girls for whom the ordinary school program [did] not seem well fitted." On the first level at the back of the building, these shops were designed to be equipped with "appliances … [aiding] in arousing the interest and in discovering and developing the aptitudes" of the children for whom a vocational education was deemed most appropriate. Equipment provided in the boys' shop space included that for woodworking, metalworking, printing, and "devices for modern office practice." For girls, the equipment reflected different expectations in that the supplies provided were for the kitchen, laundry, sewing room, and bedroom; an additional course of study required "appliances for quick aid to the injured." A total of $5,050.00 was appropriated for the purchase and installation of this equipment to serve a maximum of twenty-four boys and twenty-four girls.

Shop space and vocational education alone were not unique at this time, the domestic science rooms of Sumner High served as models for the girls' shop rooms at Franklin School. The unique aspect of the Franklin program comes, however, from the fact that it represented the first local attempt by the School Board to integrate vocational programs into an elementary school setting. Of particular interest in the case of Franklin School was also the fact that it offered vocational education programs to white children at a time when this education was typically reserved for African Americans, who comprised the student body at Sumner High.

Franklin School's unique vocational spaces were officially recognized by the School Board in 1923 when they moved to "empty [the] building of many or all of the lower grades and to establish an intermediate school for the instruction of such children as may be assigned from schools in that part of town in need of the opportunities there afforded." In justifying this, the creation of Franklin Intermediate School for White Children, the School Board made specific mention of Franklin School's "excellent plant for the introduction of special opportunities for children of grades below the high school."

The Intermediate School remained at Franklin for slightly over a decade until, in 1934 the School Board began moving to create a vocational high school for African Americans that utilized the Franklin building. Carr Lane Elementary School, formerly for white children, became home of the City's first vocational school for African Americans in 1929. Soon afterward, it became overcrowded, necessitating a move elsewhere. Franklin School soon became the logical site for the relocation, for it was located within a block of Carr School, sharing the same neighborhood known for its majority African American population. Many concurrent factors, including the availability of Federal Depression-Era funds, the existence of pre-existing shop space at Franklin and the existing overcrowded conditions at Carr Lane propelled the School Board to approve the creation of Booker T. Washington Vocational School [for African Americans] in 1934.

A resolution was submitted to the Board of Education on January 9^th, 1934 by a board attorney, stating that "provision. ..in the general building program [(before consideration at the Federal Public Works Administration) be made] for the construction of a Vocational Training School for the colored youth of St. Louis." This was the first step in an expedited process to convert the Franklin building for use as a vocational school for African-Americans. The second step required the approval of a $2,000,000.00 bond issue by city voters to meet the School Board's obligations under their agreement with the federal government. Having successfully met the PWA's requirements for funding, the board on July 10^th, 1934 approved funds for the conversion of Franklin to Booker T. Washington Vocational High School.

Controversy regarding the board's decision is evident in the board minutes from this date. A statement from the St. Louis Real Estate Exchange protested the conversion, arguing that conversion as opposed to new construction was unacceptable under the board's funding agreement:

It is recommended that the correspondents be informed that the Board of Education in its efforts to keep expenditures as low as possible, instead of erecting new buildings is converting existing buildings, wherever possible, into other needed uses. The Franklin School Building as a school for the vocational instruction of colored students unavoidably falls within such category.

Under the PWA agreement, the construction of an "auto-shop addition" during the conversion was sufficient new construction to justify the Federal funding. With conditional PWA approval of the auto shop's design, the Board approved the conversion at the close of its meeting on July 10^th, 1934, acting in opposition to the Real Estate Exchange's protest." The conversion progressed and on June 11^th, 1936, Booker T. Washington Vocational School held its first graduating exercises.

The Eighty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Education (for the year ending June 30^th, 1936) explains the mission of the school district's vocational education programs: "building a well-trained worker who is an understanding citizen is the object of the school. Its courses are terminal in that they prepare for entrance into industry rather than for continuing education in college or university." In addition, the report describes at length significant features of vocational programs offered for both African-American and white students at this time; these features include their versatility (with courses for boys and girls between ages 14 and 21 during both the day and night), relevancy to real-world vocations (many courses were taught by successful workers from the respective vocations), and individual attention to students' needs (teachers were required to make accommodations for each student's differences).

Specific subjects addressed in the report are as follows:

The boys study the following subjects: Shop work, shop sketching and blueprint reading, industrial mathematics, industrial science, industrial relations, English, and health and recreation. The girls receive training in home problems including sewing and cooking, industrial science, design, industrial relations, mathematics, English, and health and recreation.

While it is suggested by the report that these courses were offered at all vocational high schools in the City, it cannot be stated conclusively that there were equal course offerings at Booker T. Washington Vocational High School and Hadley School, its white counterpart. Circumstantial evidence suggests an inequity in funding between the two schools, with Hadley receiving over $200,000.00 for Instructional Salaries to just over $35,000.00 for Booker T. Washington during the 1935-1936 Fiscal Year.

The United States Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. the Board of Education effectively ended speculation about the perceived inequities of segregated educational environments, such as the one at Booker T. Washington. To become compliant with the ruling, the School Board made recommendations at their June 22^nd, 1954 meeting to close both Booker T. Washington and Hadley Technical and move their students to a newly constructed O'Fallon Technical High School. The move is stated to have taken place on February 14^th, 1956, with the redistricting of the city to provide students for both O'Fallon and Hadley, which remained open after the reassignment of its students to O'Fallon.

After the building at 814 North 19^th Street was emptied of its students in 1956, the School Board voted to "reconvert" Booker T. Washington to Franklin Elementary School. S. P. Shakofsky Construction Company was awarded a contract to perform this work for their bid of $85,069.00 on May 14^th, 1957. By November 12^th, 1957, the work had been completed and Franklin was again occupied as an elementary school. Franklin remained an elementary school until 1980, when it became home to the Magnet Business, Management, and Financial Center until 1986. Franklin then became the home of the Magnet Center for Law, Management, and Public Policy. Closed in 1993, the school was replaced by the Continued Education High School (for pregnant students) for the 1994-1995 school year. For nearly ten years the building has remained vacant until plans for its conversion to apartments were developed.

Building Description

Franklin School, located at 814 N. 19^th Street in St. Louis, Missouri, is a four-level red brick school building with a raised basement, three floors of classrooms and ground floor shop wings at the rear. Completed in 1911, this Classical Revival-style building features a massive dentilled cornice below a flat roof, extensive quoins, and two primary elevation entrances with balustrades are framed by stone Roman Doric columns. Franklin School differs somewhat from the U-plan in that an auditorium fills the space between its two wings on the front; an original one-story shop wing on the back was included to provide space for a workshop; and a kindergarten was located in the main building, incorporating the school's only bay window. The exterior has suffered somewhat from vandalism, some windows are boarded. A small one-story auto shop was added in the rear in 1935.

Franklin School is located on the western half of City Block 944, which is bounded by Dr. Martin Luther King Drive (formerly Franklin Ave.) on the north, 18^th Street on the east, Delmar Blvd. (formerly Morgan) on the south, and 19^th Street on the west. The only building on the block, Franklin backs to an L-shaped alley that begins at Dr. Martin Luther King, stretches to the center of the block, angles at 90 degrees, and continues toward 18" Street. Franklin's site is roughly 213 feet north-south by 309 feet 3 inches east-west when including a portion of the alley. The eastern half of the block was not originally owned by the Board of Education, and at on time it was filled with various commercial and residential buildings (since demolished). An original wrought iron fence with brick posts surrounds the Franklin site on its north, west, and south sides. Behind the fence, landscaping is non-existent, for asphalt covers the ground between the fence and the building. The only formal green space contained on the site is an overgrown area in front of the auditorium (on the west).

Franklin School's primary elevation faces west toward 19^th Street. Main entrances are located on either side of a projecting, two-story auditorium situated at the center of the building. Rising above the auditorium on its north, east, and south sides is the U-shaped, four-story classroom portion of the building. The auditorium and classroom wings of the building are integrated cohesively through their shared Classical Revival elements.

Five bays form the auditorium's symmetrical 19^th Street facade. From north to south, the bays are as follows: a wall bay with quoins and limestone tablet inscribed "Franklin School;" an inset series of three two-story window bays with nine openings of nine-light windows each; and a wall bay with quoins and limestone tablet inscribed "Anno Domini MCMIX," the year it opened. Above the windows, a limestone stringcourse stretches the facade's entire width; this serves as an architrave for a blank brick frieze above. Resting atop the frieze is a limestone cornice, which functions as the foundation for a solid brick parapet (above the wall bays) and limestone balustrades (above the windows). The projecting north and south elevations of the auditorium each consist of one bay, with a set of double entry doors on the first floor topped by a transom and limestone keystone; on the second level, a pairing of 15-light casement windows (hinged at the center) sits below the architrave centered above the doors below.

On either side of the auditorium, mirroring two-bay classroom wings rise four-stories. (Only one is described here, for they are identical):

On the first level, the bay immediately adjacent to the auditorium contains a monumental limestone entryway. The three-bay entry is framed by Roman Doric columns and rusticated rectangular columns, which support a lintel and balustrades above. First-floor brickwork shares the rusticated pattern of the entry's rectangular columns, achieving this with rows of headers inset between every five rows of alternating headers and stretchers. The first level's second bay contains a pairing of six over six double hung windows topped by a flat arch of radiating brick voussoirs; above these, a raised limestone water table differentiates the first level from the second.

The next three levels of the building are distinct from the base below, for they do not incorporate the rusticated style of brickwork. Quoins on both the north and south sides of this wing clearly articulate these floors as the shaft of the facade's column motif. Immediately above the entryway on the second floor, two windows open behind the balustrades; each consists of paired nine over fifteen casements, with non-functioning top lights and casement bottom frames (hinged at the center). The second (outer) bay contains paired 15-light casements hinged at the center. On both the third and fourth levels, three paired 15-light casement windows are arranged as follows: one in the outer bay and two in the bay above the main entry. All windows on the second, third, and fourth levels have limestone keystones and radiating brick voussoirs.

A limestone architrave separates the three "shaft" floors from the cornice level above. Atop the architrave, a brick frieze level with circular limestone elements centered above each bay serves as a parapet for the building's adjacent flat roof. At the building's highest point, a block modillion copper cornice shines with an attractive patina.

Moving inward from the mirroring north and south wings of the U, the architrave, frieze, and cornice levels remain consistent with the above description. On either side of the mirroring wings, only the top two floors of windows are visible above the auditorium. (Only the north wing's south side is described here, for the south wing's north side is a mirror image):

Below the architrave, two bays are visible. The west bay contains two sets of the paired 15-light casement windows described earlier (along the west elevation of this wing). The east bay contains only one set of the paired 15-light casements, for a solid brick shaft fills the space between the north wing's south elevation and the center of the U-wing's west elevation. Keystones and radiating brick voussoirs sit atop each window, with the fourth level's keystones cropped short by the continuing architrave, frieze, and cornice from the west side of this wing.

Between the mirroring bays behind the auditorium, a lengthy corridor joins the north and south portions of the U. Windows in this portion are not easily visible from street level, as a result of the auditorium's prominence along the lower levels of the west elevation. Eight twelve over twelve double-hung windows fill the wall on both the third and fourth levels of this portion of the west facade. Although keystones and voussoirs are lacking above the double-hung windows, the architrave, frieze, and cornice continue along the top of this corridor, providing some ornamentation.

The north and south elevations are identical, with exceptions as noted. The north and south elevations follow the same pattern of composition as the west elevation. The base (the first level) of rusticated brickwork with deep grooves is separated from the shaft (the second through fourth levels) by a raised water table. (Brick quoins further differentiate the "shaft" from the base and cornice levels). The cornice level, beginning with an architrave above the fourth-floor windows' is a continuation of the west elevation's cornice. Copper downspouts extend from arched openings cut in the frieze to the ground on either side of this elevation's six bays.

The first level contains six pairs of six over six double-hung windows (now Bearded At the top of these windows, flat arches of radiating brick voussoirs sit beneath the raised water table. The second, third, and fourth levels each have six paired six over twelve double-hung windows; windows on the second and third levels are topped by limestone keystones and radiating brick voussoirs, while windows on the fourth level sit directly beneath the limestone architrave.

The south elevation differs from the north in that the second floor's two center window bays are filled by a bay window of five six over twelve double-hung windows; this wood bay window served as a cozy nook for the kindergarten originally housed inside.

A one-story wing extends eastward from the north and south elevations of the building's four-story portion. Immediately adjacent to the east downspout on the four-story elevation, a stone entryway frames double doors (topped by a multi-light transom) that open to the one-story wing. The limestone detailing consists of engaged rectangular columns (on either side of the doors) that are notched in the same pattern of rustication as the basement level's brickwork. Ionic scrolls sit atop the columns, supporting a half-arch that rises above the raised water table. At the center of this half arch, a circular element is cut, sitting above stone voussoirs.

On the south side of the building, the entry sits next to a setback wall of six boarded window openings. Between the entry door and this setback wall of the shop wing, a small boarded window faces east in the entry bay. The one-story wing blends nicely with the base of the building's four-story portion, for its brickwork continues the same pattern of rustication.

On the north side of the building, the entry sits adjacent to a one-story addition that projects from the one-story shop wing. Stretching toward Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, this addition's brickwork is patterned with the basement level's rustication. Facing west, this addition has three bays of three nine over nine double-hung windows and double doors at its center. The north side of this addition is adjacent to the sidewalk along Dr. Martin Luther King; on this side, the addition has a large garage bay (now bricked in) at its center. Window bays of three nine over nine double-hung windows sit on either side of the garage bay.

The rear, or east side, of the building combines the school building with a ground-level one-story shop wing with a 1935 auto shop addition. This elevation displays far less ornamentation than on the other elevations.

The one-story shop wing and 1935 auto shop addition is wider than the classroom portion of the school building, extending north to the sidewalk along Dr. Martin Luther King. From south to north, four saw tooth skylights rise above the flat roof, with glazing (now covered) on their north slants. Grouped two on either side of this wing's center portion, the skylights' east gables are made of brick and capped with limestone. Rear entrances to the building are located in door bays between each pair of skylights; additional openings are found at the center of the building, where metal doors provide access to the boiler room. Various entry doors and multi-light double-hung windows are cut across the back, with far less regularity than found on other elevations and upper portions of this elevation. A large metal smokestack (now painted white) rises from the roof from a point north of the building's exact center; behind this, a rectangular skylight rises from the center of the wing. The northernmost portion (the 1935 auto shop addition) has three large window bays (now boarded), as well as a smaller sawtooth skylight.

Although the portion of the building behind the one-story shop wing is four stories in height, only its top three floors are visible above. It is not completely symmetrical, yet its north and south bays are mirroring. (Only the south bays are described here):

Brick quoins are at the southernmost edge of the wall, adjacent to pairs of 15-light casement windows (hinged at the center), which are cut one in each of the three visible floors. Above the limestone keystone and radiating brick voussoirs of the window on the fourth floor, the limestone architrave, brick frieze and copper cornice continue from the south elevation. To the north of this window and wall bay, a projecting stair bay with large multi-light windows is also topped with the cornice.

Three large bays fill the space between the projecting south and north stair bays. On each floor, these large bays contain three pairs of six over twelve double-hung windows with a small 10-light casement (hinged at the center) adjacent to the north. The limestone architrave, frieze (parapet) and cornice do not sit atop this section, instead replaced by a gutter that stretches between the stair towers.

Many of Franklin School's interior features remain intact, despite vandalism and water damage. Most importantly, the overall 1909 interior plan remains fully in place. The remaining original features in this part of the building include fixed seating on the balcony levels of the auditorium, hanging light fixtures in hallways, and oak handrails along the stairwells. Sadly, built-in shelving is missing from many classrooms and fixed seating is no longer on the ground floor of the auditorium. Overall, however, the majority of classrooms retain their original appearances, which are unmarred by dropped ceilings or partition walls. Windows between the auditorium and first-floor hallway remain in place, covered by paint or walls on both sides; additionally, auditorium skylights remain intact below roofing material on their exterior sides. A thorough cleaning out of Franklin's interior will do much to return the building to its original appearance.