Gratiot School, St. Louis Missouri

History of Gratiot School

Gratiot School, located at 1615 Hampton Avenue, St. Louis City, Missouri, was constructed in 1882 to replace the older Cheltenham School, which was originally located approximately ¼ mile to the northwest on what is today the 1300 block of Graham Street.

The building is an example of early school house design in St. Louis and illustrates the manner in which the St. Louis Public School Board constructed small, but easily expandable schools in areas of the city that were still developing and poised for growth. These smaller schools that were constructed in rural contexts were usually replaced, or in some cases completely absorbed into larger buildings as surrounding neighborhoods matured and population grew. The early schools that predate the building boom of architect William Ittner's tenure with the St. Louis Public Schools in the 1890s and 1910s that remain with their original designs essentially intact are rare survivals. The school, constructed in 1882, is one of only two surviving schools (out of sixty that once existed) designed by master architect H. William Kirchner. While the school was expanded with wings designed by Ittner and possibly Rockwell Milligan (in 1899 and 1919), Kirchner's original school house forms the central block of the building and his design still defines the character of the composition. Not only is Gratiot a rare example of Kirchner's school designs, it is a rare example of his work in general. Having designed prominent buildings in St. Louis, Columbia, Missouri; Denver; and around New Mexico individually and as the senior partner in the firm Kirchner & Kirchner, only four of his works (including Gratiot) are known to survive nationally.

Gratiot School is named for Charles Gratiot, the owner of the original land grant that encompassed the present school location. Born in Switzerland to parents of French extraction, Gratiot served in the early years of the American Revolution and came to St. Louis in 1780. Through his marriage to Victoria Chouteau, he secured a bond to St. Louis' founding family whose influence in the politics and economy of the town cannot be overstated. It is therefore not surprising that Gratiot's 1785 petition for a large tract of land outside the town limits was granted and later confirmed by both the Spanish and American authorities. Gratiot's grant, known as the "Gratiot League Square" in the archaic syntax of the time, encompassed an area three miles by three miles in size (otherwise known as a "square league"). North line-approximately the center line of Forest Park on an east-west axis

Another early landowner in the area was William Sublette who envisioned a spa retreat centered around the springs of sulphur-laden water that surfaced on the wooded hillsides along the River des Peres. The river, long ago contained by engineers for flood control purposes, once flowed through the valley to the south of the present school where today industrial activities and railroad tracks define the landscape. As early as the 1830s, Sublette constructed a home and guest cottages on his property in the vicinity of his springs. Around 1850, the resort was leased to William Wible, who renamed it "Cheltenham" after the famous spa by that name in Gloucestershire, England. While the spa was only operated under the name Cheltenham briefly, the name became permanently associated with the area.

Cheltenham remained largely rural in character well into the latter third of the 19^th Century, although the arrival of the Pacific Rail Road (later the MO Pacific) in 1852 and the discovery nearby of commodities such as coal and high grade clays suitable for a wide range of brick and terra cotta products spurred industrial development (and the end of the spa). The arrival of the rail road initiated the first significant round of land subdivision in the area and greatly facilitated the establishment of industry. In 1853, subdivisions known as "Cheltenham" and "Cheltenham Place" were created further associating the vicinity with the name (though significant settlement remained decades away), and by 1855 two brick factories had opened.

The 1875 Pictorial St. Louis map provides a glimpse into the appearance of the area less than a decade before Gratiot School was built and at the time when the City was poised to annex the land. The map shows the school site as a vacant tract. Diagonally across Manchester Road and the Pacific Rail Road tracks to the southeast from the future school site was the Cheltenham railway station. Across Billon Avenue to the east, which today is the ramp leading from the Hampton viaduct to Manchester Avenue (the present school still faces this alignment) at a location which today is probably under the Hampton viaduct, were the Gittens and Cheltenham hotels. To the southeast and southwest of the school site, spread out along the valley, could already be found the presence of major industrial operations including Cheltenham Fire Brick, St. Louis Smelting and Refining, Laclede Fire Brick, Pacific Fire Clay, and Mitchells Fire Brick. With industry expanding rapidly in the area, the residential population was primed for growth although residences remained few and far between. There was however a rural school in operation as the map notes the presence of a two-room building to the northwest of the present school site identified simply as "District School Number 3."

The inclusion of the Cheltenham area within the limits of St. Louis City in 1876 meant that as the population grew, the resources of the St. Louis Public School System would be made available and, when necessary, this small rural school would be replaced with one designed according to standardized district specifications by a professional architect.

Founded in the 1830s, the SLPS system grew rapidly throughout the mid 19^th Century, though its most dramatic expansion occurred as the century began to draw to a close. The 1870s were a particularly challenging decade as the School Board had to contend with mass immigration to the city and the effects of a large expansion of the geographical city limits. Between 1870 and 1879, the student population of the district doubled and the year ended with 104 school houses (either purpose built, or rooms leased for the purpose) with a capacity of 47,270 seats. Since 1870 (the earliest records that survive) the SLPS had contracted with four different architects who each essentially remained on retainer for consecutive terms of between two and three years although they were allowed to take on work from outside clients. The year 1879 marked the third year of architect Thomas J. Furlong's association with the schools and in 1880, twenty seven year old H. W. Kirchner took over. Among the pressing tasks for Kirchner to accomplish were a series of expansions of existing schools and the construction of new schools in areas of the city that had been annexed four years earlier. The mandate to draw up plans for Gratiot, which was originally intended to be called Cheltenham, stemmed from the latter.

In the Report of the Board of Public Schools for the period 1880-1881, President Frederick Newton Judson addressed the need for schools in areas such as Cheltenham, writing: "[T]he city has a widely-extended area, some portions thinly settled, and school facilities of rural or suburban character are required in a large section." He continued by noting that a site for a new school had recently been purchased. Bids for work on the new school at Cheltenham, which would be renamed Gratiot just prior to opening, were let on March 10^th, 1882."

Early School Design

Designed by Kirchner, the building adhered to the school board's requirement for an easily expanded, standardized floor plan. Faced with a situation in which schools were becoming overcrowded within a very few years of their construction, President Judson wrote that he was "in favor of erecting our school buildings so that additions can be made to them from time to time, as occasion might require." Buildings were to have four rooms per floor connected by a central hall and would ideally be three stories tall although presumably due to low population density, a two story plan was approved for Gratiot. The school also complied with an earlier design mandate that called for separate interior stairways for boys and girls leading to separate playgrounds. This segregation of the sexes had been implemented years earlier, apparently because the Board had learned that it reduced the need for corporal punishment. A historic image of Gratiot taken shortly after it was completed illustrates the two original entries, which were converted into window bays when the subsequent additions were built. It also shows the fence that divided the school yard into girls and boys play grounds. The playgrounds were situated on the south, west, and north sides of the school. Detached privies were located on the east side of the property, although they were filled and replaced with more modern indoor facilities by William Ittner during his 1899 renovation and expansion.

Kirchner designed a handsome school house with a raised limestone basement, red brick walls, unusual windows with lights of various sizes arranged in a geometric pattern, and a facade that stepped back twice before arriving at a pair of stair halls with recessed entries on both the north and south ends of the building. The cornice line was ornamented with brick corbelling and the facade featured sill courses of smooth faced limestone and variably recessed brick. Centered at the roofline were a terra cotta pediment and a terra cotta sign reading "Gratiot"; the false pyramidal roof itself was capped with a cupola that supported both a school bell and weather vane (plans show these were removed by Ittner in 1899). The aforementioned historic image shows a large agricultural field to the west of the building as well as a handful of frame farmhouses and the modest spire of St. James the Greater Catholic Church in the distance. At the time, the school would have been one of the largest and most formal institutional buildings in the Cheltenham area and provided a clear indication that the small settlement was now part of the City of St. Louis.

While St. Louis has a wealth of beautiful school buildings, mostly designed by the world-renowned architect William B. Ittner, who served as the architect for the SLPS between 1897 and 1914, very few buildings that predate his tenure survive. The oldest of the "pre-Ittner" school houses is the original Lyon School, which dates to 1868 and is a part of the campus of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. To date, the architect of this building remains unknown. The only other SLPS buildings that are older than Gratiot are three designed by architect Frederick Raeder: Des Peres School (1873), Carondelet School (1871), Irving School (1871) and the Adams School which was presumably designed by Edmund Jungenfeld or Thomas Furlong in 1878. H.W. Kirchner's other extant school, Blair, was also constructed in 1882, the same year as Gratiot.

The surviving early school houses in St. Louis are two or three stories in height. They are universally constructed of local red brick and originally had four rooms per floor connected by a central hall. While the buildings are essentially rectangular in plan, their primary facades frequently have a projecting central section that either contains a door or, like Gratiot, is flanked by doors. The central section usually has a pediment and dentil cornice. As historian Ni Ni Harris notes, the early schools, or "school houses" as they were known were utilitarian, but they were also dignified and intended to be monuments to learning.

Henry William Kirchner was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1853 and came to St. Louis as a boy. He studied architecture in the office of George Ingram Barnett before entering practice on his own c. 1877. Kirchner served as architect for the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) for two, non-consecutive terms from 1880 until 1883 and again from 1885 until 1889. Unlike in later years when this was a full time position, as it was under William Ittner, Kirchner was free to accept outside work. The same year he designed Gratiot (1882), the prominent building he designed for the St. Louis Cotton Exchange was completed (demolished 1940). In 1885, also while working for the SLPS, he designed major additions to Academic Hall at the University of Missouri, Columbia, which would tragically burn just seven years later. In 1884, Kirchner was one of the six organizers of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and served as its first secretary. In 1889, Kirchner began a partnership with his brother A.H. Kirchner. Known as Kirchner & Kirchner, the firm was the recipient of many prominent commissions, primarily for commercial buildings in St. Louis and in western cities such as Denver, Las Vegas and Santa Fe. In St. Louis, their only known surviving commercial building is the Balmer & Weber Music House. In Denver, Kirchner & Kirchner designed the Colorado Mining Stock Exchange Building. Regarded by some as Denver's finest Richardsonian Romanesque building, the stock exchange was torn down in 1967. The firm also designed courthouses for Santa Fe and Mora, New Mexico (demolished), as well as an insane asylum (demolished) and City Hall (extant) in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

While Kirchner has been credited with designing sixty schools in St. Louis during his career, it appears that with just one exception they have all been demolished or so thoroughly incorporated into later expanded school designs as to no longer be recognizable as distinct buildings or associated with him today. Aside from Gratiot, the former Blair School at 2707 Rauschenbach Avenue is the only remaining example of an H.W. Kirchner school. In contrast with Gratiot, which was originally constructed in a rapidly industrializing, but still largely rural area, Blair School was built in a prominent neighborhood adjacent to St. Louis Place Park. The higher population density and a much more urban context in the vicinity of Blair dictated a substantially larger building. The central block of Blair reflects Kirchner's interpretation of SLPS instructions that called for "twelve room buildings, three stories in height, having four rooms to the floor, and each one placed in a corner so as to get light from four large windows." This basic plan was intended to be easily expanded through the use of flanking wings, features that were eventually added to both Blair and Gratiot as the student population grew.

Despite the presence of flanking wings on Gratiot, the form, scale, and design of Kirchner's original school still remains the focus of the composition. The school is interesting because, while it was expanded, it wasn't expanded so drastically as to completely alter its character as happened with many other schools. It is interesting to note that Ittner actually submitted two options for expanding Gratiot in 1899. The one that was accepted and implemented in two building episodes (1899 and 1919) involved the addition of wings that matched the original building in scale, materials, and the use of modest ornamentation. In contrast, his alternate proposal would have completely subsumed the original school by essentially constructing a larger building around the existing building.

A good example of an early rural school that was utterly absorbed by an Ittner expansion in the late 1890s can be found in Arlington School at 1617 Burd Avenue on the city's north side. Originally constructed by architect Thomas Furlong in 1880 as a four room, two story building much like Gratiot, the original school is no longer visible at all. The fact that Gratiot never underwent such a drastic enlargement is probably due to the fact that the population grew so rapidly in the surrounding area in the early 20^th Century that the SLPS opted to construct entirely new schools to accommodate the student population rather than completely reorganize the existing facility. In 1917, Rockwell Milligan designed Dewey Elementary School at 6747 Clayton Road (eight tenths of a mile northwest of Gratiot) and in 1919 he designed Roe Elementary School at 1921 Prather Avenue (eight tenths of a mile west). That same year, Gratiot's south wing was added, but never again was the school building significantly changed although WPA workers were responsible for school yard improvements. These included the concrete retaining walls and probably the limestone slab paving on the sloped ground that surrounds the east and south portions of the school yard. There is some question about the WPA attribution for the latter as they are not present in a 1930's era photograph.

Gratiot School Later History

Gratiot operated as an elementary school until 1976. According to the longtime archivist of the SLPS, Sharon Dolan, it operated from 1976 until 1993 as an alternate high school for pregnant high school students before being used as the SLPS archives and student record center until 2010.

In 2015, the building was sold to developer Garcia Development Corp. It was converted into apartments, 20 one-bedroom, 4 two-bedroom, and 1 studio unit.

See inside the historic rehab of Gratiot School (June 30^th, 2017)

Description of Gratiot School Building

Gratiot School is located at 1615 Hampton Avenue in the independent city of St. Louis, Missouri. The building was originally constructed as a rural schoolhouse in a recently annexed area at the fringe of St. Louis City in 1882. One of only two surviving schools and one of only three surviving buildings in St. Louis designed by Henry William (H. W.) Kirchner, the building is both a rare example of the city's early school designs as well as a rare surviving work of a master architect. While the building was expanded in 1899 and 1919 with matching north and south wings, Kirchner's original building was designed to accommodate additions. Adhering to early school board design requirements that anticipated the need for the expansion of small rural schools as surrounding neighborhoods developed, Gratiot School in its current form, embodies the culmination of what proved to be prescient policy on behalf of the St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) during a period of rapid growth. The vast majority of surviving SLPS buildings were designed by world renowned architect William B. Ittner and his successor Rockwell Milligan, who worked exclusively for the school district during the booming decades at the turn of the 20^th Century. While most of Ittner and Milligan's designs were for large new schools to serve urban neighborhoods, Gratiot is different because it evolved with its surrounding neighborhood, growing as intended by the SLPS Board as the surrounding land urbanized.

The school is situated in the 24^th Ward in the Clayton/Tamm Neighborhood in the west, central portion of the City. The surrounding area to the north and west of the building is primarily residential neighborhoods dating to the early part of the 20^th Century. To the east and south of the building the land is mostly used for light industrial purposes. Geographically, the school is situated on the bluff line of the River des Peres drainage which slopes down gradually from north to south across the site. Hampton Avenue, a major north-south artery that replaced Billon Avenue (which the school originally fronted), runs parallel to the eastern property line of the school. Manchester Avenue, a major east-west artery dating to at least the early decades of the 19^th Century, runs parallel to the south property line of the school. West Billon Avenue runs parallel to the west property line. Lloyd Avenue runs parallel to the north property line. The school property is surrounded by a chain link fence. The school is surrounded by playground space covered with asphalt. The school yard slopes down to sidewalks on the east and south sides of the yard and is paved with limestone slabs that are not original to the school, but may date to some minor improvements that were carried out by the Works Progress Administration.

The east elevation is eleven bays wide. The two-story building has red brick masonry bearing walls laid in common bond resting on a raised, split-faced random ashlar limestone basement. The center section of the building is the original 1882 schoolhouse designed by H. William Kirchner. It is seven bays wide and has a smooth faced limestone sill course on both the first and second floors that forms the sills of the window bays. All window bays have segmental arches. The original building has three distinct wall planes that step back from east to west.

The central projecting section is three bays wide. At the raised basement level there are two rectangular window openings that have been partially bricked in. Both openings contain non-original single fixed lights. The first floor of the central section has three bays containing nine-over-nine, double hung sash windows which are not original, but may be historic. The second floor also has three bays containing the original custom double hung windows with multiple lights arranged in a geometric pattern. Also present on the Blair School (H. W. Kirchner's only other surviving school building), these windows appear to be a hallmark of the architects SLPS design work. The window arches on the first and second floor are connected by a string course of alternately recessed soldier bricks. Centered at the roofline is a false dormer with a terra cotta pediment. The dormer contains a blind window bay in which is set a limestone panel upon which the word "Gratiot" appears in relief. There is a simple corbelled cornice and historic copper flashing, guttering downspouts and ornate scuppers are intact. The roof is flat with pyramidal sides. The sloped sections are covered with gray asphalt shingles. The pitch of the roof was somewhat reduced from its original appearance in 1899 by William Ittner. At that time as well, the original cupola (which contained a school bell) was also removed.

On either side of the central section of the original building the wall plane steps back to the west. This first recessed wall plane contains a single window bay on the first floor and a single window bay on the second floor. All window bays have segmental arches and sills formed by a smooth faced limestone sill course. The window bays on the second floor are both bricked in. The window bays on the first floor contain non-original (possibly historic), nine-over-nine, double-hung sash windows. The windows are made of wood. The raised basement level contains two entryways in flat, soldier-arched bays. The entries contain historic wooden six panel doors. There is a corbelled brick cornice and historic copper guttering at the roofline.

The wall plane of the central section steps back once more to the west. Each side of this second recessed section also contains a single bay on the first and second floors. The first floor bays of this section were originally the doors to the original school, but both were modified to their current form by William Ittner in 1899. The first floor bay on the northern section of the central block still contains an entry, but the bay has been reduced in size and converted from a segmental arch to a jack arched opening containing a transom with four lights and a pair of steel security doors. On the second floor there is a segmental arched window opening with a sill formed by a sill course of smooth faced limestone. The window is a nine-over-nine, double hung sash that is not original, but may be historic. The first floor bay on the southern section of the central block contains a jack arched window opening with a nine-over-nine, double-hung sash window that once again is not original, but may be historic. The second floor contains a segmental arched window opening with a sill formed by a sill course of smooth faced limestone. The window is a nine-over-nine, double hung sash that is not original, but may be historic. The roofline of both the north and south sections of the central block continue the aforementioned corbelled cornice and historic copper guttering and flashing.

The north and south wings of the east elevation are identical in form although they were constructed at two different times. Both wings were probably designed in concept by William B. Ittner c. 1899 although the plans for the southern addition bear Rockwell Milligan's name. The northern wing was constructed in 1899 under Ittner's direction. The southern wing was constructed in 1919 under the direction of Ittner's successor Rockwell Milligan. Both red brick wings have a flat roof with a shaped parapet and are resting on raised basements constructed of split-faced limestone laid in a random ashlar pattern. The wings are two bays wide. Each has two rectangular window openings at the level of the raised basement. Both wings have a pair of jack arched window bays with limestone lug sills on the first and second floor. Both wings have a simple shaped parapet with terra cotta coping. With the exception of the basement windows, which contain non-original sash, the window bays on the north wing have all been blinded with brick masonry. In the south wing, the window bays in the raised basement and on the first floor have historic six-over-six, double hung sash. The window bays on the second floor of the south wing have been blinded with brick masonry.

The south wing is differentiated from the north wing by a simple terra cotta detail of a torch executed in relief on a rectangular vertical panel that is centered on the parapet wall. Both wings have an elliptical motif executed in terra cotta centered at the top of the shaped parapet.

The north elevation is ten bays wide, two stories high, and constructed of the same red brick and ashlar limestone as the rest of the building. All window bays are paired and have flat, rowlock arches and smooth faced limestone lug sills. All windows appear to be historic, six-over-six, double-hung wooden sash. There are ten rectangular window bays at the level of the raised basement. Each basement window contains a historic one-by-one awning (or possibly fixed) sash. There is a simple shaped parapet with smooth faced limestone coping.

The central block of the west elevation is formed by the original schoolhouse. It is six bays wide. It is constructed of the same red brick and ashlar limestone as the rest of the building. All window bays have segmental arches and smooth faced limestone lug sills. There is simple brick corbelling at the cornice level and historic copper guttering, flashing, drainpipe and ornamental scuppers are intact. There are five bricked in rectangular window bays at the raised basement level; all have flat arches and limestone lug sills.

At the southern end of the raised basement level there is a small rectangular room that projects from the wall plane. This room has limestone walls and a flat roof and rises no higher on the building's raised foundation. It contains a single bricked in square window bay. The purpose of this structure is unclear, but it may have been built to enclose a basement entryway or coal delivery chute.

The central block of the west elevation steps back once to the east. On both the north and south sides of the central block, the recessed portion projects northward and southward respectively and contains a single window bay on the first and second floor. These bays on the second floor have segmental arches and limestone lug sills and contain historic nine-over-nine, double hung sash. These bays on the first floor have been modified to have a flat arch though both still have what appear to be historic, nine-over-nine, double-hung wooden sash. First floor entries in both the north and south sections have been enclosed with non-historic projecting frame housing and non-historic security doors.

The north and south facing elevations of the western portion of the central block each contain three window bays on the first floor, three window bays on the second floor and two window bays at the raised basement level. First floor window bays all have segmental arches and limestone lug sills; most contain historic nine-over-nine, double-hung wooden sash.

The north and south wings of the west elevation connect to the original building via these recessed sections. The wall planes of the wings are flush with the wall planes of the original building. The wall planes abut each other rather than having been "toothed" together. The original building and the historic additions can be differentiated by the vertical butt joint running the height of the building and by a slight difference in the color and texture of their respective bricks.

The north wing of the west elevation is two bays wide. On both the first and second floors there are two window bays with flat, rowlock arches and smooth faced limestone lug stills. All bays contain historic, six-over-six, double hung sash. There are two rectangular window bays at the raised basement level each containing a one-by-one hopper (or possibly fixed) sash. There is a simple shaped parapet with smooth faced limestone coping.

The south wing of the west elevation is two bays wide. On both the first and second floors there are two window bays with flat, rowlock arches and smooth faced limestone lug stills. The second story window bays have been bricked in. The first floor window bays contain historic, six-over-six, double-hung sash. There are two rectangular window bays at the raised basement level each containing a historic six-over-six, double-hung sash. There is a simple shaped parapet with smooth faced limestone coping. Centered on the parapet is a limestone panel on which a torch has been carved in relief.

The south elevation was designed with more extensive fenestration than the north elevation in an effort to capture natural light and radiant energy. The slope of the grade on which the school sits also descends from north to south resulting in a higher raised basement level on this elevation. There are four window bays at the raised basement, first floor and second floor levels respectively. At either end of the elevation is a large rectangular bay with a flat soldier course arch and a continuous limestone lug sill. These bays contain a ribbon of five windows, but the configuration of lights and mullions are different on each of the three levels. Between these large bays is a smaller pair of window bays with flat arches and limestone lug sills.

The raised basement has a ribbon of five, six-over-six, double-hung sash windows in the large bays at either end of the elevation, and two, six-over-six, double hung sash windows centered between them. These windows appear to be historic.

The first floor has what was once a ribbon of five compound windows in the large bays at either end of the elevation and what appear to have been two, two-part casement windows (each of which was eight-by-eight lights) centered between them. The bays are intact, as are the mullions in the larger bays although the lights have largely been removed or blinded by what appear to be metal panels. The mullions indicate that the windows were once tripartite and probably consisted of a transom over an operative double hung sash. What remains today are blinded transoms, a two-over-two light central section (that appears to be fixed) and a blinded lower sash. Both central bays are blind although one has a central mullion suggesting the former presence of the aforementioned two-part casement window.

The third floor has a ribbon of six-over-nine, double hung sash windows in the large bays at either end of the elevation. The two central bays each contain a different window system. The easternmost of the two central bays contains a pair of eight-light casement windows that are likely original. The westernmost of the two central bays contains a six-over-six, double-hung sash that is likely not original. There is a simple shaped parapet with smooth faced limestone coping and a limestone detail of a torch executed in relief on a rectangular panel that is centered on the parapet wall.

The interior of the building is remarkably intact with original granitoid and hardwood flooring intact throughout. Classrooms, hallways, offices and restrooms retain their original configurations as well as original millwork surrounding doors and windows. In some cases this millwork can be quite ornate, as can original built-in cabinetry, shelving and blackboard surrounds. Built-in cabinetry and other historic woodwork are common throughout the classrooms as are historic paneled doors with transoms and coat closets with special ventilated doors. In the newest (south) wing original amber and green glazed brick wainscoting is intact. In a few cases, thin, non-original partition walls have been erected, but they are intentionally impermanent and do little more than symbolically subdivide space. In some areas, elaborate capitols support structural elements and original ceiling heights remain intact throughout as the school never had a drop ceiling installed.