Abandoned school in New York


Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York
Date added: August 03, 2023 Categories:
East elevation (1998)

The Kibler High School was built in 1925-27 to serve a growing school-age population. The Classical Revival school remained a prominent part of the community's public educational system until its closure in 1983. Designed by the prominent Buffalo architecture firm of Edward B. Green and Sons, Kibler High School is typical of schools from the period. It is a fine example of standardized school design of the early twentieth century. Its large symmetrical massing is enhanced by handsome classically inspired details including a rusticated ground floor; central entrance pavilion with pilasters and pediment; an elaborately decorated cupola; and red tile hip roofs.

The early history of this western New York community is linked with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 which brought growth and prosperity to the settlement. Tonawanda was officially incorporated as a village on January 7th, 1854. In 1903 Tonawanda changed its status from a village to a city.

Thanks to the Erie Canal and the natural harbor facilities along the Niagara River, the lumber business became one of Tonawanda's key industries. Tonawanda and its neighbor, North Tonawanda, were jointly known as "The Lumber City" and were briefly the largest lumber supply center in the world. Timber from the forests of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Canada were shipped to the Tonawandas.

The transition from lumber to other industries occurred gradually. The location of the city in the heart of the thriving Niagara Frontier was in Tonawanda's favor. Raw materials and principal markets were right next door. In the twentieth century Tonawanda had become one of the principal industrial centers of the region, manufacturing such items as office equipment, paints, roofing products, laminated products, steel bars and fences, chains, paper boxes, abrasives, foundry and machine tool products, and plastics.

During the early twentieth century, the city grew as more skilled laborers and their families moved here. The growing school population in the booming community created a demand for new schools.

William J. Kibler, president of the Board of Education at that time, played a key role in promoting a new high school for Tonawanda. The Tonawanda School Board made a resolution in 1924 to purchase land and build a new high school because the Clinton Street School, used then as both a grammar and high school, could no longer accommodate the growing school population. The new high school was named in Kibler's honor.

The Tonawanda School Board began their search for architects for the proposed new high school early in 1924. Letters of interest were received from E. B. Green and Sons, Albert Hart Hopkins, F. J. and W. A. Kidd, all of Buffalo; W.W. Meyers of Erie, PA; and Tooker and Marsh of New York City.

The School Board made the decision to commission E. B. Green and Sons, then Buffalo's leading architectural firms, for the project. In Edward B. Green's letter to the School Board of May 15th, 1924 he wrote of his interest in the project and his firm's relevant project experience with school buildings including the Nichols School Building and power plant, the Buffalo South Park High School, some grade schools in Buffalo, buildings at Cornell University including Bailey Hall, the Home Economics Building, and the Veterinary College Building. Green added that "we have an organization which comprises architects, structural engineers, heating and plumbing engineers, and we believe are competent to take care of any large work".

Before construction began on the high school the former New York Central Railroad embankment, which bisected the site, had to be removed as did two frame houses facing Main Street. The fill excavated from the embankment was used to regrade the site. The houses were sold to Anthony Hahn and moved from the site in the spring of 1925.

The cornerstone for the new school building was laid at a dedication ceremony on June 26th, 1925. Placed behind the cornerstone was a box with various items including a bible, a copy of the Daily News from June 25th, 1925, the History of the Niagara Frontier, coins, a pamphlet entitled "The Tonawandas the Place to Live," and other memorabilia.

The general contractor for the new school was Braas Bros. Company of Niagara Falls. Other contractors who worked on Kibler High School included Moore-Thomas, Inc. of Buffalo for plumbing; Burrows Electric Company of Buffalo; R. J. Moran, Heating Contractor; Buffalo Electrical Company; and Willow View Nursery and Greenhouses.

In addition, many other companies served as suppliers and installers including the Lover Top and Convertor Co., Inc. of Buffalo for curtains, mirrors, and other fixtures in the shower stalls; the Italian Mosaic and Marble Company of Buffalo for marble curbs in the showers; the Eugene Dietzgen Co., Inc of New York City for mechanical drafting equipment; the Durand Steel Locker Co.; the Scientific Equipment Company of New York City for furnishings in the science laboratories and art department; the Narragansett Machine Company of Providence, Rhode Island for gym equipment; and the Palmer Lumber Company for wood bookcases.

The completed school was dedicated at a formal ceremony on December 10th, 1926 with over 1,000 people in attendance. William J. Kibler spoke proudly of the new $650,000 building as a notable achievement for Tonawanda. He continued his address with an explanation of how critical the need was for a new high school:
It must also be understood that since about 1897, the time of the erection of the Clinton Street School, up to 1922, no money whatever was expended for new schools. Since 1922 the Highland Avenue School was built, also the Niagara Street and Delaware Street schools, and now, our new high school, at a cost of about one million in four years."

When the school opened its doors in 1927 the building accommodated 800 students and contained eighteen classrooms, seven vocational rooms, two administration rooms, an auditorium, a gymnasium and pool, a library, a lunchroom, two study halls, and four laboratories.

A study of the original floor plans of the school provides information on the original uses of the rooms. The ground floor of the main block housed classrooms for home economics and shop classes including a carpentry shop, paint shop, machine shop, auto mechanicals shop, electrical shop, mechanical drawing room, sewing room, and a domestic science room with kitchen and dining room. Located on the first floor of the rear block were the gymnasium, locker rooms, lavatories, and the boiler house and coal room.

The first floor featured different-sized classrooms that accommodated classes of up to 15, 25, and 40 students. The biology classrooms and conservatory were at the south end of the first floor while a large study room that could accommodate up to 138 students was at the far north end. A ticket office was located south of the lobby and administrative offices were north of the lobby.

The second floor also had classrooms of varying sizes like the floor below. At the south end of the corridor were physics and chemistry labs while at the north end was a large study room. At the center point of the main block at the front of the building was the library.

Across the hall is the 953-seat auditorium. The cafeteria and kitchen were located behind the stage area to the west. While many students lived in the neighborhood and walked home for lunch, still many others stayed for lunch at the school cafeteria. In 1927 the cafeteria served an average of about 250 meals a day. A well-balanced meal cost 25 cents in 1927.

From 1927 up to the mid-1950s the building was used exclusively as a high school. From the mid-1950s up until 1960 it housed both the junior and senior high and operated on a split session. After that it was used solely as a junior high. The school closed its doors in 1983.

Building Description

The former Kibler High School is located on a three-acre parcel at the southwest corner of Main and Minerva Streets in the city of Tonawanda, Erie County, New York. Built in 1925-27 to the design of noted Buffalo architect E. B. Green, the building is situated in a densely built residential neighborhood. The school is larger in scale and set back farther from the street than other buildings in the area. In front of the school to the east is a broad lawn with scattered deciduous trees. Opposite the school on the east side of Main Street are early twentieth-century houses, a playing field with bleachers, and a ca. 1960 public library. The concrete base of the former flagpole is located on the lawn northeast of the building. North of the school is a triangular-shaped lawn. Opposite the school on Minerva Street is the 1954 brick Masonic Temple and several early-twentieth-century residences. At the rear of the school is a driveway that leads to a parking lot to the southwest with abandoned tennis courts nearby. West of the school parcel is an early-twentieth-century residential neighborhood with many Bungalow, American Foursquare, and Colonial Revival-style houses. A driveway runs along the south side of the school. On the adjacent parcel to the south is a two-story ca. 1960 building which was originally built as an addition to the school and formerly attached to it by a connecting link. The link was removed and the building was renovated into apartments.

Constructed in the mid-1920s, the Classical Revival style school is notable as an intact example of standardized school design of the period. Kibler High School is a three-story structure with a concrete foundation, cut limestone base, beige brick walls laid in running bond, and stone trim. Classically inspired details and design elements include the hierarchical and symmetrical facade, central pedimented pavilion with full-height Corinthian order pilasters, stone and brick rustication, and round arch niches. Fenestration is repetitive throughout the building. The original three-over-three double-hung wood windows of the classrooms have been replaced with shorter sliding track aluminum windows with solid infill panels above.

One of the primary character-defining features of the school is the red clay tile hipped roof with a copper cheneau ornament above a stone cornice. The portions of the roof that are flat are of composition roofing. The center of the roof at the main block is crowned by an elaborate cupola. The cupola has a square base with rusticated stone quoins, louvers at each face, and a stone balustrade with paneled pedestals. Above this is another square block with louvers and classical urns. The top of the cupola features an octagonal domed lantern with half-round multi-light windows at each face.

The building is essentially T-shaped in plan, consisting of a long main classroom block at the front and a rear block housing the auditorium, gymnasium, and pool. Alterations and additions were made to the school in the late 1950s and 1960s. Additions include two one-story flat-roofed brick extensions at the rear (west) of the main block near the south end; a two-story flat-roofed extension above the former conservatory at the southwest corner of main block; and a large L-plan three-story flat-roofed brick addition at the northwest corner of the main block forming an open court between the new and old portions of the school.

The Main Street facade of the main block is a five-part composition with a projecting pedimented central entrance pavilion, flanking thirteen-bay-long set back classroom blocks, and end blocks with blank walls. "KIBLER HIGH SCHOOL 1925" is carved in the cornerstone at the front southeast corner of the building. The pavilion is divided into three bays by full-height pilasters with elaborate carved stone Corinthian order capitals. Stone steps lead to the three main entrances at the first floor. Iron balustrades with ornamental scroll and circular motifs are intact at the top of the steps at each side. The original pairs of exterior multi-light wood doors have been replaced with aluminum frame doors. These entrances retain their original wood fanlights above. The wall around and above the entrances features rusticated stone and delicate swag panels of stone.

At the second story, above the main entrance, the former multi-light steel casement windows of the library have been replaced with modern aluminum windows with infill panels above. The wide stone entablature of the pediment now has the name "JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL" incised in stone; originally this featured the name "KIBLER HIGH SCHOOL." In the center of tympanum is a clock which was added sometime prior to 1948.

The long classroom blocks of the Main Street facade are divided into bays by rusticated brick pilasters at the ground floor and two-story brick pilasters above with simple stone capitals and an entablature. The east facade and side elevations of the main block are enlivened by herringbone-patterned brickwork between the first and second-floor windows. Secondary entrances are located at the midpoint of the classroom blocks at the ground floor. These entrances retain the original molded stone surround and are crowned by stone scrolls and a stone plaque with "ENTER TO LEARN, LEAVE TO SERVE" carved in stone.

Typical of early-twentieth-century school design the end blocks are unfenestrated. These blocks are articulated by recessed brick niches with rustication and a roundel motif. Each niche has a rusticated stone enframement with an elaborate carved scroll above the arch. The north and south elevations of the main classroom block are twelve bays wide. Like the front of the building, these elevations also have a limestone base, belt course, and cornice; two-story brick pilasters; repetitive fenestration; and herringbone-patterned brickwork. While the north elevation is largely intact, the south elevation has been altered at the three center bays where window openings have been bricked in and a doorway inserted. This doorway opened to the former connecting link to the ca. 1960 south addition (now part of a separate parcel).

The three-story flat-roofed portion of the rear block houses the gymnasium on the ground and first floors with the auditorium on the second floor. Attached to the north and south sides are two-story flat-roofed sections that house locker rooms. The three tall window openings at the north and south elevations of the auditorium feature horizontal pivot-type steel sash with decorative recessed brick arches above.

Extending from the rear of the gymnasium/auditorium section is a three-story hipped roof block that houses locker rooms and showers on the ground floor, a pool on the first floor, and formerly a cafeteria and kitchen on the second floor. This block is six bays deep at the south elevation by seven bays wide at the west (rear) elevation with a rusticated brick base, a stone belt course and cornice, and evenly spaced window openings. Glass block windows are intact at the west elevation of the pool. Attached at the south end of this pool block is a one-story flat-roofed boiler house with an octagonal brick chimney to the south.

The addition of the 1956 three-story flat-roofed brick wing at the northwest corner of the building resulted in a courtyard between the original construction and the new. The addition is six bays wide along the Minerva Street elevation with large window openings featuring groups of three steel hopper windows. The addition was designed by Pfohl and Stoll, Architects and Engineers of Buffalo.

Although some alterations have been made to the school's interior, it largely retains the original floor plan as well as many historic features and materials. The plan and design of the school shows the architect's interest in a hierarchical progression of spaces. The more public spaces such as the lobby and auditorium display the highest levels of detail and design. The plan is organized around the different functions of the school with classrooms, administrative offices, and library in the main block and the gymnasium, auditorium and pool in the rear block. The choice of interior finishes was largely dictated by the need for durable surfaces. Intact materials and features include walls and ceilings of plaster over wire lath, terrazzo floors and base (in corridors and stairwells), concrete floors (at the ground floor and in auditorium), and wood trim at doors. The original wood flooring, baseboards, chair rails and blackboards have been removed from classrooms.

The main entrance to the building opens to a vestibule on the first floor. Three pairs of multi-light wood French doors with wood fanlights lead from the vestibule to the main lobby. The east wall of the lobby is articulated by pilasters and recessed arches around the door openings. The lobby retains plaster beams and a cornice molding at the ceiling and hanging lantern-style light fixtures. The lobby steps lead up to the main corridor. Of note in this area is the ceiling with its groin vaults and the wood trophy cases. The main corridor beyond the lobby area has a segmental barrel-vaulted ceiling. Built-in metal lockers line the corridors. The main corridor connects with the corridor of the 1956 addition at the north end of the building.

The primary circulation pattern of the main classroom block is organized around the central corridor and the two stairwells which are west of the corridor, to the north and south of the gymnasium/auditorium block. The stairs are of metal construction with terrazzo treads featuring an intricate latticework design. Traces of original wall stenciling are visible on the plaster wainscot at the stairwells. This stenciling consists of a repeating diamond-shaped pattern.

The rear wing houses the gymnasium on the ground floor. Balconies located at the first floor overlook the gymnasium at the east and west ends. Locker rooms are located to the north and south sides of the gymnasium. Stairs lead down to the "plunge room" (pool area) west of the gymnasium.

Like the first floor, the second floor plan of the main block has a long north-south central corridor with classrooms on either side. The library is conveniently situated at the center point of the second floor, east of the corridor. Across the hall from the library are four doorways that open to the auditorium. The auditorium is the most impressive space in the school due to its large size (approximately 82'-6" x 70'-6") and classical detailing. The auditorium is a tall space large steel windows on the north and south walls. The concrete floor slopes downward toward the raised stage. The original folding wood and metal seats are intact between the two outer aisles and two inner aisles. These seats have the letter "K" for Kibler imprinted on the metal ends along the aisles. Doorways with large round-arched multi-light wood windows above are located on the west wall flanking the stage. These windows are ornamented with a plaster wreath, ribbon and swag motif. The ceiling plan features intersecting beams finished in plaster. The original suspended light fixtures with half glass domes are intact. The classical detailing of the stage includes full-height Corinthian order pilasters and wood paneling.

Architect Edward Broadhead Green, Sr.

Kibler High School is a distinctive example of the work of architect Edward Broadhead Green, Sr. (1855-1950). Green is perhaps the most significant architect to play a role in shaping the built environment of Buffalo during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During his 65-year career, he was responsible for numerous civic and commercial buildings as well as residential designs. He had a prolific career, designing over 370 buildings. Of this number approximately 250 were built in Buffalo and roughly 160 of them are still standing.

Green received his architecture degree from Cornell University in 1878. He opened an architectural practice with William Sydney Wicks in Auburn, New York in 1880. In 1881 the firm of Green and Wicks moved to Buffalo. This became the leading architectural firm in the Buffalo area at the turn of the century. Many of Green and Wicks clients were Buffalo's business and industrial leaders. The firm designed a number of mansions on Delaware Avenue and on other fashionable streets in Buffalo.

After Wick's retirement, the firm of Edward B. Green and Sons was founded in 1917. This firm practiced until the death of Edward B. Green, Jr. in 1933. The firm changed to the name of Green and James in 1936 and Green, James and Meadows in 1945. E. B. Green Sr. died in 1950 at the age of 94.

Green, like many American architects of his generation, was trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition. He was well-versed in the classical orders. One of Green's most important achievements was the Albright Art Gallery (1900-1905) which he modeled after the Erectheum on the Acropolis in Athens. It has been recognized as one of the most outstanding examples of neoclassical architecture in the United States.

Green designed buildings in a variety of historical based styles including Tudor Revival, Neoclassical, Colonial Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Romanesque Revival. Examples of civic and commercial designs by Green include the Buffalo Athletic Club, Memorial Auditorium, First Presbyterian Church, Buffalo Savings Bank, Marine Trust Building, the Erie County Jail, and the Market Arcade. Representative residential designs by Green include the picturesque English Cottage rowhouses on Mayfair Lane, the French Regency style Charles W. Goodyear Mansion on Delaware Avenue, the Tudor style Clement House, also on Delaware, the former Tudor-style John J. Albright Mansion on West Ferry Street, and the former A. Conger Goodyear House at the corner of Penhurst Park and Penhurst Place.

Green brought to the Kibler High School project his extensive experience in institutional and educational design including the gymnasium at St. Margaret's School for Girls (1893), 564 Franklin Street; St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum (1898) at Ellicott and Riley streets; Albright Hall (1916), Mitchell Hall (1923) and the gymnasium (1909) at the Nichols School, 1250 Amherst Street; Canisius College (1913), 2001 Main Street; South Park High School (ca. 1914), 155 Southside Parkway. After Kibler High School was completed Green went on to design several buildings for the Main Street Campus of the University of Buffalo including Beck Hall (1930), Crosby Hall (1930), Norton Hall (1930), Lockwood Library (1930), Hayes Hall (1935), and Clark Memorial Gymnasium (1937).

In 1938 Green received the Chancellor's Medal of the University of Buffalo, the highest award that can be bestowed upon a Buffalonian. In that citation, Chancellor Capen called Green an "artist and master builder," and lauded his "long career of distinguished service to the most public of the arts," saying "in the course of which you have incalculably enriched the city of your residence and dignified Buffalo in the eyes of the world" (Buffalo Evening News, 13 February 1950).

Kibler High School is clearly a product of its time. It is a representative example of a building type that had evolved to meet the changing role of education in the early decades of the twentieth century. In this sense, it is important to understand the trends in education prior to that time. Standardized school design is a result of changes in education that began in the late nineteenth century and continued to accelerate after the turn of the century. Historically, one of the dominant trends in educational programming and curricular development of the late nineteenth century came as a result of the large influx of immigrants and the increasing industrialization and urbanization of the country. The focus of secondary schools shifted away from the study of classics and the graduation of a select number of scholars to the preparation of all children to enter the workforce, and equally important, inculcation of the American values of citizenship and democracy. By the turn of the century, this change had dramatically influenced school buildings in two ways: the inclusion of single-purpose rooms (laboratories, manual arts and domestic science rooms, assembly halls, and gymnasium) and the expanded use of the school building during non-school hours. The transformation of the school system was beginning, leading architects to a new way of designing schools that would meet the demands of the public.

By the time Green designed Kibler High School, school design had become highly standardized. Classroom sizes, circulation patterns and fenestration were essentially fixed and architects had to work within a framework that predetermined many physical factors of educational buildings. The plan, appearance, and materials of new school buildings were becoming standardized by legislative mandates, authoritative articles in professional journals, and the public's expectations. As a result, schools were architecturally conservative, practical and economical buildings.

New York State enacted its first law governing school design in 1904 and amended it in 1910. By this period, new ideas about health and safety led architects to introduce certain features into the design of schools that affected the plan, use and appearance of the buildings. A number of solutions to the problems of fire safety, heating, ventilation and lighting had been standardized in practice and were used by architects across the country. Application of these health and safety standards resulted in a remarkably uniform product, the standardized school. This is not to say that all schools built after 1910 looked alike or that architects had no choices in their design, but that many share common features, which result from the standardization that took place during these years.

One of the most recognizable features of the standardized type school demonstrated by the design of Kibler High School is the repetitive fenestration and the large areas of blank wall at the end bays. This fenestration is remarkably uniform from school to school and results from the application of a formula calculated to ensure that all children in a classroom would have adequate light at their desks without undue glare or harsh shadows falling on their work. It was considered best for light to come from one side only and fall over the left shoulder.

By 1910 an almost universally accepted rule had evolved which specified that there should be a ratio of 1/4 to 1/5 window to floor area, that windows should come to within six inches of the twelve-and-one-half to thirteen-foot ceilings and that sills should be three to three-and-one-half feet from the floor. The formula was not as arbitrary as it might seem since the height and area of windows was predicated upon a standard classroom for 45 students with a width of twenty-four to twenty-six feet and a length of twenty-nine to thirty feet. The maximum width dimension was in turn based on the calculation that for there to be adequate light for the row of fixed seats farthest from the window, the room should be no wider than twice the distance from the floor to the top of the window. In addition, children in the last row of seats should be close enough to the blackboard at the front of the room to be able to read letters one-and-one-half inches high, a distance set at twenty-nine to thirty feet.

Kibler High School generally adheres to these standards with respect to the room dimensions. The standard classroom width at Kibler was 22' which did not exceed the prescribed maximum width. The distances between the blackboards and the back of the room at Kibler ranges from a minimum of 17' in the smaller classrooms to a maximum of 30' in the larger classrooms.

If repetitive fenestration is a familiar feature of the standardized school type, the blank wall is another recognizable element that resulted from the concern for proper lighting. Since bilateral lighting was to be avoided, classrooms on the corners of the building presented a particular problem. Initially, architects were uncomfortable with interrupting the pattern with a large unfenestrated wall and so they incorporated blank windows to maintain visual balance. By the time Kibler High School was built, however, the practice of incorporating the necessary blank wall into the overall design was well established and Green used ornamentation including rustication and niches to visually tie this area into the overall composition.

Lighting requirements also affected the plan of the standardized school. Since the classroom unit must have one long exterior wall for windows, the question in larger schools was how to arrange the rooms to accomplish this. The most frequently used solutions were the H and E plans, which allow maximum external wall area, although the modified I-shaped plan of Kibler's main classroom block was common as well.

Kibler High School also shares some other features of plan and mass with the standardized school type. Concern for fire safety, spurred by several disastrous school fires, had led to abandonment of the central stairwell. Instead stairs were separate from one another with straight runs and landings for easy egress. The materials used in Kibler High School show the architect's concern for fire safety. These include a clay tile roof, steel trusses in the attic, walls of brick and hollow clay tile, a concrete ceiling over the second floor corridor, concrete floors on the ground floor, boiler room, and in the auditorium.

Green's design approach is in keeping with contemporary practice in that he accepts certain "givens" of the program (fenestration, room dimensions, plan characteristics,) and works within these limitations to produce his design. Popular styles for school buildings from the period included the Tudor Revival, Classical Revival, and Georgian Revival.

Green's design for Kibler High School is a representative example of the Classical Revival style. Classical elements used in the design of the school include the symmetrically balanced facade with pedimented entrance pavilion, brick and stone rustication, Corinthian order pilasters, stone cornice, round-arched niches, and swag motifs. An unusual design feature, atypical of the Classical Revival, is the use of herringbone-patterned brickwork. The impressive cupola is Georgian Revival in inspiration. Classical ornamentation on the interior of the building is reserved for the main public spaces of the building: the lobby and the auditorium. The lobby is notable for the plaster cornice and beams of its ceiling and the fanlights above the multi-light French doors. The auditorium is the most elaborate space in the building with its beamed ceiling, round-arched windows with classical wreath motif, and stage with full-height Corinthian order pilaster.

The revival of interest in classical-inspired architecture can be traced to the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, which espoused grand architecture in the classical spirit. The Beaux Arts style was exuberant in its ornamentation. The later stage of this tradition was the Classical Revival, which represented a more refined and "quiet" approach to design. The symmetry, hierarchy, and use of classical elements to bring order to the design complement the logical plan and practical requirements of the standardized school.

Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York East and north elevations (1998)
East and north elevations (1998)

Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York East elevation (1998)
East elevation (1998)

Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York South elevation (1998)
South elevation (1998)

Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York Second floor Auditorium (1998)
Second floor Auditorium (1998)

Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York Second floor, typical classroom (1998)
Second floor, typical classroom (1998)

Kibler High School, Tonawanda New York Second floor hallway (1998)
Second floor hallway (1998)