Vacant Elementary School in Cleveland

Watterson School, Cleveland Ohio

Date added: October 05, 2023 Categories:

Ohio
School

Front or north elevation, looking southwest (1990)

The Watterson School, built in 1906-07, forms a classic five-part facade with an orientation toward the corner of Detroit Avenue and West 74^th Street. The entrance section is given unusual prominence through its form and architectural detailing. First, there is a broad terrace in front of the building executed in red brick with buff glazed terra cotta trim. There are three sets of doors instead of one and the centermost entrance is recessed in a treatment reminiscent of a Romanesque cathedral, with tympanum and a series of staggered recessed arches. A bracketed pediment above the main entrance recalls the Italianate styling of earlier Cleveland schools, except that the detailing here is terra cotta, not wood. The second-floor areas above the main entrance and on each of the end pavilions are given an enriched treatment through the use of blind arcading formed by a series of terra cotta arches.

The typical Cleveland school of this era was a blocky rectangular mass with a brick exterior accented by a minimum of stone trim. Watterson, Doan, and Memorial are the only three Cleveland elementary schools from this turn-of-the-century era to use classically-inspired detailing to such an extent. Watterson is the only one of these three that uses contrasting dark red brick with buff glazed terra cotta. The other two have similar buff-colored brick for a monochromatic effect.

While many Cleveland schools from this period share similar or identical floor plans even though their exterior treatments may vary, Watterson has a plan that is unique among Cleveland school buildings. Its L-shaped plan emphasizes the building's placement on a busy street corner, Detroit Avenue being one of the major arteries from Cleveland's downtown. Most Cleveland public schools were situated on residential streets for reasons of cost and safety. The shape of the building results in the main entrance being placed at a 45-degree angle to the street corner, embracing a park-like front lawn filled with shrubbery and shade trees. This shape also results in a grand entrance vestibule with a series of arched openings leading to a highly unusual octagonal two-story auditorium space set in the crux of the "L". The auditorium features its main entrance opposite the front doorway with a stage at its opposing end. The auditorium also features a central skylight.

The L-shaped floor plan also results in unusual triangular stairways formed from the angled spaces where the auditorium meets the classroom wings. No other Cleveland public school has this type of stairway, which was feasible only because of the small size of Watterson School; larger schools would have needed larger and more conventional stairways. Another striking interior feature is the curved hallway on the second floor. Instead of angling around the ell, the hallway sweeps from one end of the building to the other in a single unbroken gentle curve.

Doan School, dating from 1904, was Cleveland's first architecturally significant fireproof elementary school building. Like all elementary schools from this era, it was designed by Frank S. Barnum, Cleveland school architect from 1895-1917. Barnum's earlier mill construction buildings were broad rectangular buildings that featured overhanging eaves and massive hipped roofs punctuated by elaborate gables. Often these third or fourth-floor spaces contained large auditorium rooms. Concern for fire safety led to the abandonment of this plan by 1904. Two other Barnum elementary schools from this era, Fruitland and Hodge, both erected in 1904, resemble the earlier mill buildings except that they are missing the larger hipped roofs because of their avoidance of the wood framing necessary to economically create such features. In Doan, Barnum first developed the formula of a classically-inspired five-part facade and the abundant use of terra cotta details to create a sense of monumentality lacking in schools such as Hodge and Fruitland. Watterson, dating from 1907, was a refinement of the Doan concept, using contrasting brick and stone and further developing the classical five-part elevation to have the main entrance placed at a 45-degree angle.

Watterson is significant in the transition to fireproof construction because of its treatment of the auditorium space. Mill construction elementary schools placed these large assembly spaces in the attic formed by the hipped roofs as trusses could be employed to create vast open spaces and there was not the requirement for large windows, which classrooms demanded. However, auditoriums on the third floor were a fire safety hazard due to accessibility. Doan School placed this facility in the basement, not an attractive location due to height constraints and the need for frequent column supports for the upper floors. Watterson was Barnum's first and only use of an octagonal auditorium placed on the first floor in the center of the building. Barnum's Memorial School, erected in 1910 has a large first-floor auditorium of a more conventional rectangular shape.

Frank Barnum (1851-1927) had a successful practice with the firm of Coburn & Barnum from 1878-1897, and he continued to design commercial blocks such as the Caston Building during his tenure as Cleveland school architect from 1895-1917. Barnum designed 75 schools from Cleveland, only 31 of which still stand. Of his elementary schools, only Doan and Memorial School approach Watterson in monumentality. Watterson Elementary School was illustrated in the 1911 issue of Ohio Architect and Builder, presumably because of its impressive architecture.

In a statement to the Cleveland Board of Education on June 19^th, 1900, Superintendent Lewis Jones spoke of the "grave necessity for a larger building on the Watterson Street property." He stated that "the Board now owns a 6-room frame building on this lot. It should be replaced by an 8-12 room building of substantial character."

The school site was part of an undeveloped 10-acre tract on the south side of Detroit Road in 1881, which was owned by Jane E. Jones. At this time, Detroit was lined by a series of widely spaced residences and small farms. By 1898 the site had been subdivided, but only one house had been erected near the school. Watterson School is contemporary with the houses and commercial buildings along Detroit Avenue. In 1969 houses south of the school were demolished to make way for a massive addition, known as Watterson-Lake Elementary School. This addition took the place of Lake Elementary School, a nearby small-frame school. This older frame school was also designed by Barnum and has since been demolished.

When the new addition opened, both portions of Watterson-Lake were used for school purposes. The second floor of the 1907 portion was closed in the early 1980s, and a few years later, the entire older portion of the school was abandoned. Since that time, only the 1969 section has functioned as a school.

Building Description

This is a two-story building set on a raised basement, located at the corner of residential and major commercial streets in an inner-city Cleveland neighborhood. It stands on a lot that gently rises to the south and embraces a park-like front lawn accented by trees and shrubbery. A grove of catalpa trees are located on the northwest corner of the lot.

Across the street on West 74^th are some turn-of-the-century houses and across the street on Detroit Avenue are some contemporary automobile-oriented commercial establishments. Adjacent to the school on the west is an early 20th-century commercial building. South of the main school building and connected to it via a stair tower is a large contemporary two-story school building, which faces onto West 74^th Street.

Watterson School has a distinctive L-shaped plan with its main entrance set on a diagonal at the inner angle of the "L". The building measures about 110 feet along each of the symmetrical legs of the "L" and each wing is about forty feet wide. The building has a red brick exterior, which is dark in color and mottled with darker bluish blotches. A broad band of smooth-cut sandstone forms a water table at the base of the first floor. The building also features buff-colored glazed terra cotta banding between the first and second floors and at the parapet and around the windows and the main entrance. Windows are of a variety of sizes but are basically rectangular double-hung four-over-four wood sash. Generally, windows have tall slender proportions and are grouped in rows. Projecting end bays on the inner face of each leg of the "L" are finished without windows and display brick and terra cotta banding.

The main entrance section is the principal decorative feature of the exterior. It is set on a diagonal and features a broad terrace framed by a massive brick and stone balustrade. The first floor of the entrance section projects forward with elaborate bracketed terra cotta coping, which forms a pediment over the central entrance. It is flanked by narrow windows and two arched side entrances with broad glazed transoms matching that of the main entrance. On the second floor, the rectangular windows are accentuated by terra cotta arches and panels and are crowned by a massive central parapet. Windows on the second floor of the two end sections are given a similar arched effect through terra cotta trim.

The main entrance vestibule is accented in glazed buff brick and features a short flight of steps up to the main first-floor level. A series of five sets of inner doors lead to the first-floor hall. Opposite the main entrance is a large octagonal room measuring about fifty feet in diameter. This assembly hall has a tall ceiling and a small stage at its southwest corner. Sets of identical stairs are fill triangular spaces formed by the walls of the assembly hall and the corridor. These stairs lead to the second floor and basement and have simple steel railings and concrete and steel treads. Two classrooms are located along each of the hallways leading from each stair. Each classroom features a long narrow cloakroom at one end. The classrooms along each corridor have large borrowed light transoms along the walls facing the corridor. The plan is arranged so that the south and west walls of this building are perfectly plain party walls without any openings. A classroom on the northwest wing in recent years was partitioned into offices.

The second-floor plan is like that of the first, except that the hallway is elegantly curved. Two classrooms with triangular cloakrooms extend over the main entrance and two small rooms cap each side of the assembly hall. The building has ten classrooms on the two principal floors.

The raised basement has tall windows. Two rooms on each end of the basement may have been used as classrooms at one time. Large restrooms are located in the basement. The boiler room is directly under the assembly hall.

Watterson School is constructed with floor and roof systems of reinforced concrete. Wood floors in the classrooms rest on sleepers placed on the concrete. Hard plaster and simple woodwork constitute the wall finishes.