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tttittgtaw §t()flol ^rcbitccture. 
 
 A MANUAL 
 
 OF 
 
 DIRECTIONS AND PLANS 
 
 FOR 
 
 GRADING, LOCATING, CONSTRUCTING, HEATING, 
 VENTILATING AND FURNISHING 
 
 COMMON SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 THOMAS H. BURROWES, Editor. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY. 
 
 HARRISBURG: 
 
 PRINTED BY A. BOYD HAMILTON. 
 
 1855. 
 
Entered, according to an Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, by 
 THOMAS H. BURROWES, 
 in the Clerk's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 SECTION XLV OF THE COMMON SCHOOL LAW OF MAY 8, 1854, 
 
 “ The Superintendent of Common Schools shall be authorized to employ 
 “ a competent person or persons to submit and propose Plans and Drawings 
 “for a School House Architecture, for different Grades and Classes of 
 “School Buildings, that shall be adapted for furnishing good light and 
 “ healthful ventilation; and if such Plans and Drawings are approved by 
 “ the Superintendent of Common Schools, he is hereby directed to have 
 “them engraved and printed, with full Specifications and Estimates for 
 “building in accordance therewith; and shall furnish a copy of the same 
 “ to each School District,” 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r 7 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 To the Hon. Charles A. Black, Secretary of the Commonwealth 
 
 and Superintendent of the. Common Schools of Pennsylvania: 
 
 Sir During the conference with the Architects employed to prepare 
 the Plans directed by the preceding section of the Common School Law, 
 which took place in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth on 
 the 16th instant, and at which, by your invitation, I was present, certain 
 conclusions were arrived at on the subject, which I now beg leave to reca¬ 
 pitulate. These were: 
 
 1. That neither the wants of the Common School System, nor a fair 
 construction of the Law, would be satisfied by the mere publication of the 
 “ Plans” chen selected by you, accompanied only with the working “ Speci¬ 
 fications and Estimates,” to be prepared by the Architects ; but that a full 
 and methodical, though brief Treatise, on the Grading and Location, the 
 Lighting, Heating and Ventilation, and on the Furniture and Apparatus of 
 School Houses, was also requisite. 
 
 2. That this Treatise, with the Plans, Specifications and Estimates, 
 should take the form of a volume of not less than two nor more than three 
 hundred and fifty pages, with handsome Illustrations, well printed, on good 
 Paper, and neatly and durably bound. 
 
 3. That the Plans and Drawings should be prepared by Messrs. Sloan & 
 Stewart, Architects, of the city of Philadelphia, from whose collections of 
 Drawings you then selected a set for the work; and that they were to 
 have them properly Engraved, and also to furnish the <{ full Specifications 
 and Estimates for Building.” 
 
VI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 4. That the Treatise and Letter Press descriptions should be prepared 
 by the undersigned, who was also to superintend the passage of the work 
 through the press of the State Printer ;—the whole to be ready, if possible, 
 for delivery to the Districts by the first of May, 1855. 
 
 This work, if properly executed, will mark a new era, not merely in our 
 School House Architecture, but in the cultivation of the taste and of the 
 tiner feelings of our youth. It will also very materially affect so much 
 of their progress in learning as is retarded by the repulsiveness of the 
 present School Buildings, the discomforts of their Furniture, and the inade- 
 cpiacy of their Apparatus. Viewed in this broad light, there is scarcely 
 a single provision of the Act of 1854, Avhose proper and liberal fulfilment 
 will accomplish more good than the one in question. 
 
 In performance, of my part of this important task, it is proposed that the 
 book shall consist of the following Divisions or Chapters :— 
 
 I. On the general principles involved in the Grading of Schools, with 
 suggestions for their application. 
 
 II. On the selection of Sites for School Houses of the various grades. 
 
 III. On the Size, Form, Material and Interior arrangement of the 
 various grades of School Houses required in rural Districts, with Drawings, 
 Plans, Specifications and Estimates of each kind. 
 
 IV. The same, as to School Houses in Villages and small Towns, whether 
 separate or Union Schools. 
 
 V. The same, as to School Houses in larger Towns and Cities, both 
 graded and union. 
 
 VI. On Heating School Rooms of the different kinds, with plates of 
 Stoves, Furnaces, &c. 
 
 VII. On Lighting and Ventilating School Rooms, with plates and de¬ 
 scriptions of Ventilating Apparatus. 
 
 VIII. On School Room Furniture, with plates and directions for its 
 construction and arrangement. 
 
 IX. On School Apparatus, with plates and directions. 
 
 X. On the Repairing, Enlargement and Remodeling of old School 
 Houses. 
 
 XI. On the Size, Enclosure and Improvement of School Grounds. 
 
 XII. General Index. 
 
 These chapters will average about twelve pages of letter press description 
 each; some of course being longer, and some shorter. It is understood 
 that the Drawings, Plans, Specifications and Estimates, to be furnished by 
 the Architects, will occupy about one hundred and fifty pages. The whole 
 ■work will, therefore, make about three hundred pages. 
 
 My part of it shall be completed sometime within the month of March; 
 but, to hasten the progress of the work, the chapters can be placed in the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 /•A 
 
 VII 
 
 hands of the Printer as they are written ; —the first in a few days after 
 the proofs of the Wood Cuts shall be obtained from the Architects. 
 
 Should you approve of this outline, you will please attach your certificate 
 to that effect; in which case this document can be prefixed to the work, 
 both as an introduction and general table of contents. 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your Obedient Servant, 
 
 THO. H. BURROWES. 
 
 Lancaster, December 22, 1854. 
 
 Harrisburg, December 23, 1854. 
 
 To Thos. H. Burrowes, Esq.: 
 
 Dear Sir : — Your communication in reference to the proposed Plans 
 and Drawings for School Architecture, authorized by the recent Act of 
 Assembly to be prepared by the Superintendent of Common Schools, has 
 been received and examined. Your statement of the facts, and the con¬ 
 clusions arrived at by Mr. Dieffenbach, Deputy Superintendent, and myself, 
 at the interview you refer to, is entirely correct. In the selection of the 
 proper Plans, from the mass submitted to the examination of the Depart- 
 > ment, I was induced to call to my aid the advice and assistance of some 
 one more familiar than myself with the subject of School Architecture; 
 and the result so far satisfies me of the propriety of this course. 
 
 The plan of the work, as proposed by you, is, I believe, well considered 
 and admirably adapted to the purposes of th# law; and I very cheerfully 
 approve of the same. 
 
 Yours, Very Respectfully, 
 
 C. A. BLACK, 
 
 Superintendent of Common Schools. 
 
viii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Harrisburg, March 8, 1855, 
 
 To Thomas H. Burrowes, Esq.: 
 
 Dear Sir :—In compliance with j’our verbal request, I have, in con¬ 
 junction with Mr. IIickok, Deputy Superintendent, examined your proposed 
 plan for the execution of the work on School Architecture, contracted for 
 with my immediate predecessor, under the Act of 8th May, 1854 ; and 
 from its judicious arrangement and admirable fitness to the ends sought to 
 he accomplished, I cheerfully add an official certificate of the high estimate 
 I have formed of its intrinsic merits, and peculiar capabilities for perma¬ 
 nent usefulness. 
 
 I am, with great respect, 
 
 Your Obedient Servant, 
 
 A. G. CURTIN, 
 
 Secretary of the Commonwealth and 
 
 Superintendent of Common Schools , 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE 
 
 I. ON GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE GRADING OF SCHOOLS, WITH SOME SUGGES¬ 
 TIONS FOR THEIR APPLICATION. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 It scarcely needs to be stated that the selection of a suitable site for a 
 School House must precede the erection of the building. Hence, the prin¬ 
 ciples involved in proper location are to be considered, before the form, 
 size, or material of the house is determined. But there is a subject pre¬ 
 ceding, both in time and importance, even those of location and construction, 
 which has not heretofore received due attention :—this is the grade or kind 
 of School to be established. This question is, first of all, to be decided. 
 For, as the same site will be found no more suitable for every kind of 
 School, than the same place for all branches of every other business; so, 
 neither will the same size or form be proper for a School of every grade, any 
 more than it would for the carrying on of every branch in any other em¬ 
 ployment. The gradation of Schools and the location of School Houses, 
 therefore, naturally occupy the first chapters in a manual of this kind. 
 
 THE GRADING OF SCHOOLS LAWFUL. 
 
 Schools of different grades are not only in existence, or in progress of 
 establishment, under every well ordered system of Education, but the law 
 of this State evidently intends the classification of the Common Schools, 
 according to the wants of the youth to be instructed by their means. The 
 very section of the Common School Law of 1854 under which thflPmanual 
 has been prepared, speaks of “ different classes and grades of Schools 
 the sixth paragraph of the twenty-third section implies that the same 
 “ branches of learning” shall not be taught in every School; the ninth 
 paragraph of the same section expressly confers on Directors the power to 
 2 
 
10 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 establish “ Schools of different grades ;” the thirty-seventh section enjoins 
 it upon the proper County Superintendent to see, “ that each School shall 
 he equal to the grade for which it was establishedand the forty-first 
 authorizes the same officer to grant to Teachers, “ Certificates” of qualifi¬ 
 cation for other branches than those enumerated in the thirty-eighth section. 
 
 The lawfulness of Schools of various grades is therefore clear, and the 
 duty of classification obligatory, whenever the circumstances of the District 
 admit of this arrangement. The reason and necessity for carrying this 
 manifest design of the School System into as speedy and general operation 
 as possible, are equally evident and cogent. 
 
 REASONS FOE GRADING THE SCHOOLS. 
 
 The whole scope of the Common System demands the gradation of the 
 Schools. Without it they never can be complete or fully effective. They 
 have succeeded and were expressly designated to supersede, the Pauper 
 Schools. But if the Schools of the Free System be made to dole out, to all 
 who enter them, only the same scanty degree of knowledge which was 
 imparted in the Pauper Schools, the distinctive badge of pauperism will be 
 found but to have been removed from the persons of the few to the minds 
 of the many. “Poor” Scholars may be obliterated, as a class, from society, 
 but poor scholarship will be rendered general. This cannot have been the 
 design of the wise framers of the Common System. It is repugnant to 
 every principle of republicanism, progress and justice. In Prussia it is 
 said that every child is “ due to the School.” Here, it may be laid down 
 as one of our social principles, that, as the best services of all her children 
 are due to the State, so, it is the duty of the State to bring out, to their 
 fullest extent, all the talents and powers for good, of all her children. 
 A moment’s reflection will show, that this can only be done by such 
 arrangement of the Schools as shall enable each so to pursue knowledge, 
 as appropriately to develop all his higher and nobler powers and that this 
 arrangement is but another name for gradation. 
 
 Division, of labor — that great promoter of modern improvement — no 
 where applies more efficiently or productively than in the business of 
 instruction. Every person, conversant with the subject, is aware that, under 
 a proper system, a class of ten or even twenty Pupils, of similar attainment 
 and studies, may be heard to recite in the same length of time as a class of 
 two or Three, and each be made to derive an equal degree of benefit. From 
 this it rollows, that a School divided into two or three classes in each study, 
 may be made to derive a much larger degree of benefit in the same time, 
 than one composed of the same number of Pupils broken into ten or fifteen 
 classes. This desirable result can only be effected by the proper gradation 
 of the Schools, which is nothing more than that systematic division of labor 
 
ON GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 11 
 
 which assigns to the same School and the same Teacher, all Pupils of the 
 same or nearly the same class of attainments and studies; sending to their 
 appropriate higher or lower institutions, those engaged in other branches. 
 
 This arrangement will be found, wherever practicable, to be the most 
 economical mode that can be adopted for the improvement of the Schools. 
 It will cause a greater degree of progress to be made by each Pupil in the 
 same time, as well as enable a larger number to be properly instructed for 
 the same expenditure. Common justice will finally decide, when fullness 
 of supply shall permit fair competition, that, in teaching, as in every other 
 profession, its members must receive compensation in proportion to their 
 qualifications and services. When this shall generally be the case — and 
 already it is the rule in many Districts—the economy of graded Schools will 
 be plain. Thus : if there are only fifty Pupils studying Geography, Gram¬ 
 mar, History and Algebra, in a district with five Schools, and if these fifty 
 are scattered amongst all these Schools, it requires no argument to show 
 that five Teachers of the higher grade, both of salary and qualification, are 
 or ought to be paid to do what one might more readily accomplish. Nor is 
 the waste of money the most serious evil. The time and minds of all the 
 Pupils — both of the more and less advanced — in the mixed Schools, are 
 wasted : whereas, by the proper gradation of the Schools both these price¬ 
 less portions of the capital of life, now in the process of investment for 
 eternity, might be saved. 
 
 The existing scarcity of well qualified Teachers, forms another strong 
 reason for speedy classification. So long as there shall be found a few 
 Pupils studying the higher branches in every School, so long will the want 
 of more Teachers of the higher branches be felt; and this want will increase 
 and cramp the system, more and more. Every effort to improve the Schools 
 without grading them, will but increase the scarcity of Teachers of the 
 higher attainments, by causing an unreal demand for their services. This 
 state of things will also, and most unjustly, cause many worthy and com¬ 
 paratively successful Teachers of the lower branches to be decried, or to be 
 placed in the false position of being compelled to attempt instruction in 
 branches above their present attainments. The opening of two or three 
 of the Schools of each District, solely for Pupils in the higher branches, in 
 the care of properly qualified Teachers, would materially lessen both these 
 evils. The existing scarcity of Teachers of the higher branches would be 
 less felt, and those of the lower Schools be relieved from their present 
 embarrassments. By these remarks it is not designed to convey the idea 
 that any one is fit to take charge of a Primary School. On the contrary, 
 it is known that peculiar fitness and preparation are as indispensable in 
 the child’s first as in his last Teacher. It is, however, indisputable that 
 many females and others, not yet in possession of the higher branches, are 
 
12 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 admirably adapted by tact, disposition, habit and acquirement, to the 
 instruction of early childhood in the first elements of knowledge. Mixed 
 or ungraded Schools, by imposing instruction in all the branches upon their 
 Teachers, exclude hundreds of such from the profession. The grading of 
 the Schools will correct this mere practical evil, and restore them to their 
 proper position and to a large degree of usefulness ; thus increasing, merely 
 by systematising, the teaching force of the system. 
 
 The government of the Schools will also be found to be facilitated and 
 their moral tone improved by gradation. Precisely similar motives to good 
 conduct and incentives to study, or the same forms of restraint and punish¬ 
 ment, are not to be indifferently employed in regard to all classes of Pupils. 
 Those who have merely passed the period of infancy must be treated 
 differently from those who are approaching maturity. This commingling 
 of the various species of discipline, which are unavoidable in a mixed 
 School, is not only inconvenient, but to some extent injurious to both 
 classes of youth. The constant association of the very young with those of 
 more advanced age will also, probably, be found to be more or less morally 
 and intellectually detrimental. The boy of six or seven will, naturally, 
 imitate the lad of sixteen or seventeen; but unfortunately, that perverseness 
 which seems to be a portion of our nature, will cause the vices of the exem¬ 
 plar, instead of his virtues, to be most generally copied. So, on the other 
 hand, though the elder may not become positively demoralized, in the ethical 
 sense of the term, by this contact, yet he incurs the risk of being retarded 
 in his intellectual development, and of losing a portion of opportunity for 
 that useful preparation for the battle of life, which is found in continually 
 measuring oneself with none but equals and superiors, and which is, 
 perhaps, one of the best fruits, as it should be an essential feature, in every 
 well ordered School. 
 
 The terms, equals and superiors are, of course, here only emjfioyed in 
 their legitimately republican sense: any system of education productive of 
 differences in society, other than those arising from inequalities in age, 
 intellectual attainment and morality, being in direct hostility to our political 
 and social institutions. Hence, it may be well to inquire whether an im¬ 
 perfect system of ungraded Common Schools may not have been the parent, 
 to some extent, of those unrepublican classes and distinctions, which are 
 becoming more strongly and obviously developed with every year of our 
 progress as a nation, and which must be restrained. 
 
 The children of the same neighborhood, of all conditions in life, go to 
 the same School to acquire the rudiments of learning. Thus far they 
 receive the same common advantages, as well as experience the same 
 feelings, one towards the other. But soon the son or the daughter of the 
 wealthier parent reaches the extent of knowledge attainable in the mixed 
 
ON GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 13 
 
 country or village School, and must, of necessity, be sent to the select pri¬ 
 vate Academy, or the distant Boarding School. Of necessity, this is done; 
 for higher attainments than are procurable in the mixed Common School 
 are indispensable; bat necessity, also, though of a sadder kind, in the mean¬ 
 while detains the child of indigence in the ungraded home School. Thus, 
 this absence of grades in the Schools is found to promote those very grades 
 in society, at which monarchists sneer and over which patriots mourn. For 
 here — at the very outstart in life — commences that divergence of play¬ 
 mate from playmate, of* neighbor from neighbor, of feeling from feeling, 
 which finally stiffens and hardens into separate ranks and classes, and 
 castes. There must, it is admitted, be varieties in condition and worldly 
 circumstances, so long as there shall be differences in talent, attainment and 
 attention to business amongst men. But, if the children of affluence were, 
 from their infancy, taught to, desire to add the good will of their less 
 favored associates to their other treasures, the addition would not be found 
 to be the least valuable portion of their inheritance. Wealth thus enriched, 
 would be a public blessing; an inheritance thus ungrudged might endure 
 for generations. In this point of view, the social effect of so grading the 
 Schools as to detain the youth of all conditions in a state of common and 
 associated apprenticeship to republican equality and simplicity, presents 
 itself in its true light. 
 
 Finally, a strong reason in favor of the immediate classification of the 
 Schools, is the effect which it will produce upon the educational feelings of 
 the District. While the Schools are mixed, the studies confused, their 
 whole condition unattractive and the general result therefore unsatisfactory, 
 little increase of favor to the Schools, or of love of learning, will be mani¬ 
 fested. The Common System will be sustained, or rather tolerated, more 
 out'of an indefinite idea of duty and desire to promote the good of the 
 future, than from any strong conviction of its value, based on positive, 
 tangible, present, beneficial results. But grade the Schools properly and 
 classify the Pupils in each grade correctly, and the fruits of the System will 
 soon become manifest. Parents will then see that their children are making 
 substantial and regular progress, in their own home Schools; they will 
 therefore make every sacrifice to keep them longer in them than* they now 
 generally do. The Pupils themselves, instead of wishing for the day, as 
 they now generally do, when they shall be emancipated from the tedium 
 of attendance at institutions in which there is neither methodical study, 
 the hope of rising to a higher School, nor much progress, will desire to 
 continue in each grade, not only for the sake of the knowledge to be acquired 
 there, but for the honor of transfer to the next. Thus a new feeling will 
 be infused into all; and, were there no other good to follow the arrange¬ 
 ment, this alone should decide in its favor. 
 
14 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 These and many other reasons that might he adduced, seem to justify 
 and demand the grading of the Schools, wherever practicable. In very 
 many Districts, however, this is not yet the case; sparseness of popula¬ 
 tion being, perhaps, the prevalent and only really insuperable obstacle. 
 Wherever this interposes, Directors must continue the present System of 
 ungraded Schools ; their only choice being between such institutions and 
 none. But in every rural District of moderate density of population, and 
 in every considerable Village, Town and City in the State, the time per¬ 
 mitted to elapse before the systematic and thorough classification of the 
 Schools and of the Pupils in each School, takes place, is just so much time 
 lost. Indisputable facts establish this strong assertion'. Not a single Dis¬ 
 trict can be pointed out in the whole Commonwealth, in which ungraded 
 Schools have produced the full, or even a moderate measure of the success 
 of which the Common System is capable; while in none has their grading 
 been fairly tried, without the most marked success; nor is there a single 
 instance known, or believed to have occurred, of its abandonment after 
 having been once properly tested. These facts, which are incontrovertible, 
 unerringly point in but one direction. 
 
 Let it not lie urged, even by the most thinly peopled districts, that these 
 and similar considerations have no bearing upon them. It might be so, if 
 the Common Schools were the expedient of a day or a generation, intended, 
 like a tax-law in reference to the State debt, or a levy of the militia in the 
 time of invasion — merely to meet an existing emergency and then be 
 abandoned. Widely different is its purpose as well as scope. That School 
 is more for the distant future than for even the necessitous present. The 
 ground hallowed by its walls is consecrated forever. Its teacher, forming 
 as he does one in the long succession of his noble calling, is set apart for 
 the highest temporal duty. The building may now be rude, the concourse 
 of Pupils scant, and their Instructor’s qualifications limited ; but who can 
 foretell the changes which the wants and the progress of a few short years 
 may. effect, or estimate the vastness of the superstructure which must rest 
 on this foundation, when Pennsylvania shall double or treble or even quad¬ 
 ruple her present millions, and this Union be composed of scores of States 
 as populous and powerful as she. The grave question whether any or all 
 of those States shall then be her superior in moral and intellectual gran¬ 
 deur, must be mainly determined by what is done now. The State is the 
 collective power of the people; and the character of the people is the 
 character of the State. It is considerations of this kind which invest with 
 such vast importance the proper establishment and regulation of our insti¬ 
 tutions for the training of youth, and which should ever keep the future, 
 equally with the present, in the minds of all entrusted with their care. 
 
ON grading schools. 
 
 - 15 
 
 NATURE OF GRADATION. 
 
 It is now proper to consider, more closely, the nature of gradation. This 
 may be defined as being such an arrangement of the Schools of a District, 
 as places within convenient distance of every youth in it, a School cal¬ 
 culated to afford full instruction in the branches of learning, proper for his 
 or her age and degree of advancement. To effect this adaptation of the 
 School to the wants of the Pupils, two systems of grading are in use. One 
 is the establishment of one or more separate Schools, for the instruction of 
 each grade of Pupils, assigning to each School the number of Pupils that 
 one Teacher of the proper grade is usually supposed capable of instructing. 
 This may be called the Separate graded System; the Teachers of each 
 grade, and of each School in each grade, being separate from and indepen¬ 
 dent of the rest. The other system is effected by the erection of one large 
 building, under the charge of one principal Teacher or Superintendent, 
 with several apartments and Teachers or assistants, for the several grades 
 of Pupils. This is called the Union graded System; because all the 
 different grades are in the same building and united under one chief 
 Teacher. Each system has its peculiar advantages and disadvantages, and 
 consequently its advocates and opponents; but the result of both will 
 probably be found to depend more on effective arrangement and faithful 
 administration, than on any inherent qualities in either. 
 
 The Separate System is the only one that can, with due regard to the 
 convenience of Pupils, be established in rural Districts, wdiere the distance 
 of most of the Pupils, and especially of the younger ones, from the centre 
 of the District, will probably ever be an obstacle in the way of the Union 
 System. And, though in large Towns and Cities the same reason for its 
 adoption does not exist, yet even there it has its comparative advantages. 
 It avoids the concourse and noise of several hundreds of children at one 
 point; it diminishes the out door injurious associations that more or less 
 result from all school companionship; and it secures to each Teacher a 
 greater degree of independence in government and modes of instruction. 
 
 A peculiarity, also, of the Separate graded System in the country, is 
 the education of both sexes in the same School. This is not the place 
 to discuss the question of the co-education of the sexes; but the opinion 
 may be safely expressed, that it is not such an evil as would justify any 
 material increase of expense to the District, or of inconvenience to the 
 Pupils, for its avoidance. 
 
 On the other hand the advantages of the Union system are numerous. 
 One School is more easily superintended and visited than several; by the 
 agency of a good Superintendent, all the departments can be kept in 
 successful operation with little effort on the part of Directors. It is more 
 
16 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 economical; — a large building for hundreds of Scholars, costing less for con¬ 
 struction, heating and attendance, than separate buildings, of the right 
 kind, for each Teacher. It exhibits the Common School more prominently 
 as a public institution; an imposing edifice, with numerous Teachers and 
 hundreds of pupils, being more attractive of attention, than several small 
 Schools, each with its single Teacher and forty or fifty Scholars. 
 
 On the whole, while it is plain that the Separate System of graded Schools 
 is alone suitable to rural Districts, it will probably be found, that, in Towns, 
 Union Schools for any number under, say, five hundred pupils, will be most 
 expedient; but that for any considerable excess over that number, either 
 an additional Union School will be required, or the separate system be 
 advisable. A successful combination of the two systems has been in some 
 places effected by establishing one large separate School, with several 
 Teachers, for all the pupils of nearly the same grade residing within -certain 
 bounds. This is found to work well. It avoids the association of older 
 and younger Pupils on the same play ground, and the bringing together of 
 large masses at the same point; while it enables the Schools to be brought 
 nearer to the younger Pupils, and at the same time provides for their effec¬ 
 tual classification. 
 
 In the rural Districts of many parts of the State, an expedient has long 
 been in use to effect some of the benefits of gradation. Their Schools are 
 kept open a portion of the summer and autumn, under female Teachers, 
 for the younger children, and in winter for larger ones, under more 
 advanced instructors, whether male or female. This is nothing but an 
 imperfect grading, without the expense of additional School houses; and as 
 it seems to be better than the mixed system, it is to be commended, so long 
 as the Districts are satisfied with the duration of instruction which the 
 arrangement affords to both classes of pupils. 
 
 In some Districts, assistant Teachers are employed, at less salary, to 
 instruct the younger Pupils, under the supervision of the Principal, and in the 
 same room. This is also an approach towards grading, and is better than 
 over-loading one Teacher with the duty of instructing a large School, 
 divided into numerous classes ; though it is liable to several of the objec¬ 
 tions to the mixed School. It will, however, probably be found, on close 
 examination into most cases of this kind, that the regular gradation of the 
 Schools on the Separate System, is not only practicable, but would be much 
 more effective, at little if any increased expense. 
 
 NUMBER OF GRADES. 
 
 The number of fixed grades which constitute a regular series of classified 
 Schools, will be found to result from the nature of the studies pursued in 
 the District. In most large mixed Schools there are three well defined 
 
ON GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 17 
 
 classes or groups of studies, and consequently of Pupils. First: Those who 
 are learning the rudiments of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and who 
 compose the large majority. Second: A smaller number, who, having to 
 some extent mastered the rudiments of those branches, are seeking farther 
 advancement in them, and adding also the knowledge of Grammar, Geo¬ 
 graphy, the Plistory of their own country, and general or practical Arith¬ 
 metic. Third: A very few, who desire to obtain a critical command of 
 their own language; a knowledge of general Geography and History, with 
 Algebra, Geometry and the higher Mathematics; some acquaintance with 
 the Natural and Moral sciences; and, it may be, the elements of other 
 languages, ancient or modern. The first study the Primary Branches indis¬ 
 pensable to all; the study of the Grammar of their own language is the 
 characteristic of the course of the second, while the pursuit of the Higher 
 Branches is reserved for the third. Hence, where separate schools or 
 grades are established, the members of each class naturally group.them¬ 
 selves together, and their respective schools are thus called Primary, Gram¬ 
 mar, and High Schools. 
 
 In large Towns and Cities there are other grades, as Secondary, Interme¬ 
 diate, &c. These, however, are merely subdivisions of the three fixed 
 grades, made for the sake of local convenience and more fully to apply the 
 great principle of the division of labor to the business of teaching. They 
 are not sufficiently distinct in their nature to be recognized independently 
 of local considerations, nor can any rules be laid down for their establish¬ 
 ment. Each case of this kind must necessarily depend on its own circum¬ 
 stances. 
 
 But that the three fixed grades, just named, of Scholars and studies, exist, 
 no one at all conversant with the Schools will deny. In fact not only do 
 Pupils thus group themselves in School, but, when advisedly and not by ac¬ 
 cident or carelessness withdrawn from School, it is, in most cases, at the end 
 of one of these three grades or courses. Grammar, Geography, advanced 
 Arithmetic and History are thought unnecessary by thousands of parents, 
 and their children are therefore taken from School when possessed of the 
 mere rudiments of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Mathematics, the 
 sciences and the languages are deemed useless by others, and their’s are 
 permitted to proceed no further than the Grammar course; while the 
 children of parents with more liberal views generally continue till possessed 
 of all the acquirements attainable in the highest class. 
 
 These being the grades, it may safely be asserted, that, whether in town 
 or country, no gradation is at all perfect which does not provide for, or tend 
 to produce the following results : I. The separation of the Primary Pupils 
 from those of more advanced age and studies: II. The careful and thorough 
 instruction of every Pupil in all the studies of his proper grade, before 
 3 
 
18 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 transfer to a higher: and III. The establishment, as soon as practicable, of 
 a High School, in which such sound English instruction may be given as 
 shall prepare its possessor for the ordinary pursuits of life, or, if destined to 
 a farther literary or scientific career, for entrance into the special institu¬ 
 tion appropriate to the case. Short of this, any classification that may be 
 devised will do manifest injustice to the Common System; and, though all 
 of this cannot, and, probably should not, now, be every where attempted, 
 yet, to the full though gradual development of this result, no matter how 
 distant, all present measures of gradation should be plainly and steadily 
 directed. 
 
 In grading the Schools of most rural Districts, it will be at once per¬ 
 ceived that only the Primary and Grammar grades are at first practicable. 
 It would be a waste of effort, as well as an obstacle to the progress of the 
 System, at once to establish a High School in such Districts. Nay it might 
 even be called injustice to the Primary and Grammar School pupils, who 
 are by far the larger number. Even to permit the High School course 
 to be pursued or mixed up with the study of the lower grades, to such extent 
 as to interfere with them, would be unadvisable. If the first two grades are 
 established and efficiently taught for two or three years, they will, of them¬ 
 selves, produce the High School, by sending forth a sufficient number of well 
 qualified Pupils to fill it. Its establishment will then be the act of the 
 system itself, and not the forced measure of the Directors. 
 
 The first duty, therefore, of Directors in rural Districts in the gradation 
 of the Schools, would seem to be to establish the Primary and Grammar 
 grades, and to see that the studies proper to each are rigidly pursued. In 
 towns, the three grades, at least, should be organized at once. But, whether 
 in town or in country, they must all sooner or later come into existence ; 
 for the number requiring the course of instruction which can be alone given 
 in well graded Schools is rapidly increasing. It is also becoming manifest 
 that this instruction can be imparted to them more equally, more economi¬ 
 cally, and with much greater moral safety, in the home Common School, 
 than in the expensive boarding School of the distant and seductive town, 
 or in the equally dangerous and expensive College Preparatory School. 
 This question in social arithmetic will soon and finally be solved in favor 
 ofasmuchof home education as the circumstances of each District will 
 admit. The High Common School will thus, at the right time, by the 
 right means, and with right results, occupy its proper place in the system. 
 It need not be forced. All that is necessary now is to lay the foundation for 
 it, by establishing and duly cherishing the Primary and Grammar grades. 
 
 Let it not be said that the course of study contemplated by this series of 
 Schools, is beyond the necessities of the youth of the State. The time will 
 come and may be even now near at hand, when nothing short of this 
 
ON GRADING SCHOOLS. 
 
 19 
 
 degree, at the very least, of sound knowledge, will meet the stern demands 
 which shall be made on the American citizen. Here, almost every one 
 votes, and to vote understandingly should know the history of the past and 
 the condition of the present; — this of necessity makes or should make him 
 a general reader. All may aspire to public office, requiring the power to 
 express thought either orally cr on paper, so as to influence others; —this 
 cannot be done without a sound knowledge of the mother tongue. In no 
 country in the world is the acquisition of property more open or easy to 
 every one who strives for it; — this constantly calls into use the art of 
 writing and the knowledge of accounts. The mechanic arts — even the 
 long neglected business of agriculture — are now found to rest on the great 
 principles of natural science; and hence those sciences are rapidly taking 
 their place among the indispensable branches of an ordinary education. 
 In a word, the son of the poorest citizen, may in the progress of events, be 
 placed, as a citizen, in a position requiring more than all the knowledge 
 embraced in the course now designated. If evil to the country happen 
 through his ignorance, the grave question will then arise, Who is guilty : — 
 he who ignorantly accepted the position, or the Country which failed so to 
 regulate and administer its system of public instruction, which was his sole 
 reliance, as to prepare him for the proper discharge of h?s duty ? 
 
20 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 II. ON LOCATING SCHOOLS. 
 
 THE SELECTION OF SITES FOR SCHOOL HOUSES OF VARIOUS GRADES. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 A cursory view of this subject generally leads to the conclusion that the 
 selection of a School house site is a matter of little importance. If a cheap 
 lot, central in position; and readily accessible, can be obtained, it is often 
 adopted, without further thought or any regard to other requisites. This 
 is a grave error, and it is time that the subject should be more fully con¬ 
 sidered and the true principles involved in right location taken into account; 
 so that their legitimate consequences may be foreseen and provided for. 
 
 The selection of the place for the School house of a neighborhood, is an 
 act involving more than the mere purchase of a few rods of ground, the 
 erection of a rude building, and the opening of some kind of School at the 
 earliest possible period, so that children of other parts of the District shall 
 not get the start, by a few days or weeks, of those for whom it is intended. 
 It is an act for posterity. The site now to be chosen, may and probably 
 will continue to affect, by its nature and associations, the feelings and the 
 tastes, and through these, the whole character of the surrounding commu¬ 
 nity tor generations and probably for centuries. As children, the members 
 of that community will receive their earliest School impressions there. 
 Further, to make School attractive, is, to no small extent, to render learning 
 attractive; and if the act of learning once become agreeable, and this 
 feeling be kept up not only by proper instruction but by pleasing outward 
 associations and intluences, the habit of voluntary study will soon become 
 fixed. Thus the love of knowledge may be impressed as a life long charac¬ 
 teristic of the individual. How important, then, as a constituent element 
 in the production of this desirable result, is the procuring of an attractive 
 and proper site for every School house. 
 
 The degree of this attractiveness depends both on the beauty and the 
 adaptation of the site. A proper School lot is not merely a central spot, 
 large enough to accommodate the building and readily accessible to all the 
 Pupils. In addition to this, it should also be a pleasant place, so that they, 
 for whose use it is designed, should wish to go and be there; — a place 
 large enough for, and so arranged as to admit of, the usual and legitimate 
 enjoyments of play-time; — a place possessed of all the conveniences neces- 
 
ON LOCATING SCHOOLS. 
 
 21 
 
 sary for the purpose, yet so retired from improper extraneous influences as 
 to avoid the exposure of the Pupil’s health to injury, his manners to rude¬ 
 ness, or his morals to contamination. Hence the centralcess, the accessi¬ 
 bility, the size, the healthfulness, the pleasantness, the retirement, and the 
 convenience of the site, are all to be regarded in making the selection. 
 
 Each of these points will now be considered in reference to rural Schools 
 of all grades, inasmuch as they are common to every class of those Schools. 
 Next certain points peculiar to the location of rural graded Schools will 
 be discussed, and, last, the principles involved in the proper location of 
 town Schools will be presented. 
 
 REQUISITES IN THE SITES OF ALL COUNTRY SCHOOLS. 
 
 In discussing the following requisites to be attained by the proper loca¬ 
 tion of School houses, it is not designed to convey the idea, that the whok 
 existing arrangements of any District should, at once, be abandoned anc’ 
 new sites selected, to secure the points now recommended. This would b( 
 inexpedient even if it were practicable. But as all the School sites have not 
 in some Districts, been yet permanently arranged, and as, in others, addi¬ 
 tions to their number and changes are continually occurring, it is well tc 
 have the great principles which ought to govern the subject constantly in 
 view. If the whole topic be discussed and understood there will be no diffi¬ 
 culty in applying the proper principles to such parts as may, from time to 
 time, present themselves; and thus, gradually, a general improvement may 
 be effected, without violent changes or unnecessary expense. 
 
 Centralness. — The finding of the actual local centre of the proposed 
 School bounds is a matter of no great difficulty. But even when the nurnbei 
 of Schools necessary for a District is determined, the division of its terri 
 tory into a similar number of sub-divisions made, and the exact territoria 
 centre of each found, it is by no means certain that the process of location 
 has been satisfactorily effected. There are other conditions to be regarded, 
 the neglect of which will inevitably lead to subsequent confusion and diffi¬ 
 culty. It is not the territory that is to be accommodated, but the youth 
 inhabiting it; and in seeking to accommodate these, as all cannot be fur¬ 
 nished with equal facilities, the location is to be made so as to satisfy the 
 largest number. 
 
 Hence centralness relates more to population than to territory ; but even 
 in reference to population, equality of distance from extreme residents is 
 not always to be decisive in favor of a particular site. A very few may 
 dwell on one side of it, at the extreme verge of the School bounds. The 
 great mass may be at various and considerable distances on the other. 
 Owing to barrenness of soil, or other causes, the number of the former will 
 probably never materially increase; that of the latter may. All these and 
 
99 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 similar circumstances are to be taken into view, and from a just combina¬ 
 tion of them, botli in their present and future aspects, such a site should be 
 selected as is now and shall continue to be as central to the whole popula¬ 
 tion, as the nature of the case will admit. This is all that can be expected 
 or should be attempted, on this point, considered separately. 
 
 Accessibility. — Centralness, even considered in reference to population, 
 should be, to some extent, also controlled by accessibility. Some Pupils 
 may reside at a short distance in a straight line, from a proposed site, yet 
 an intervening stream or mountain may render miles of travel necessary 
 to reach it. Some, on the other hand, may live twice as far otf, yet, having 
 none of these impediments to contend with, may reach the School with 
 less actual walking than the former. The apparent distance of each class 
 in a straight line from the School, is therefore not always to be regarded, 
 but the actual distance to be traveled, taking into account the natural and 
 unavoidable barriers in the way. 
 
 Impediments of this kind ought always to be taken into view, in the first 
 sub-division of a District; and, if possible, they should be made the boun¬ 
 daries between Schools. But where this is impracticable, they must be 
 taken into full account in the location of the house. Where the territory 
 attached to a School is traversed by a large stream or mountain, if there 
 be a bridge over the one or a gap in the other, the vicinity of either will 
 be, in point of mere accessibility, a fit location for the School. 
 
 Territory champaign in its surface and undivided by considerable streams, 
 is generally traversed in opposite directions by a system of public roads. If 
 due and prudent advantage be taken of these, the accessibility of the site 
 may be greatly promoted. 
 
 On the whole, like centralness, accessibility consists in promoting the 
 convenience of the greatest possible number of Pupils. 
 
 Size. —A School lot should be a full acre in extent; less than half an 
 acre should not be accepted, even as a gift. Land is now comparatively 
 cheap in most of the counties, and advantage should be taken of this cir¬ 
 cumstance to provide liberally for the probable wants of the future. The 
 quarter of an acre may, at present, serve for the School house and a small 
 play-ground. But when the Common School becomes fully matured,—when 
 all its tendencies shall be developed and its parts complete, it will probably 
 be, too late, discovered that a “ rood of ground” is not space enough for the 
 full proportions of its maturity. 
 
 The Teacher is now nobly laboring for a “ name” amongst the learned 
 professions. Soon public sentiment will assign him also a “ local habita¬ 
 tion.” The Teacher’s House will and ought to be as much an appendage 
 to the School, as the parsonage to the church. Reading, writing and arith¬ 
 metic— the mere ABC of knowledge— will not—cannot — long satisfy 
 
ON LOCATING SCHOOLS. 
 
 23 
 
 this people, or the wants of their position. The higher, bat still the useful 
 sciences must also come into requisition. Hence, agriculture, botany and 
 the kindred branches will force their way into the common course of studies. 
 When these things shall come to pass, the Districts that shall have foreseen 
 them, and provided ground enough for a Teacher’s house, a garden for his 
 use, and the instruction of his Pupils, and space for trees, shrubs and plants 
 of the various kinds necessary to illustrate their studies in the vegetable 
 world, will have no cause to regret the prudent forecast. 
 
 Even in reference to the present, a small School lot is often the cause of 
 unpleasant occurrences. Childhood will have its plays and games. If there 
 is not space for them on the proper play-ground, the public road is occu¬ 
 pied, to the annoyance of travelers and often to their own detriment; or 
 the premises of some neighboring farmer are trespassed 6n, to his injury 
 and to the Teacher’s blame. A few dollars expended for an acre, or even 
 half an acre of ground, would prevent these present evils and secure much 
 future advantage. 
 
 Healthfulness. — A good sized lot, near the exact centre and quite acces¬ 
 sible from all points of the proposed bounds, may be had cheaply, or even 
 for nothing; but if it be such as to endanger the health of the youth who 
 are to resort thither, it should be unhesitatingly rejected. Marshy and low 
 damp places, or those in close vicinity with artificial mill ponds and slug¬ 
 gish streams, or to such as periodically expose much of their beds to the 
 air, should always be avoided. The vapors from these are highly injurious. 
 On the other hand, high, bleak situations, especially when exposed to the 
 north, north-west, or north-east storms, are also objectionable, on account 
 of frequent changes and exposure to extreme degrees of cold in the winter, 
 during which season the greater portion of the teaching term occurs. 
 
 An elevated situation, backed if possible by a grove or higher ground, 
 sloping gently in front towards the south, with a clear sweep for the air 
 on the south, east and west, is the most desirable. But, if all these points 
 cannot be combined, as many of them as attainable should be secured. Salu¬ 
 brity consists as well in the avoidance of causes positively injurious, as in 
 the presence of all the desirable qualities that might be named. Hence, 
 no consideration should induce or will justify the adoption of an unwhole¬ 
 some site; while, on the other hand, healthfulness may belong to so many 
 varied positions, as to render their enumeration unnecessary, if not impos¬ 
 sible. 
 
 It needs only be added, on this topic, that Directors should never overlook 
 or undervalue its importance. Scarcely less momentous is the securing of 
 the Pupil’s physical health by means of a properly located and constructed 
 school building, than the promotion of his intellectual and moral well-being 
 by the services of a competent teacher. 
 
24 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Pleasantness, or beauty of position, almost as much improves the tone 
 of the mind, as healthfulness of location does that of the body; and it is 
 but another instance of the goodness of Providence, that that which is 
 necessary and useful is also often agreeable and beautiful. The high, airy 
 and commanding site — be it for school, dwelling, or town — is as attractive 
 by its beauty as it is desirable for its salubrity; and the buoyant vigor of 
 body it confers is well calculated to enhance the enjoyment of its charms. 
 Life is made up of innumerable incidents and events, some of them incon¬ 
 siderable— apparently almost trivial — in their nature, but not therefore 
 trivial in their consequences. Hence, the child who daily emerges from 
 the valley and mounts, gradually higher and higher, to his place of study — 
 each moment widening his horizon and bringing new objects into view and 
 presenting new subjects for contemplation — will, probably, enter the school 
 room with higher spirit and better feeling, than he who plunges down, 
 through gloom and damp and mire, to his silent secluded mind-prison at the 
 edge, it may be, of the brooding marsh. 
 
 It is time that the beautiful should be recognized as an element in edu¬ 
 cation ; and if so, at what point may it be more easily or effectually com¬ 
 menced, than in the selection of the place for study ? Let it be remembered 
 how many of the hours of plastic childhood are to be there passed, and 
 how impossible it is for the most observant to fully detect and estimate the 
 injurious effects of unpleasant outward objects and influences, upon the moral 
 character. We obtain our ideas through our senses; and if sight, the most 
 important of them, be constantly exercised upon repulsive objects, or within 
 a narrow scope, during the most impressible years of life, the ideas supplied 
 through this medium must be of the same kind and the mind take the same 
 tinge and stint. So of abstract ideas and moral qualities ; — we, of necess¬ 
 ity as often as from choice, express them by the terms proper to physi¬ 
 cal objects, and thus measure and stamp them, as it were, by the same 
 means. But if the natural objects which we daily contemplate, and there¬ 
 fore use for this higher purpose, be of a mean and repulsive kind, is there 
 not some danger that the intellectual and moral character, whose standard 
 they thus become, may also be low, contracted and grovelling? Beauty, 
 beyond all question, is a want of the human soul, and should be a part of 
 that soul’s training, in every department of human culture. 
 
 As to beauty of local position, it is as unnecessary as it would be difficult 
 to specify the features of which it is constituted. They are as various as 
 the ever varying charms of nature. Breadth of view, when it can be 
 obtained, is the great element. But if this be unattainable and a limited 
 prospect must be adopted, still all repulsive or gloomy objects should be 
 avoided. Fortunately, softness of outline and gentleness of undulation, are 
 often beheld in a small compass ; and even separate features of grandeur — 
 
ON LOCATING- SCHOOLS. 
 
 25 
 
 as a massive rock or the giant tree — sometimes enrich the narrow prospect. 
 The constant sight of a fine grove, the quiet meadow studded with trees, or 
 the margin of a distant stream or lake ; — the hum of a neighboring village 
 or the noise of a mill; — the view of the busy bridge, the turnpike, the 
 canal, or the railway; — all give variety to the thoughts, as well as impress 
 a taste for useful beauty. It is true that attention to considerations of this 
 kind may not produce effects instantly perceptible ; but if there is truth in 
 that religion which describes Heaven as a state of peace, joy and beauty, 
 of love, purity and holiness, the youth trained under the influence of as 
 many of these elements as possible, must thereby have their happiness 
 here, and their fitness for greater happiness hereafter, increased. 
 
 Retirement: — By this is meant the withdrawal of schools, as much as 
 possible, from the reach of all disturbing, rude or demoralizing causes. 
 The bridge-end, the tavern-yard, the store-porch, or the blacksmith-shop, 
 with the coarse language and profanity which too often disgrace their ball- 
 alleys and quoit-grounds; — the noisy cross-road, the canal-lock, and rail¬ 
 way station; —the river landing with its periodical bustle, the ferry with 
 its constant variety of passengers, or the furnace, the factory, and the mine- 
 bank— these are no desirable next-door neighbors to the school for youth. 
 All these and all such are better at a distance. The formation of tastes 
 and habits — the education of the manners and the morals—consists almost 
 as much in the evil evaded as in the good acquired. If the “ evil commu¬ 
 nication” from without, keep equal pace with the good communicated within 
 the school room, the pupil may grow in years and size, but not in refine¬ 
 ment and virtue. If either preponderate, it will probably be, under such 
 circumstances, that evil to which the condition of our nature is so prone. 
 
 The right course, then, is to close the door against as much of outward 
 evil as practicable, that the sound instructions of the school-room may have 
 the largest possible sway; always bearing in mind, in this connection, that 
 a day or a year of demoralizing association evaded, is a day or a year saved, 
 for good. Next to the positive instilment of sound principles, the actual 
 avoidance of wrong habits, is the best object that can be effected for the 
 young; and the location of a school that promotes this result, greatly aids 
 the moral instructions of the Teacher. 
 
 Another object deserves more attention, on this point, than has heretofore 
 been conceded. The right and duty of the Teacher to supervise and con¬ 
 trol for good the conduct of the Pupils at play, during their recesses and 
 intermissions, are midoubted and obligatory. But what control can he ex¬ 
 ercise or what beneficial effect can he produce, if, the instant they issue 
 from the door of the School-building, his Pupils are thrown into contact 
 with the disturbing and it may be evil influences of the outside world ? It is 
 4 
 
2G 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 its much their right to be secluded from all such, during their play as during 
 their study hours. 
 
 In the intellectual relation, also, the proper selection of a site may be 
 highly beneficial or the reverse. Scholars, whose attention is diverted from 
 study by constantly recurring sights or sounds from beyond the School¬ 
 room, cannot be expected to make that progress nor acquire those habits of 
 close application, so essential to their success in life. Hence, if for no other 
 or higher reason, all localities subjected to such annoyances are to be 
 avoided. 
 
 Convenience. — Under this head may be included certain minor consid¬ 
 erations, which should not be overlooked. For instance, -no School should 
 be placed so far from a public road or thoroughfare, as to cause the Teacher 
 or Pupils to commit trespass on private property in reaching it, or subject 
 them to serious difficulty and annoyance on their way thither in bad 
 weather.—Neither should it be without a spring or well of good water on 
 the lot; or if on other property, it should be reasonably near, with the right of 
 free and constant access.—Nor ought a School house to be so far from one 
 or more dwelling houses as to be beyond the reach of aid in time of fire, 
 sickness, panic, or disturbance by rude persons. Many of our Schools are 
 taught by delicate females, and the Pupils are frequently of tender years. 
 InstaucesTiave occurred of disturbance of them by drunken, .wicked or de¬ 
 ranged persons, and of other sudden emergencies requiring assistance. In 
 all such cases, the vicinity of a dwelling hou§e is a great protection and 
 support, and one which should not be disregarded in the location. 
 
 LOCATION OF RURAL GRADED SCHOOLS. 
 
 Nearly all the foregoing observations on the choice of sites, are as appli¬ 
 cable to graded as to ungraded Schools in the country; the main difference 
 being that the higher Schools may be so placed as to impose a longer walk 
 on their Pupils, which, owing to their more advanced age and greater 
 strength, they will be able to bear. 
 
 In the location of Schools of the higher grades, in a rural District, it will 
 be found that exact centralness with reference to all the Primary School 
 bounds to be accommodated, must often be disregarded, even more than in 
 the case of ungraded Schools. The weight of population will be in or near 
 some hamlet or village, or in some very densely inhabited part of the Dis¬ 
 trict ; and thither also, from other parts, the roads will probably point. In 
 such vicinities, therefore, will the Grammar School naturally find its site, 
 because thence it will draw most of its students. 
 
 At first view it might seem that the ultimate grading of country Schools 
 can be much.facilitated, by keeping that object in view in the first location 
 
ON LOCATING SCHOOLS. 
 
 27 
 
 and construction of the ungraded Schools of the District. But this will he 
 found not to be the case, to any considerable extent. For, as a general rule, the 
 plan of Separate graded Schools will prevail in the country, and the present 
 ungraded, will ultimately become their Primary Schools; and when those of 
 a higher class shall be determined on, it will be found best and most econom¬ 
 ical to construct them expressly for the purpose, at the requisite points and 
 according to the most suitable plans. Then, also, all the present ungraded, 
 will be needed as Primary Schools, to meet #>e wants of a fast growing 
 population and the existing tendency towards diminishing the number of 
 Pupils in each single School. 
 
 It may, however, happen, in some instances of very dense rural popula¬ 
 tion, that the Union graded system shall be ultimately contemplated. In 
 such cases, a site suitable to this object should, by all means, be at once 
 selected, and such plan for the house adopted, as shall admit of addition and 
 adaptation to the final purpose, without unnecessary alteration or expense. 
 
 LOCATION OF TOWN SCHOOLS. 
 
 In towns and cities, the selection of School sites is more controlled by 
 unbending circumstances, than elsewhere. The difficulty or cost of obtain¬ 
 ing the most desirable position, often compels the adoption of one inferior 
 in every respect. Local feelings, not unfrequently, warp the selection into 
 an improper direction. Still, there are certain requisites which should 
 never be dispensed with, no matter what the cost in money or popularity. 
 
 A full and free supply of air is indispensable. This can only be com¬ 
 manded by a high, airy position and a lot of sufficient size to isolate the 
 building from contact, or even close proximity, with others. This point 
 also ensures another almost equal requisite: that of sufficient ground for 
 play and the cultivation of flowers and trees. 
 
 Centralness, Accessibility, and the requisites included in the term Conve¬ 
 nience, are less applicable to town than to country schools. But size, 
 Healthfulness, Pleasantness, and Retirement, should equally be kept in view, 
 in the choice of sites for both. 
 
 Previous to the location of town Schools, the question should always be 
 settled, whether the Union graded, or the Separate graded system shall be 
 adopted. If the former, a lot as central, as large, and as healthful as possi¬ 
 ble should at one be procured;—keeping also in view the other requisites. 
 But here there is often danger that the desire to show off a fine large build¬ 
 ing, for the credit of the town, may overlook the great requisites of airiness, 
 size and retirement. This feeling should be striven against. It is true the 
 building should be appropriate and beautiful; but the character of a School 
 must emanate from the interior and not depend on outside show. 
 
28 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 If the Separate graded system be adopted, then of course, a School of the 
 lowest grade will be placed, centrally and on sufficient space, in each of the 
 sub-divisions of the town, and the Grammar or High School, as the case may 
 be, as near the centre as practicable and expedient. 
 
 In dividing a town into Primary districts, the middle of a main street 
 should always be made the line, if possible, so as to avoid the danger in¬ 
 curred by small children in crossing leading thoroughfares; and, if a rail¬ 
 way traverse the place, the#iecessity of crossing it, except on a bridge or 
 under the track, ought to be dispensed with. 
 
 On the whole, the selection of a proper School-house site is an act involv¬ 
 ing many and mixed considerations. In most cases all that can be effected 
 by the most careful Board of Directors or Controllers, will be the avoidance 
 of gross errors. The present discussion of the subject, if it enable them to 
 do this, will not have been in vain or unprofitable. 
 
 In this connection the question presents itself, whether the proper School 
 authorities should not be permitted to appropriate to public use a sufficient 
 portion of ground for a School-house, at every point where they determine a 
 School to be requisite ? It does certainly seem strange that for so many other 
 public purposes—■ such as roads, canals and railways, and even in favor of 
 several corporations — this right should be given as a matter of course; 
 and yet that to our public system for the education of youth, which tran¬ 
 scends them all in its present and future influence, and in which the want 
 of this power often leads to lasting inconvenience and injury, it should be 
 denied. 
 
 No one, of course, would desire to see private right unnecessarily in¬ 
 vaded, even in favor of Common Schools. But when no suitable site can 
 be procured at or near the proper point, and when all fair offers and other 
 means have failed to induce owners to accommodate the public, it would 
 seem to be no more than in accordance with the eminent rights and duties 
 involved, and no unnecessary infraction of private property, to take that 
 which is so much needed; — always paying the full value, to be ascertained 
 in some fair and public manner, prescribed by law. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 29 
 
 III. CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 ON THE SIZE, FORM, MATERIAL AND INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS GRADES OF 
 SCHOOL-HOUSES REQUIRED IN RURAL DISTRICTS; WITH DRAWINGS, PLANS, SPECIFICA¬ 
 TIONS AND ESTIMATES OF EACH KIND. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 Two classes of building are now required in country Districts: those 
 for ungraded and those for graded Schools. The whole tendency of the 
 system being towards the ultimate grading of the Schools, this Manual is 
 prepared in reference to that result; and therefore, in presenting a collec¬ 
 tion of plans for the ungraded Schools of the present day, care has been 
 taken that they may also serve for primary Schools, when the gradation 
 shall have taken place. Accord in gly, this chapter is divided into two 
 parts; — the first relating to ungraded rural Schools, but adapted also to the 
 primary class; and the second to graded rural Schools, which are really 
 houses for the higher grades, when the present mixed Schools shall assume, 
 with reference to them, the primary rank. 
 
 It is, however, not to be understood that none of the plans in this Manual 
 are proper for any other localities than those herein designated. A build¬ 
 ing of the graded rural class may be, under certain circumstances, quite 
 suitable for a large ungraded School; so, one included among the town series 
 may be found best adapted to some particular rural District, and vice versa . 
 All that is designed by the classification here adopted, is to indicate certain 
 general principles of adaptation, and to secure method in arrangement; 
 leaving to the judgment of Directors full opportunity to select, according 
 to the wants of each District. 
 
 The following general remarks, or rather principles, are not only applica¬ 
 ble to both classes of buildings embraced in this chapter, but to most of the 
 others described in this Manual. 
 
 1. The size of a School-room should be regulated by the number of 
 pupils who are to occupy it. The teaching room in the first of the fol¬ 
 lowing plans is about twenty-two by twenty-six feet and thirteen high. 
 On the supposition that it is to accommodate fifty persons including the 
 Teacher, (and no more ought to be put into it) this gives about eleven 
 
30 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 square feet of floor space and one hundred and fifty cubic feet of air 
 space, to each. Less should never be allowed, and it would be better if 
 more were given. 
 
 2. No School should ever be erected with less height of ceiling than 
 from twelve to fifteen feet. Floor space may be cramped, merely to the 
 present discomfort of the occupant; but breathing room. curtailed, injures 
 health. 
 
 3. In determining the size of a School building, allowance should always 
 be made for entries or vestibules for hats and cloaks, closets for appara¬ 
 tus and books, sufficiently wide passages, and full space for classes at reci¬ 
 tation. 
 
 4. The form of a School-room is of less moment than its size; yet a pro¬ 
 per form is important. Some prefer a perfect square, others that the length 
 should be a third or a fourth greater than the breadth; some place the 
 Teacher’s desk at one end, others at the middle of the longest side. Proba¬ 
 bly a room whose breadth is one-fourth less than its length, with the 
 Teacher’s desk at one end, is the best form. This keeps the whole School 
 in front and in view of the Teacher, and gives ample space across the end, 
 before his desk, for classes. 
 
 5. The material of the building must be decided by the circumstances of 
 each case. The house may serve the purpose of its erection whether com¬ 
 posed of brick, stone or wood, if rightly constructed. Each kind has its 
 advantages. Brick and stone are the more durable, but wood, in most 
 places, the cheapest. Probably, if attainable, brick houses are the neatest, 
 driest and most suitable in all respects, and stone the least so. Wooden 
 School-houses covered with plaster are never very desirable. They soon 
 show that in all Schools there are mischievous children, who delight in 
 exposing the laths. 
 
 6. Every School-hou^e should have a cellar. This not only renders the 
 floor drier and the house more healthful and comfortable, but saves the cost 
 of a wood or coal house. In the event of heating by means of a furnace, 
 it will also serve an admirable purpose. 
 
 7. The position of Pupils with regard to light, is of much importance. 
 They should face the north wall of the room, which should be without win¬ 
 dows. Thus the light will fall agreeably on their backs or sides, without 
 that straining effect on the eye which a front light produces. 
 
 8. The windows of a School-house should reach near to the ceiling, and 
 need not descend so near the floor, as in a dwelling house. Ventilation and 
 light will thus be increased, and currents of air across the persons of the 
 Pupils avoided. Besides, School windows are not so much to look out of, 
 as to admit air and light. 
 
 9. The Teacher’s desk should be moveable, and on a raised platform of 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 31 
 
 sixteen inches or two feet high and four feet wide, extending entirely 
 across one end of the room. This platform will also serve for declamation, 
 black-board, and other similar exercises. 
 
 10. A black-board, or other dark surface, commencing two and extending 
 seven feet above the platform, (i. e., five feet in height,) should be placed 
 across the end of the room, behind the Teacher’s desk. If extended all 
 around the room, so much the better. It will add very little to the cost ot 
 the building, if provided for in the original contract, and it will vastly facili¬ 
 tate the competent Teacher’s instructions. 
 
 11. There should be wide doors to every School-house, so as to give 
 egress to the occupants in the shortest possible time, in case of emergency. 
 If a door composed of two parts or valves were adopted, this object would 
 be effected, with the additional advantage of being able to use both in sum¬ 
 mer to admit more air, and only one in winter to economize heat. 
 
 12. After selecting any plan of a School-house in this Manual, instead of 
 writing out a long and full specification of it, either in their advertisement 
 or contract, Directors will save themselves much trouble by merely re¬ 
 ferring to the plan, by its number and page in this Manual, and requiring 
 the contractor to bmId according to the specifications therein found. It 
 changes from the specifications in the Manual are desired, they may be 
 briefly notea in the contract. The specifications have been prepared by an 
 experienced and skilful School-house Architect, and may be relied on. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 CLASS 1. —No. 1. 
 
 HOUSES FOR UNGRADED OR PRIMARY RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 The following is a view of the cheapest and simplest building which it 
 has been thought expedient to present. It will accommodate forty-eight 
 Pupils — two at each desk. On examining the annexed plan it will be 
 found that though the house built after it will be plain and cheap, it will 
 contain all the essential arrangements and features of a good School. Larger 
 dimensions and more expensive materials and finish might be desirable, in 
 .point of good taste and greater convenience; but there is nothing absent, 
 absolutely required to good teaching. Neatly painted on the outside, and 
 
32 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 well white-washed within, cheap and unpretending as it is, this building 
 can be made to look well. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This plan represents the ground floor of a School-house, one story high, 
 twenty-three by thirty-four feet on the outside; thirteen feethigh in the 
 clear of floor and ceiling, and pitch of roof five feet. 
 
 rrr 
 
 a. Lobby 6 feet square. 
 
 b. Clothes room for girls, 6 by 7 
 
 feet. 
 
 c. Clothes room for boys, same 
 
 size. 
 
 dd. Closets for books, &c. 
 e. Fire place and for stove. 
 pf. Passages two feet wide. 
 ggo. Passages 16 inches wide. 
 
 h. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 i. Space for classes at recitations. 
 
 k. Platform, 4 by 22 feet. 
 
 l . Teacher’s desk. 
 
 H. Cellar door. 
 
 The material will be timber framed and weather-boarded. The front 
 elevation is shown in the accompanying drawing. 
 
 EXCAVATION. 
 
 A cellar will be excavated under the building, to lie seven feet, when 
 finished, between floor and lower edge of joists; a cellar door-way likewise, 
 and trenches for the foundations will lie dug, the latter four inches below the 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 33 
 
 cellar floor; all rubbish and surplus earth to be removed or graded around 
 the building. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The walls of the cellar will be of good quarry building stone, sixteen 
 inches thick, and those of the cellar door-way fourteen inches, all well bedded 
 in lime mortar, and the inside surface well dashed with the same material; 
 the exterior surface of the wall above the ground will be pointed, and the 
 whole levelled off smoothly, to receive the wooden sills. 
 
 The chimney will be built of brick, well pargeted on the inside, and 
 topped out the usual height above the roof with straight hard brick, and the 
 joints smoothly struck. A cellar window will be made under each of the 
 upper windows, and in the openings a cast iron guard will be inserted, 
 sufficiently open to admit air and light into the cellar. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The sills will be six by eight inches, of white oak; all the other tim¬ 
 bers of white pine or hemlock; corner posts four by six, plates, ties 
 and braces four by five, and studding three by four; flooring joists three 
 by twelve inches, backed, with half an 
 inch crown, and two lines of lattice bridg¬ 
 ing well secured to the same; the ceiling 
 joists two by ten inches ; the rafters to be 
 the usual cut, and joists, studding and 
 rafters to be placed sixteen inches between 
 centres; the rafters to be well nailed at 
 the heel, and the top to be secured by 
 nailing upright boards on the face of the 
 rafters and ceiling joists. The rafters to be lathed and covered with the 
 best pine shingles, butted and jointed. The building to be carefully 
 framed through, and draw bored and pinned, and braces dove-tailed at one 
 end. Ail the work on the exterior, viz: eaves, door frame and door and 
 windows, will be in accordance with the elevation and details in plate No. 1, 
 under the head of “ Architectural Details,” at the end of Class IY, in this 
 Manual. The weather-boarding to be ploughed and over-dropped. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 All the window frames will be made casing with double boxes; the 
 sash one and a half inches thick, hung with the best axle pulleys, patent sash, 
 cord and weights, and secured on the outside with shutters one and a half 
 inches thick, made in pairs, and in three equal panels, sunken on one side, 
 and bead and butt on the other, hung with strap hinges, and fastened with 
 ten inch shutter bolts, and secured when open with turn buckles well screwed 
 on the weather boarding. The small D window will be in both front and 
 back, and filled in with slats for ventilators. 
 
 5 
 
34 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 FLOORS. 
 
 All the floors will he of heart pine, planed and grooved, well nailed to 
 the joists and joint shot. 
 
 PARTITIONS 
 
 Will be of three by four inch scantling, placed sixteen inches between 
 centres, and well secured to door and ceiling. 
 
 CASINGS AND MOULDINGS. 
 
 The door jambs will be cased with inch, and dnished with a beaded hang¬ 
 ing stile three inches wide, and a two inch moulding covering the joints of 
 the plastering; the same will be around the windows on the inside. The 
 sides of the School-room will be wainscoted the height of the window 
 sills, and capped on a line with the same. A black-board, or other black 
 surface to be approved by the Directors, will be placed clear across the end 
 of the room behind the Teacher’s desk, dve feet in height and commencing 
 two feet from the level of the platform, with a moulding at the top and 
 ends, and a ledge for chalk at the bottom. The lobby and clothes-room 
 will be skirted with wash-board six inches wide, the top edge slightly 
 beveled. Closets will be made where they are drawn, and fitted up with 
 four shelves in each. Pin rails will be put up in each clothes-room, and 
 three dozen of the best wardrobe hooks secured on the rails in each. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The outside doors will be made one and three fourth inches thick, bead 
 and butt on the inside, four panels, and moulded on the outside; hung 
 with four by four inch butts, and secured with a ten inch rim knob lock of 
 the best quality. All the room doors, including those of the closets, will be 
 one and a fourth inches thick, made with four plain raised panels, hung 
 with three and a half by three and a half inch butts, and secured with cot¬ 
 tage rim knob locks. A set of heart pine cellar door-cheeks and sill, and 
 battoned cellar door will be made, and hung with hooks and straps and 
 secured with hasp and padlock. A strong rough step ladder will be made, 
 and securely placed in the cellar door-way; outside wooden steps and plat¬ 
 form will be made to the entrance door, and two iron scrapers securely 
 fixed to the same. A platform four by twenty-two feet and eight inch rise 
 will be made for the Teacher’s desk. An opening will made in the 
 ceiling eighteen inches diameter, and a sliding iron register inserted in the 
 same for ventilation, in connection with the D windows. The lumber to 
 be of a good quality and thoroughly seasoned; the hardware also to be of 
 a good quality, including nails, screws, bolts, and every thing necessary to 
 make the whole complete. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 The walls, partitions and ceilings to be lathed and plastered with tw r o 
 coats of brown mortar, and one of hard white finish ; the brown mortar 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 35 
 
 to be composed of fresh wood burnt lime, and clean sharp sand, well 
 haired. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted will be painted with three coats of 
 pure white lead, and best linseed oil, and finished in plain colors, as the 
 Directors may direct. The sash to be all glazed with the best American 
 glass, well bedded, sprigged and back puttied. The size of the glass is 
 twelve by sixteen inches, eighteen lights in each frame. 
 
 PRIVIES AND FENCING. 
 
 A neat and commodious privy is also to be constructed, divided into 
 two compartments by a plastered petition; each to be four by five feet in 
 the clear, and six feet high at the entrance; to be framed and weather- 
 boarded vertically, with strips well nailed over the joints, and roofed 
 with white pine shingles; the eaves to proje^ twelve inches all around. 
 The doors to be made battoned, hung with strap hinges, and fastened with 
 latches; to be fitted up with seats to accommodate two in each apartment; 
 the floor, seats and doors to be planed. A well six feet in diameter will be 
 dug, twelve feet deep, and walled in with four inch brick work, dry, and 
 squared up properly to receive the frame work of the privy. Rough 
 grooved fencing seven feet high will be put up from the School-house to 
 the privy — dividing its apartments; the length to be determined by the 
 Directors. All the materials to be of the best quality, and the workman¬ 
 ship of the different parts to be done in a neat and substantial manner, and 
 to the satisfaction of the Directors or their building committee. 
 
 ESTIMATE OF COST. 
 
 Owing to the great diversity in the price of material and labor through¬ 
 out the State, the average cost can only be given; and from calculations 
 made in that manner, the cost of this plan would be four hundred and thirty 
 dollars without a cellar; or, with a cellar according to the plan, five hun¬ 
 dred and fifty dollars. 
 
 CLASS I.— No. 2. 
 
 The next design is one which the editor of this Manual prepared and pub¬ 
 lished in the School Journal, some years ago. It then combined all the 
 improvements and conveniences which his observation enabled him to pre¬ 
 sent. Many houses of the same class have since been visited, but none have 
 been met superior to it in all respects. The only change since perceived 
 
36 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 necessary, is, that there should be no window in the back gable end of 
 the building, which should be placed towards the north. 
 
 Many School-houses, mostly of brick, have been built after this design, 
 in various parts of the State; and it is believed that they are generally ap¬ 
 proved, when rightly constructed and furnished. 
 
 SPECIFICATION'. 
 
 This plan is about the capacity of, and nearly resembles the first number 
 of this class, excepting the portico on the front. The building is intended 
 to be twenty-five by thirty feet, exclusive of the portico, with the same 
 height of story and pitch as in the first. 
 
 
 
 >3 
 
 
 IfhfTbl# 
 
 LpLpLpLpLpLp 
 
 cndnorbrio 
 
 D LbLpLRJ° 
 
 -brbno 
 J°LpL1 o 
 
 _ 
 
 O 
 
 i 1 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ a 
 
 
 1 | 
 
 fL 1 
 
 o 
 
 P 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 o 
 
 j s 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 y///4 > //////S//%///y? / Z'': 
 
 o 
 
 a Lobby and clothes room, 5 
 by 14 feet. 
 
 b. Passage 3 feet wide. 
 
 c. Chimney. 
 
 dd. Platform 4 feet wide, two 
 risers of 8 in. each. 
 
 e. Teacher’s desk. 
 
 f. Room for apparatus and li¬ 
 
 brary, 5 by 10 feet. 
 g A portico 6 feet wide. 
 
 This building will be framed with the same kind of materials, and in the 
 same manner as No. 1, and weather-boarded in the same manner. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES, 
 
 37 
 
 .The excavations and masonry will he the same, excepting that founda¬ 
 tions of the portico will be made only two feet below the surface of the 
 ground. The cellar door and windows will be made as in the preceding 
 plan, as also the interior carpenter work, including black-board. 
 
 The portico and eave will be made according to the elevation and details 
 in plate No.*l, “Architectural Details.” 
 
 The plastering and glazing the same; the size of the glass will be twelve 
 by sixteen inches; eighteen lights to a frame. 
 
 A well, privy and fencing, will be made according to the first specification. 
 And all material and workmanship necessary to complete the building in a 
 substantial and satisfactory manner will be required of the contractor. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The average cost of a building according to this plan, would be about 
 equal to the first, and would be set down as in the former, four hundred and 
 thirty dollars, and completed as in the specification with a cellar, five hun¬ 
 dred and fifty dollars. If of brick, the cost will be accordingly, and the 
 specification must be varied to suit the change of material. 
 
 CLASS I. —No. 3. 
 
 This plan differs little from No. 1, of this series, except in outward 
 appearance and finish. The small portico is a handsome and useful addition. 
 
38 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The size of this building is also twenty-three by thirty-four feet, one story 
 high, thirteen feet in the clear, and pitch of roof nine feet. The interior 
 arrangements resemble the first somewhat, excepting that in this an out¬ 
 side lobby is made at the entrance, which gives an additional room, ap¬ 
 propriated for library and recitation. 
 
 a. Lobby or outside porch, 5 
 by 6 feet. 
 
 b. Recitation or Teacher’s 
 room, 8 by 8 feet. 
 
 o. Girls’clothes room. 6 by 8 ft. 
 d. Boys’ clothes room,6 by 8 ft. 
 ff. One a smoke flue, the other 
 a ventilator brought to¬ 
 gether in the loft and top¬ 
 ped out together. 
 g. Teacher’s desk on a plat¬ 
 form, 4 by 22 feet. 
 hh. Seats for two Pupils, 
 i. Library. 
 
 m. Entrance to the cellar, 
 s. Passages or aisles. 
 
 In giving the specification for this plan, the difference between this and 
 the first, only, will be described, as follows, viz: 
 
 In framing this building, it will he done so that the weather-boarding 
 can be put on vertically, otherwise it is similar to the first, the sizes of the 
 timbers all being the same. The rafters will be twenty inches between 
 centres, with a collar beam of one and a half inch plank, well spiked across 
 each, and the heel of the rafter notched out to rest upon the plate; the 
 
 front part projecting and forming the 
 support to the eave, and that portion 
 of the rafter will be planed, as will also 
 the projecting pieces supporting the 
 roof at the gables. For detail draw¬ 
 ings of the eave and front porch, see 
 plate No. 1, “Architectural Details.” 
 The weather-boarding will be planed, 
 and beveled, and strips three inches 
 wide firmly nailed over the joints. 
 
 The carpenter work, including blaek- 
 
 _ f board, will be the same, excepting 
 
 where the change in the plan makes it necessary ; and the materials also of 
 the best cpiality. The masonry will also be as the first, with the same ar¬ 
 rangement of cellar windows and cellar entrance ; the plastering also in like 
 manner; the painting also the same, with glass of the same size and num- 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 39 
 
 ber in each frame. A well and privy, also fencing, and all complete to 
 the satisfaction of the committee, according to specification of No. 1, of this 
 class. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 A building after this plan would cost four hundred and eighty dollars 
 without a cellar; with one, according to the specification, six hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 - CLASS I. — No. 4. 
 
 In size this resembles Nos. 1 and 3, but differs very considerably in the 
 interior arrangement. It is designed for forty-six Pupils, but can be ar¬ 
 ranged for forty-eight or fifty. Being of stone and more substantially built, 
 and better finished, it will cost more than the preceding houses. 
 
 The artist has provided a separate entrance for each sex, though they 
 are to sit together in the same study room. This seems unnecessary. 
 Probably a window had better be placed instead of the boys’ door, and the 
 room into which it leads be thus rendered more retired and useful for recita¬ 
 tion, &c. 
 
40 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 SPECIFICATION OF MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP. 
 
 The size is twenty-three by thirty-four feet, and pitch of roof eleven feet; 
 the story twelve feet in height in the clear, with a side porch; the walls 
 will be of undressed stone. 
 
 a. Outside porch & 
 girls’ entrance. 
 B. Boys’ entrance. 
 
 c. Boys’ clothes 
 room. 
 
 d. Girls’ clothes & 
 recitation room. 
 
 e. Teacher’s desk 
 on a platform, 
 4 by 9 feet. 
 
 f. Seats for two pu¬ 
 
 pils each. 
 
 g. Passage 2 feet 
 
 wide. 
 
 ii. Library. 
 k. Chimney flue. 
 
 E. Cellar entrance, 
 v. Ventilator. 
 
 EXCAVATION. 
 
 The cellar will be excavated under the building, as in the preceding ones, 
 with entrance, &c., and foundation trenches for the porch two feet below 
 the surface of the ground. 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 Two hammer-dressed stone sills will be required for the porch and end 
 door, twelve inches wide on the top, and eight inches rise. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 All the walls will be built of the best building stone that can be procured 
 in the neighborhood, and laid upon their broadest beds; up to the level of 
 the flooring joists, the walls will be twenty inches thick, and from that 
 level, sixteen inches; the jambs of the doors and windows will be flared 
 as shown in the drawings, in plate No. 1, “Architectural Details.” 
 
 The cellar windows and door-way will be the same as in the first plan, 
 and all the inside of the walls will be well dashed with mortar; where 
 necessary in forming the flues, well burnt brick will be used, and the same 
 topped out with straight hard brick, with joints smoothly struck, and built 
 in accordance with the drawings. The battlements of the gables will be 
 covered with slate. 
 
 All the exterior will be rough casted and finished with a pebble dashed 
 coating. The inside walls will be plastered without lathing, and the par¬ 
 titions and ceiling will be done as in the preceding plans. The inside 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 41 
 
 jambs of the windows will be plastered and the angles rounded. The mortar 
 for the whole to be carefully prepared with clean sharp sand and wood 
 burnt lime, and that for the inside to be well haired. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The timbers for the floors, ceilings and roof will be the same as in the first 
 plan, and rafters made with collar beams as in the last, the heels to lie secured 
 to the wall plates, well bedded in mortar; rafters lathed and covered in with 
 shingles as before mentioned, or if the article is convenient, with the best 
 American slate, put on with composition nails, two in each slate; in both 
 cases the battlements to be secured with tin flushings and covered with slate. 
 
 The window frames will be made of scantling, sashes one a half inches 
 thick, and hinged with three inch butts, and secured with spring latches; 
 inside shutters will be made in two folds to each jamb, (in the large frames,) 
 one inch thick, in three plain panels, and hung with three inch butts to 
 fold against the jamb; the shutters to be fastened with hooks. 
 
 The eaves, windows and porch, to be made according to detailed draw¬ 
 ings, in plate 1, “ Architectural Details.” The floors, partitions, casings, 
 mouldings, wainscoting, cellar and door fixtures, Teacher’s platform, black¬ 
 board and inside door, will be the same as in the preceding plans; the out¬ 
 side doors will be of grooved boards, double thickness, and put together 
 with wrought nails, and hung and secured in the same manner as in the 
 foregoing plans. 
 
 The platforms to the out¬ 
 side doors will be of wood, 
 with 2 iron scrapers secured 
 to the same. The library 
 will be shelved and finished 
 with inch panel doors, pro¬ 
 perly hinged, and secured 
 with cupboard locks. 
 
 The ventiduct will be of 
 inch boards, planed on the 
 inside, made air-tight and 
 secured in the partition, 
 with openings, top and bot¬ 
 tom, into the same, and co¬ 
 vers to the same, to be continued to one of the smoke flues, intended to 
 be used as a ventilator; the ventiduct to be not less than eight inches by 
 twenty-four in the clear. 
 
 The painting and glazing will be as in the preceding plans. The size 
 of the glass will be twelve by eighteen inches, and four lights high. 
 
 C 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 A'l 
 
 All the materials and workmanship to be of the best quality; arid any 
 article not mentioned in the above specification, will be made alter the plan 
 and fashion of No. 1, which includes the privies and fencing. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 A building according to this plan without a cellar would cost six hundred 
 dollars; with a cellar, complete as in the specification, seven hundred and 
 twenty dollars. 
 
 CLASS I.-No. 5. 
 
 This building is somewhat larger than the preceding ones, and the main 
 room will conveniently seat seventy Pupils. It will therefore be proper 
 for a School with an assistant Teacher, for which purpose the class rooms 
 will 1 >e found very convenient. The extension of the platform clear across 
 the back or north end of the main room, and the leaving of a greater space 
 in front of the Teacher’s desk, will probably be an improvement of the plan 
 as prepared by the Architect. 
 
 This size and description of School-house will be proper for a thickly 
 settled rural vicinity or for a small village, with sixty or seventy pupils of 
 all grades. In such places there are often too many Pupils for one, and not 
 enough for two separate Schools. A large room with a principal and an 
 
CONSTRUCTION 01? RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 43 
 
 assistant Teacher, will just meet the wants of such a case. In this way, 
 at little increased expense, the Pupils can all. he thoroughly classified, and 
 most of the advantages of graded Schools secured, under one roof and at 
 less expense for instruction. By the provision of a separate dcor for each 
 of the sexes, it is not intended that the boys and girls shall be separated 
 in forming the classes. Whatever advantages there are, if there be any, in 
 the separation of the sexes in teaching, certainly they are not so great as 
 to overbalance the injury caused by the unnecessary multiplication of classes. 
 
 a&. Entrance for Boys and 
 Gills. 
 
 cc. Closets for books, maps,&c. 
 dJ. Clothes rooms and for re* 
 citation 9 by 12 feet. 
 
 e. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 Jf. Flues, one for a ventiduct, 
 the other for smoke. 
 
 g. Teacher’s de.'k on a plat-' 
 form, 4 by 13 feet. 
 
 A. Passage two feet wide. 
 k. Open fire place. 
 m. Entrance to the cellar. 
 
 r 
 
 The size of this building is thirty by forty feet on the outside, story thir¬ 
 teen feet high in the clear, and pitch of roof twelve feet. This plan re¬ 
 quires no specification. 
 
 It is a frame building, 
 weather - hoarded verti¬ 
 cally, and framed and 
 finished generally like 
 No. 2, first class. The 
 only difference between 
 them will be in the 
 eave and outside finish of 
 door and window heads, 
 the drawing of which 
 will be found in plate 
 No. 1, “ Architectural 
 
 Details.” 
 
44 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building according to this plan would be, without a cellar, 
 seven hundred dollars; with a cellar complete, eight hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 CLASS I.-No. 6 . 
 
 The drawings and plan now presented are far a building of less size but 
 more substantial material and better finish, and consequently of greater 
 cost, than the last. It is laid out for sixty-four Pupils, none of whom should 
 he seated on each side of the Teacher, where the extended platform and 
 black-board ought always to be. 
 
 This building, while it contains all the requisites for a complete primary 
 School, presents a chaste and beautiful outside appearance. Embowered in 
 trees and surrounded with flowers, it will ornament any situation; and 
 after the Schools shall have been regularly graded, shell a School-house will 
 continue, for generations, to be a fitting and attractive place of resort for 
 early childhood. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 Tim size of this building is twenty-six by forty feet on the outside, thir¬ 
 teen feet high in tire clear, and pitch of roof six feet. 
 
 This plan will require material differing very little from No. 3, both 
 buildings being stone, but the style being unlike the other, it will be neces- 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 45 
 
 sary to make some changes in the manner of work, which will be here 
 noted, and any changes which may be required in the material likewise. 
 
 a. Entrance to School room. 
 
 b. Inside lobby, 5 by 8 feet. 
 
 c. Clothes room for Girls, 7 by 9 feet. 
 
 d. Clothes room for Boys, 7 by 9 feet. 
 
 e. Closet for Books, &c. 
 
 ff. Flues, one for a ventilator the other for 
 smoke. 
 
 fc. Teacher’s desk and platform, 5 by 9 feet. 
 
 l. Seats for two pupils each. 
 
 m. Entrance to the cellar. 
 
 1 'J 
 
 Jjj a *“0 
 
 Pf 33 * HI 
 
 □□ 
 
 □□ 
 
 DD 
 
 ,-4 
 
 l _ .'wV. ■. 
 
 □ GDC 
 
 □ GDC 
 
 ID 
 
 n 0 f 
 
 1 _j •' 
 
 ID 3 
 
 i . J ‘ ■:__i 
 
 SCHOOL or 0ES/GM SC. 
 
 The excavations will be the same. The cellar walls will be the same 
 thickness up to the line of the base, and above likewise, excepting that the 
 pilasters will project two inches, making them eighteen inches thick. The 
 walls will be dashed on the inside, but on the outside they will be rough¬ 
 casted in a complete manner, and laid off in blocks, in imitation of cut 
 stone. The mortar to be of clean, sharp sand and wood burnt lime. The 
 plastering of the interior will be done as in No. 3, including the plastering 
 of the window jambs and rounding of the angles. A cut stone door sill 
 will be required for the front door, twelve inches on the top face, eight 
 inches rise. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The timbers will be the same sizes as in No. 3, and laid and secured in 
 the same manner; the rafters will be heeled against a raising piece, 
 and every third one will 
 project to form supports 
 for the eave, and will be 
 smoothly dressed. Canti¬ 
 levers will be framed into 
 the outer rafters, to sup¬ 
 port the barge over the 
 gables. The rafters will 
 be boarded and prepared 
 for metal covering. A 
 cupola will be made ac¬ 
 cording to the plan, and well secured on the roof, — it will be prepared for 
 a bell, and also arranged for a ventilator, and will be put in connection with 
 the ventiduct. The cupola, pent house over the front door and eave, to be 
 according to plates Nos. 2 & 3, “ Architectural Details.” The window frames 
 will be made plank front or casing, and all double boxed; sash one and a half 
 
46 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 inches thick and hung with the best axle pulleys, cord and weights. Shut¬ 
 ters will be made one and a half inches thick, bead and butt on one side, 
 flat panel and moulding on the other, hung with straps and hooks, and se¬ 
 cured with ten inch shutter bolts; the sub-sills will be of heait pine. The 
 floors, wainscoting, jambs and dressing of doors, closets, platform, black¬ 
 board, outside steps, cellar door and steps, will be as in the preceding plans. 
 Slats or rails four inches wide, for hooks or pins to suspend maps, &c,. will 
 be inserted round the inside wall, at such height as the Directors shall order. 
 A ventiduct will be made eight by twenty-four inches in the clear, inserted 
 in the wall, smoothly plastered on the inside, and prepared with grounds to 
 receive the front of the duct, which will be of sound inch boards screwed 
 firmly against the grounds before mentioned; openings will be made top 
 and bottom with covers to each, made to shut at pleasure. The duct will 
 be continued over to the cupola and connected with it in ihe loft, the joints 
 made air-tight. A section under the head of “Ventilation,” will explain 
 the working of the ventiducts. 
 
 TIN ROOFING. 
 
 The roof, cupola and pent house over the front door, will be overlaid 
 with the best cross leade 1 tin, put on standing grooves, and well cleated to 
 the boards, to be painted on the upper side two coats, the first coat to be 
 red lead. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted, will be painted three coats of pure 
 white lead and linseed oil, and finished in plain colors as directed. All 
 the sash to be glazed with the best American glass, well bedded, bradded 
 and puttied. The size to be twelve by sixteen inches, eighteen lights in 
 each frame. 
 
 The building will be finished complete in every particular, according to 
 this specification, or references to the preceding ones; and all the materials 
 are to be of the best quality, and the workmanship to be done in a substan¬ 
 tial and workmanlike manner. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The average cost of this building would be nine hundred dollars without 
 
 o o 
 
 a cellar; completed with one, according to this specification, it would be 
 one thousand and fifty dollars. 
 
 CLASS I. — No. 7. 
 
 This plan differs very little except in material and cost, from No. 5. By 
 placing seats opposite the flues, if required, it will contain the same number 
 of Pupils, and will suit the same kind of School. The platform and black- 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES 
 
 47 
 
 board should, by all means, be extcnled to the book closets, on each side 
 of the Teacher’s desk, in the places of the two seats for four Pupils each. 
 Like No. 5, this building will be found convenient, substantial and highly 
 ornamental, with proper surroundings and embellishments. 
 
 The size of this building is thirty by forty feet on the outside, story 
 thirteen feet high in the clear, and pitch of roof nine feet. A specifica/- 
 tion will be given only where it differs from the preceding plans, the inte¬ 
 rior arrangements and style'of work being nearly the same. 
 
 a. Lobby and entrance for both sexes. 
 
 b. Boys’ clothes room to bo used for recita¬ 
 
 tion, 8 by 10 feet. 
 
 c. Girls’ clothes room to be used for recita¬ 
 
 tion, 8 by 10 feet. 
 
 d. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 e. Passages two feet wide. 
 ff. Flues, one intended for smoke, and the 
 
 other for ventilation. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk on a platform 5 by 8 feet. 
 
 h. Closet for books, &c. 
 k. Seats for four Pupils each. 
 m. Entrance to the cellar. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The materials of the walls will be brick ; the excavations will be the same 
 as in the last, and the cellar walls built up to the level of the ground, 
 eighteen inches thick, with cellar door-way, and window openings secured 
 wdth iron guards. A cut stone door sill will be required for the front door, 
 
 □□□ □□□ 
 
 E3 □□□□ 00 D 
 0000 □□0 
 □ 00 ,□□□ 
 
48 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 twelve inches on the top face and eight inches rise. The walls from the 
 surface of the ground upwards will be of brick ; the outside four inches, to 
 be the best cpiality dark stretchers with the jjints smoothly struck ; the 
 thickness of the wall at the base and pilasters will be sixteen inches; in 
 the recesses twelve inches, being a nine inch wall spread on the base, 
 making an opening of three inches in the centre of the wall; the two sur¬ 
 faces to be bonded together with alternate headers every fifth course ; the 
 projection of the base to be finished on the top with headers. The flues 
 will be made eight by twenty-four inches, thoroughly and smoothly par¬ 
 geted and topped out on the roof for ventilators. The work to be done in 
 a substantial and workmanlike manner, with mortar composed of clean, 
 sharp sand and wood burnt lime. Plastering on the interior will be done 
 in the same manner as the last; the jambs of the windows will be plastered 
 and the angles rounded. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists will 1 e eight by fourteen inches, and ceiling joists two 
 by twelve, placed sixteen inches between centres, and the flooring joists 
 strengthened with two lines of lattice bridging, well secured to the same; 
 a raising piece will be spiked on the ceiling joists, and the rafters heeled 
 against it; alternately the rafters will be continued over the wall, forming 
 cantilevers to support the eaves; those from the gables will be framed into 
 the outer rafter. The rafters wall be framed, and one and a half inch 
 plank collar beams well spiked across the same. The rafters will be lathed 
 and covered with the best white pine shingles, butted and jointed. A bell 
 
 turret will be built according 
 to detail drawings in plate 
 No. 2, “Architectural De¬ 
 tails,” where pians will be 
 found for the eave and front 
 porch. The window frames 
 will be made plank front or 
 casing, and double hung. The 
 sash and shutters to be made 
 and hung as before described, 
 on the flank and back of the 
 building; but on the front, 
 inside shutters in one pair to 
 
 each window, will be made and hung to open against the wall, and recesses 
 in wall will be made to receive them; the sub-sills of the windows will be 
 made of heart pine. A circular transom sash will be made over the front 
 door. The doors will be made and secured as in the preceding plans, ex- 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 49 . 
 
 ccpting that in the partition between the lobby and clothes rooms, folding 
 doors will be made and hung, so that they may be opened into one room, for 
 recitation or class purposes. The closets will be shelved in the usual man¬ 
 ner, and the platform for the Teacher’s desk made with eight inch rise. 
 Wainscoting, black-board, inside dressings and jambs of doors, pinrails and 
 hooks in recitation rooms, rails in main room for maps, cellar door and steps, 
 and outside steps (of wood,) and privy and fencing, will be done in the same 
 manner as those before fully described. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 The wood work usually painted, will receive three coats in plain colors, 
 with pure white lead and linseed oil. The sash all to be glazed with the 
 best American glass; the size of the glass will be thirteen by sixteen inches, 
 eighteen lights in each frame on the side and back; the front frames to 
 have twelve lights in each.. 
 
 All the materials and workmanship to be of the best quality, and every 
 thing to be furnished, requisite to complete the building in all its parts, in 
 a substantial and workmanlike manner, and to the satisfaction of the build 
 ing committee. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 A building according to this plan, would cost nine hundred and fifty 
 dollars without the cellar; or eleven hundred dollars with a cellar complete, 
 as in the specification. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 HOUSES FOR GRADED RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 Though the buildings embraced in this class are intended for graded 
 Schools in the country, yet it is not supposed that the strict principles of 
 gradation -— that is, the assignment to the same Teacher of none but Pupils 
 of a similar grade of studies — can be as fully adhered to in the country as 
 in towns. Nor is it expected that these Schools will be placed in none but 
 strictly rural positions. On the contrary, as near an approach to distinct 
 gradation as the circumstances of each case will admit of, is all that can be 
 expected or should be attempted, in the rural Districts. Hence, the employ¬ 
 ment of two or more Teachers in the same building — one acting as Prin¬ 
 cipal, and each having charge of a particular grade or class of studies — 
 
 will be the best that can be effected, in cases where not more than one 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 hundred Pupils of all ages can be collected at the same point. And, as 
 such points "will frequently be near villages and small towns, those places 
 will naturally become the sites of many houses of this class. Still, these 
 buildings have been so arranged, that, when increased population and im¬ 
 proved educational feeling, shall require distinct Grammar Schools in the 
 rural Districts, they will be found entirely suitable for that purpose. In 
 that event, if the separation of the sexes be thought advisable, the division 
 of each building into two rooms provides one for each sex; or, if males and 
 females shall be instructed together, then one room may be appropriated to 
 the first and the other to the second division, of the Grammar School. 
 
 The one-story form of building has been adopted throughout this and the 
 preceding class. In towns, where ground space is scarce, it is frequently 
 unavoidable that Schools should be piled one over the other, in two, three 
 or even four story edifices. But in the country and in villages, where no 
 such necessity exists, it will be found that readiness of access, the prevention of 
 accidents on long narrow stairs, and the avoidance of noise overhead and of 
 confusion on stairways and in entries, will all be promoted by the adoption of 
 the plain, neat and pleasant one-story School-house. At first sight it might 
 also appear that, in the matter of cost, the saving in the items of roofing 
 and cellar is considerable in houses of two or more stories; but when the 
 expense of stairways and entries and of the increased thickness of the walls 
 is fully considered, little if any difference will be found to exist in this 
 respect. 
 
 CLASS II. —No. 1. 
 
 This is a plan for a School in what may be called the transition state 
 from the ungraded to the graded system; and with slight modifications it 
 will be found admirably adapted to the purpose. The window at the back 
 of the Teacher’s desk should be dispensed with, and the platform and black¬ 
 board extended to the other windows on each side of it. These windows, 
 if darkened by means of a blind or curtain, will admit no light injurious to 
 the Pupils’- eyes. 
 
 The study room, thus arranged, will accommodate seventy-two Pupils — 
 quite enough to employ all the time and energies of two Teachers —* a prin¬ 
 cipal and an assistant. While one of these is engaged with classes in the 
 recitation room, which should also be provided with ample black-board, 
 the other may be hearing recitations and keeping order in the study room, 
 and thus both be usefully employed without interrupting each other. When 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES, 
 
 51 
 
 necessary, all the Pupils can be conveniently assembled, for general instruc¬ 
 tion or exercises in the main room. 
 
 Next to the entire separation of the Schools into distinct grades, this is, 
 probably the best arrangement that can be made. Without separating the 
 sexes during study and recitation, it provides different entrances and those 
 other conveniences, so requisite to the proper training and habits of each. 
 
 SPECIFICATION'. 
 
 This plan represents the ground floor of a School-house, one story high 
 but of larger dimensions than the preceding plans. It is the first of the 
 second class, and a full specification is given. 
 
 a. Boys’ entrance and clothes 
 
 room, 6 by 11 feet. 
 
 b. Girls’ entrance and clothes 
 
 room, 6 by 11 feet, 
 o. Teacher’s desk on a platform, 
 
 4 by 15 feet. 
 
 d. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 e. Centre passage 2 feet 6 inches 
 wide, the others 1ft. 6 in. wide. 
 
 F. Class-room 7 by 20 feet. 
 gg. Closets for hooks, &c. 
 ii. Smoke flues. 
 k. Seats for two Pupils each, 
 t. Entrance to the cellar, 
 v. Ventilators, 8 by 20 inches. 
 
 The material will be of 
 outside, the story fourteen 
 of roof ten feet. 
 
 stone, the dimensions thirty by fifty feec on the 
 feet high in the clear of floor and ceiling ; pitch 
 
52 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 A cellar will be dug under the whole building, seven feet deep in the 
 clear of floor and lower edge of joists; a cellar door-way will be made, and 
 trenches for the foundation of the walls six inches below the cellar level; 
 a circular well for a privy six feet in diameter and twelve feet deep will 
 be dug, and a four inch wall of hard brick built up dry around the same. 
 The surplus earth, not required for leveling and the rubbish accumulated 
 about the building, will be removed to such suitable place beyond the same, 
 as may be directed. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The walls will be of a good quality of building stone, laid on their broadest 
 beds, and solidly bedded in mortar with a coating of the same under the 
 foundation course. Up to the top of the base line, the walls will be twenty 
 inches thick, and from the base upwards sixteen inches ; in the cellar door¬ 
 way fourteen inches will be sufficient. The base around the building will 
 be pointed, and the other portion of the exterior will be rough-cast, ex¬ 
 cepting the projections around the windows and doors, which will be of the 
 best rubbed stretchers or pressed brick, laid close and the joints smoothly 
 struck. The smoke flues will be thoroughly pargeted and topped out with 
 straight hard brick; the inside face of the wall to be well dashed with 
 mortar; the cellar windows will be made under those of the first story, 
 with open cast iron guards, to admit light and air into the cellar. 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 The sills of the doors and windows of the first story will be of hammer 
 dressed stone; those of the doors eight by eighteen inches, and windows 
 six by six inches of suitable lengths for the openings. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 The walls, partitions and ceilings will be lathed and plastered with two 
 coats of brown mortar and one of hard white finish; the exterior surface 
 of the walls will be rough-cast, in accordance with the elevation, excepting 
 the window and door architraves and chimney tops, which will be brick, 
 and colored in imitation of the other portions of the building. The mor¬ 
 tar to be composed of clean sharp sand, and good lime; that of the interior 
 to be well haired; the jambs of the windows will be plastered and the 
 angles rounded. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists will be three by twelve inches, and the ceiling joists 
 two by ten, placed sixteen inches between centres; the flooring joists to be 
 backed with three-fourths of an inch crown, and two lines of cross bridg¬ 
 ing well secured through the same. The rafters to be six inches at the 
 butt and five inches at the point, placed twenty-two inches between centres, 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 53 
 
 notched over a raising piece three by five inches, and mode to project be¬ 
 yond the walls, to form the eave of the building; the rafters to be lathed 
 and roofed with the best white pine or Cyprus shingles, butted and jointed. 
 Partitions will be of three by four inch scantling, sixteen inches between 
 centres, well braced and secured to floor and ceiling; the timbers to be 
 white pine or hemlock. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 The window frames will be made reveal double boxed, and square headed 
 on the inside, sills of heart pine, sash 
 one and a half inches thick, and hung 
 with axle pulleys, patent cord and 
 weights; inside panel shutters, one 
 inch thick in two folds to each jamb, 
 will be made and hung to open against 
 the plastered jamb without boxes; to 
 be secured with hooks in the. usual 
 manner. The outside door-frames will 
 be made of scantling, with a square 
 face of two inches, nailed on the front 
 edge, and finished up against the brick jambs. The doors to be in two 
 thicknesses of grooved boards, with beaded joints to cross each other, and 
 well put together with wrought nails; hung with strap hinges and secured 
 with a ten inch rim knob lock on one, and a park gate latch on the other; 
 the last to be secured on the inside with a twelve inch bolt. 
 
 FLOORS 
 
 Will be laid with heart pine or oak boards, one and a fourth inches thick, 
 to be well nailed to the joist, and the joints shot. 
 
 JAMBS AND DRESSINGS. 
 
 Inside door jambs will be of inch, and beaded hanging stile three inches 
 wide, with a two inch moulding to cover the joint of plastering. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The room doors will be of one and a half inch plank, four plain raised 
 panels, hung with four inch butts and secured with cottage rim locks. Those 
 for the closets will be one and a fourth inches thick, hung with three and 
 a half inch butts, and secured with cupboard locks and knobs. The 
 closets will be made where shown on the plan, and fitted up with shelv¬ 
 ing, to be enclosed a convenient height and finished on the top with a neat 
 moulding. 
 
 VENTIDUCTS. 
 
 Two ventiducts will be made of sound inch boarding, eight by twenty 
 inches in the clear, smooth on the inside and air-tight, with openings top 
 
54 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 and bottom and shutters to the same; to be continued in the loft to the 
 centre and capped with an improved ventilator. 
 
 WAINSCOTING. 
 
 The sides of the School and class rooms will be wainscoted three feet 
 high, with planed and grooved inch boards, put up vertically, and capped 
 on a line with the sills of the windows. 
 
 PLATFORM. 
 
 A platform four by fifteen feet, eight inch rise, will be made for the 
 Teacher’s desk, with a black-board five feet in height or width, the same 
 length as the platform. 
 
 PIN RAILS. 
 
 Pin rails will be put in the clothes rooms, and eight dozen hooks of an 
 approved kind, well secured to the same; and pin-rails or slabs, four inches 
 wide, round the main room for maps, &c., at such height as ordered by 
 committee. 
 
 CELLAR DOOR AND STEPS. 
 
 A set of cellar door cheeks and sill of heart pine, will be put up, and 
 cellar door made and hung with straps and hooks, and secured with a hasp 
 and padlock; a strong step-ladder will also be made to lead into the cellar. 
 Outside steps and platform of wood will be made, for each entrance door, 
 and two iron scrapers secured to each of them. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted will receive three coats of pure 
 white lead and best linseed oil, and be finished in plain colors. The sash to 
 be glazed .with the best American glass, well bedded, sprigged and puttied. 
 The size of the glass in the double windows twelve by sixteen inches, 
 twelve lights in each frame, and in the single windows twelve by sixteen 
 inches, eighteen lights in each. 
 
 PRIVIES AND FENCING. 
 
 The well will be squared up with masonry, and a brick building put 
 thereon, ten by ten feet on the outside, and seven feet high in the clear, to 
 be roofed in with shingles, and the same to project one foot from the walls; 
 to be divided into two apartments, a slat window in each, battoned doors 
 to be made, hung and secured with latches; to be plastered on the inside 
 and fitted up with seats and risers, with a close flue, eight inches square, 
 from the floor to the height of eighteen inches above the comb of roof. 
 
 A close grooved fence will be put up seven feet high, from the centre 
 of the School-house to the centre of the privy, dividing the yard into 
 two parts, the length to be determined by the Directors. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 55 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The materials are all to be of the best quality, and the lumber well sea¬ 
 soned; all requisite hardware to be furnished to complete the building and 
 of the best quality, and the workmanship of the different parts to be done 
 in a neat and substantial manner. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building, averaging the material and labor as in the 
 preceding plans, would be, completed acccording to the specification, eleven 
 hundred and fifty dollars. 
 
 CLASS II. — No. 2. 
 
 This neat structure is designed for two distinct Schools, but so arranged 
 by means of a movable glass partition, as to be thrown into one whenever 
 required. The plan will serve equally well for two Schools of different 
 grades in a thickly settled country District, as for two of the same grade or 
 of different sexes in a small town. As already several times stated, the 
 platforms and black-boards should be extended the whole breadth of the 
 back of the study rooms, and the back windows should have blinds or 
 curtains. 
 
 The full capacity of such a house is that of one hundred and twelve Pupils. 
 If, for the instruction of this number, three Teachers — one principal and two 
 
56 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 assistants — were employed, a more desirable building or efficient system 
 of instruction could hardly be conceived. While two of the Teachers 
 were engaged in the class-rooms attending to recitations, the other, by 
 means of the glass partition could preserve order in both rooms, and also 
 hear a recitation or attend to some other part of School-room duty, not re¬ 
 quiring the privacy of the class-room. 
 
 In this, as in all other cases, the class-rooms should have ample black¬ 
 board surface. In fact, live feet in height all around their walls, commen¬ 
 cing two feet from the floor, should be devoted to this purpose. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This plan represents the ground floor of a building thirty by forty feet, 
 with a projecting wing ten by twenty-live feet; story fourteen feet in the 
 
 a. Boys’ entrance and clothes or recita¬ 
 tion room, 8 by II feet. 
 
 b. Girls’ entrance and clothes or recita¬ 
 tion room, 8 by 11 feet. 
 
 cc. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 d. Passage two feet wide. 
 ff. F lues, one for smoke and one for a ven¬ 
 tiduct. 
 
 gg. Teachers’ desks on platforms, 4 by 9 
 feet. 
 
 m. Cellar entrance. 
 
 [Note. — The remaining numbers of 
 this class will bo specified only where 
 they differ from the first of the class ; and 
 reference to', preceding plans, will always 
 be understood to extend only to those of 
 the class to which the plan belongs. ] 
 
 EXCAVATIONS 
 
 Will be the same, as in No. 1, excepting for the additional wing, the 
 foundations of wdiich will be sunk two leet below the surface of the ground. 
 
 WALLS 
 
 Will be of stone, laid in the same manner, and of the same thickness, 
 and rough-casted down to the pointed base, as in the preceding plan. 
 
 An additional wall will be built in the cellar, formed by piers four feet 
 wide and sixteen inches thick, (the openings at the head to be arched,) to 
 support the ends of the joists, and the glass partition. 
 
 FLUES 
 
 Will be built of brick, well pargeted, and topped out smoothly; along¬ 
 side of each smoke flue, one will be made for a ventiduct twelve by eighteen 
 inches, with iron registers inserted in the same, top and bottom, to be brought 
 together by an air-tight wooden shaft in the loft, and completed up to the 
 ventilator on the roof, of the full capacity of both ventiducts. 
 
 clear, and pitch of roof thirteen feet. 
 
 
 
 cn 
 
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CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 57 
 
 SILLS 
 
 Of the doors and windows will also be of hammer dressed stone, and of 
 the same size as in No. 1, of this class. 
 
 PLASTERING 
 
 Will be done in the same manner as in the preceding. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists will be three by twelve inches, and will bear upon the 
 ends and centre wall. The ceiling joists will be two by twelve inches, 
 laid parallel with the parti¬ 
 tion ; the rafters the same 
 size, and notched to project 
 over the wall to support the 
 eave, and framed with one 
 and a half inch collar beam 
 across them. 
 
 WING. 
 
 The flooring joists of the 
 wing will be three by eight 
 inches, and ceiling joists 
 three by five inches; in 
 other respects the same as 
 in the preceding plan. 
 
 Slate may be used for this building, if convenient and approved of by the 
 Directors. The windows will all be made plank or casing, and moulded 
 on the outside; the sash and inside shutters will be made the same, and 
 hung in the same manner, as the preceding No. of this class. The front 
 double window, eave and ventilator on the roof, will be explained by details 
 in plates Nos. 1, 2 and 3, “Architectural Details.” A sash partition will 
 divide the building into two rooms ; the sash to be double hung with the best 
 axle pulleys, patent cord and weights; sash one and a half inches thick ;— 
 a sash door will be made in one of the openings one and a half inches thick, 
 hung with three and a half inch butts, and secured with a mortice lock; the 
 glass to range with those of the partition, and the space above to be filled 
 up with a transom-sash, on a line with the same at the top. The walls 
 will be wainscoted up to the height of the window sills, and the same will 
 be continued on each side of the partition, and done as in the preceding plan. 
 Two platforms for Teachers’ desks will be in this building, four by nine feet 
 each. The floors, jambs and dressings, doors, black-boards, pin-rails and 
 clothes hooks, map rails, cellar door, &c., and privies and fencing, will be as 
 in the preceding. In this plan it is intended to have movable book cases, 
 which are to be made of the number form and size to be ordered by the 
 8 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE 
 
 58 
 
 Directors. The painting and glazing will be as in the preceding; size of 
 glass will be fourteen by sixteen inches, twelve lights in each frame; 
 the size of the partition glass will be twelve by sixteen inches. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 All the material and workmanship will be of the best quality, and all 
 completed, in every particular, according to this specification or the prece¬ 
 ding one as referred to, and all to be done to the satisfaction of the building 
 committee or board of Directors. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The estimate of a building according to this plan would be fourteen 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 CLASS II. —No. 3. 
 
 The general plan of this house differs mainly in size from the preceding 
 one. It is of the same grade and designed for the same uses. The class or 
 clothes rooms are somewhat larger and therein it excels the other; but the 
 arrangement of the Pupils’ and Teachers’ seats and desks does not seem to 
 
 be so convenient. It will probably be found that the Teacher’s desk on a 
 long platform, had better be at the back of the room, on the opposite side 
 from the entrances, and that the Pupils should all face in that direction. 
 Thus arranged, this building would conveniently and safely seat one hun¬ 
 dred and forty-four Pupils, and find employment for one principal and two or 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 59 
 
 three assistant Teachers, of whom two could hear classes in the recitation 
 rooms, and the other one or two attend to order and hear lessons in the 
 study rooms. 
 
 An additional window should be put in what will be the west end, if the 
 back of the building be placed towards the north. In that case one double 
 window will be sufficient in the back or north side, placed in the middle of 
 it, so as to open into both study rooms; and the second book closet should 
 be transferred from the south-east to the north-west corner of the building. 
 
 SPECIFICATION'. 
 
 The size of the main part of this building is thirty-two by fifty-four feet, 
 and of the wing or projecting lobbies eight by twenty-eight feet; the story 
 is fourteen feet high in the clear, and pitch of roof six feet. 
 
 a. Entrance for boys, and 
 clothes room, 7 by 12 
 feet. 
 
 a. Entrance for girls, and 
 clothes room. 
 
 c. Closets for books, &c. 
 
 d. Seats for two Pupils 
 
 each. 
 
 e. Passages 2 feet wide. 
 ff. Smoke flues. 
 
 vv. Yentiducts. 
 to. Entrance to cellar. 
 gg. Teacher’s desks on 
 platforms 4 by 13 feet. 
 
 The differences between this plan and the first of the class will only be 
 specified. The whole will be excavated, excepting that portion under the 
 wing; and the walls will be the same thickness as those of the plan before 
 mentioned, with the additional wall in the cellar, for the support of the 
 glass partitions. The rough-casting will be done in the same manner, (com¬ 
 mencing with the pointed base,) and the rustic corners, and the window 
 heads on the principal front, will be formed of the same material. The sills of 
 the doors and windows will be of stone, as in the preceding, and sizes similar. 
 
 The interior plastering will be the same; the ventiducts in this building 
 will be formed in the walls, smoothly plastered on the inside, and the front 
 lining to be of sound inch boards, well secured to grounds on the wall; they 
 will be made eight by twenty-four inches in the clear, and in the loft will 
 be continued to the bell frame, which will also be arranged for a venti¬ 
 lator, and the shaft in the loft will be of the full capacity of the vertical 
 ducts, and air-tight. 
 
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60 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 The carpenter work not specified, will be as in the first of this class; 
 the timbers will be the same size, and laid in the same manner as in 
 
 the plan No. 2, Class II. — 
 The rafters will be notched, 
 to extend over the wall to 
 build the eaves upon. The 
 rafters will be covered with 
 quartered boarding, well nail¬ 
 ed to the same, and prepared 
 for metal roofing, and overlaid 
 with tin in the same manner, 
 and of the same quality as in 
 No. 6, of Class I. The win¬ 
 dow frames will be made plank front or casing, and sash of the same kind, 
 and made and hung, as in the preceding plan. The windows in the prin¬ 
 cipal front will have inside shutters in two folds to the jamb, and hung and 
 fastened in the usual manner. The other windows will have outside shut¬ 
 ters, paneled flat and moulded, one and a half inches thick, hung with straps 
 and hooks, and secured with ten inch shutter bolts; though generally it 
 is recommended to have inside shutters or blinds for convenience, the cost 
 being about the same as outside. If inside shutters are preferred, they 
 should be made as above and to open against the jamb, without boxes. A 
 partition divides this into two rooms, and as in the former, the sash is to 
 be double hung, and one opening finished with a sash door. The bell 
 tower, eave and front window will be explained by details in plates Nos. 
 2 and 4, “ Architectural Details.” The floors, jambs and dressings, doors, 
 blackboards, pin and map rails and clothes hooks, cellar door, &c., privies 
 and fencing will be as in the preceding. 
 
 The materials and workmanship of this jflan will be of the best quality, 
 and every thing necessary to complete the building in all its parts to be 
 furnished by the contractor, according to this specification or references. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The estimate of a building according to this plan, could be completed 
 tor sixteen hundred dollars. 
 
 CLASS 11. — N o . 4. 
 
 The main difference between this and the preceding house is in the ma¬ 
 terial ; the estimate being for brick. It has the full length platform, and 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 61 
 
 if two of the back windows were dispensed with, an increased black-board 
 surface could be obtained. The arrangement would then be complete in 
 these respects. To retain a full supply of light and air, an additional window 
 might be placed in each end of the building, without increasing the num¬ 
 ber or the cost in the specification. 
 
 In all the houses of this class, the clothes rooms, as such, are sufficiently 
 large; but if used, as they should be, for recitation purposes, they will be 
 found rather small. Larger dimensions might therefore be given to this 
 part of the building, at slight inctease of cost, and to the great advantage of 
 the School. 
 
 This building is calculated for one hundred and twenty-eight Pupils — 
 two Schools of sixty-four each; and with a principal and two assistant 
 Teachers of the right kind, its effect would no doubt be as beneficial as its 
 appearance would be creditable to the place of its location. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The general plan of this building differs from No. 3, only in the arrange¬ 
 ment of the seats, and Teachers’ platforms. The size of building is the 
 same, and also tlie pitch of the roof. 
 
 This plan is intended for a brick building, and as such will be described; 
 but if stone is the most convenient material where it is to be located, the 
 article will suit, by making the walls accordingly. 
 
 EXCAVATIONS 
 
 Will be made as in the last. The cellar walls up to the surface of the 
 
62 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 ground, will be of stone, also the division wall in the cellar, and of the same 
 thickness, as described in the foregoing plan. 
 
 The two front door sills will be of cut stone, twelve inches wide on the 
 top face, and eight inches rise. 
 
 CZ3 □ a 
 
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 a czirLZd a 
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 td [d HU CD 
 
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 / 
 
 a. Boys’ entrance and 
 
 clothes room, 8 by 
 12 feet. 
 
 b. Girls’ entrance and 
 
 clothes room, 8 by 
 12 feet. 
 
 cc. Teachers’ desks on 
 platforms 4 feet by 
 the width of the 
 room. 
 
 dd. Seats for two Pu¬ 
 pils each. 
 
 ee. Passages 2 ft. wide. 
 /. Passages 3 ft. wide. 
 gg. Seats for recitation 
 hh. Closets for books. 
 kk. Smoke flues. 
 
 l. Glass partition. 
 
 m. Entrance to cellar. 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 THE WALLS 
 
 Of this building from the surface of the ground upwards, will be of well 
 burnt brick; up to the line of base eighteen inches thick, and above that 
 line fifteen inches, being a thirteen inch wall spread two inches, making a 
 hollow space between the inside four inches, and the outside nine inches, to 
 
 prevent dampness from pen¬ 
 etrating the same. The two 
 surfaces will be bonded to¬ 
 gether with alternate head¬ 
 ers every fifth course. The 
 base will project two inches; 
 cellar windows will be form¬ 
 ed in the base, and furnished 
 in the usual manner with 
 iron guards. The outer 
 surface of the walls will be 
 faced with the best rubbed 
 stretchers, and the mortar 
 must be composed of clean sharp sand, and wood-burnt lime. The plas¬ 
 tering will be done like No. 3, excepting that the brick walls will not be 
 lathed, but will receive the mortar direct. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK 
 
 Will be done in the same manner as the last, with very few exceptions, 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 63 
 
 which will be noted, and the timbers likewise will be the same, and of the 
 same quality. The windows will be made plank front or casing, with 
 wooden sub-sills and heads; and the shutters will be one and a half inches 
 thick, flat panel and moulded, hung on the outside Math straps and hooks 
 and secured with ten inch shutter bolts. The ceiling joists will be laid on 
 the wall plates; and in this building the plancher will be level, for which, 
 and for the cupola and front window head see “ Architectural Details,” 
 plates Nos. 1, 2 and 3. The roof will be overlaid with tin as in the last. 
 The sash partition, floors, jambs and mouldings, doors, closets, map rails, 
 black-boards, pin rails and clothes pins, ventiducts, cellar door and steps, and 
 outside steps of wood, privies and fencing, will be as in the preceding plans. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work which it is usual to paint, will be painted with three 
 coats, and sash glazed with the best American glass; the size will be twelve 
 by fifteen inches, eighteen lights to each frame ; the glass of the partition 
 will be the same height and ten inches wide. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 All the foregoing work will be done in the best manner, and all materials 
 necessary to complete the building, must be of the best quality, including 
 every thing referred to in the preceding plans. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building, according to the plan and specification, would 
 be eighteen hundred dollars. 
 
 CLASS II. —No. 5. 
 
 This is the most complete as well as the most expensive, of the buildings 
 of its class. The double entrances to each room —- one in front and one in 
 rear — will be found very convenient. If the apartments designated as 
 “ boys’ ” and “ girls’ ” clothes rooms on the ground plan, be used for recita¬ 
 tion purposes, their entire privacy may be effected by using the front en¬ 
 trances for ordinary purposes, during School hours. There is also, here, a 
 long platform, which if placed on the opposite side of the room where there 
 are no windows, will both give greater black-board space and afford a safer 
 and more pleasant light to the pupiis’ eyes, without any increase of cost. 
 
 The bell is an indispensable requisite to the School, and with its neat 
 belfry, forms quite an ornament to this building. It should always be rung 
 .a reasonable time before the commencement of the exercises, to enable Pu- 
 
64 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 pils, by increased speed, to be in their seats in due time; and the ringing 
 of it, at the close of the fore and afternoon session, will enable parents within 
 
 its sound, to km>w whether that loitering on the way home, which should 
 not be permitted, has been practiced. It need scarcely be stated, that it is 
 the Teacher’s duty to be on the ground some time before the regular ex¬ 
 ercises commence, and to be the last person on it after they close. If he 
 practice this duty rigidly himself, and also hold his Pupils responsible for the 
 propriety of their behavior on the way to and from School, he will soon 
 find that their promptness and regularity will increase. 
 
 a. Outside porch and en¬ 
 trance for Teachers, 
 4 by 8 ft. in the clear. 
 bb. Teachers’ desks ; plat¬ 
 forms 4 by 18 feet, 8 
 inch rise. 
 
 c. Boys’ entrance and 
 
 clothes room, 8 by 12 
 feet. 
 
 d. Girls’ entrance and 
 
 clothes room, 8 by 12 
 feet. 
 
 ee. Closets for books, &c. 
 fp. Gas flues. 
 
 «g. Seats for two Pupils 
 h. Passagestwo feet wide, 
 each. 
 
 k. Entrance to the cellar, 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OR RURAL SCHOOL HOUSES! 
 
 65 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The ground plan of this building differs from the last in the arrangement 
 of the seats, and in having an outside lobby, or covered porch, on the front. 
 The main building is the same size; the material is brick, with pilasters pro¬ 
 jecting from the surface of the walls; the pitch of this roof is six feet. 
 
 This plan is intended for a brick building, and the difference between it 
 and the one preceding, is mainly in the exterior, which will be described 
 in this place, and more fully explained by details. 
 
 The excavations and stone work of the cellar and foundations, will be as 
 in the last; the foundations of the front porch to be done in the same 
 manner as those of the back wing, and from the surface of the ground up¬ 
 wards, to be of brick; to the height of the base eighteen inches thick, 
 and alcove that height, a nine inch wall spread two inches on the centre; 
 and the pilasters will project four inches from that surface, which will 
 make the wall in the recesses eleven inches, and through the pilasters fif¬ 
 teen inches. The gas 
 flues will be thoroughly 
 pargeted, and topped 
 out according to the ele- 
 evation; the outside sur¬ 
 face of the wall will be 
 built of the best rubbed 
 stretchers, or pressed 
 bricks, arid be laid in i 
 the best manner with the joints smoothly struck. The floor of the porch 
 will be paved with the same kind of brick as those with which the outside 
 surface of the wall is built.- 
 
 * CUT STONE, &c. 
 
 The door sills and steps to the front porch will be of cut stone, each to 
 be twelve inches on the top face, and eight inch rise, smoothly dressed and 
 solidly set. The plastering will be done in the same manner as in the 
 last. 
 
 MATERIALS AND CARPENTER WORK 
 
 Will be the same, and the difference in the work will be in the eave and 
 bell tower. The latter will be constructed for a ventilator as in No. 3, and 
 according to “ Architectural.Details,” plate No. 4. The window sash, par¬ 
 tition, doors, jambs and dressings, black-boards, map and pin rails and 
 clothes hooks, ventiducts, closets, cellar door and steps, privies and fencing, 
 will be as in No. 3. The roof will be of tin as in the preceding. The 
 painting and glazing and the size of the glass will be the same as in 
 No. 4. 
 
 9 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 c@. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The materials in the above plan to be all of the best quality, and every 
 thing requisite to finish the building to be furnished by the contractor at 
 his own cost and expense, and the workmanship of the different parts, to 
 be according to the plans, elevations and details; and to be done in a neat 
 and substantial manner, and to the satisfaction of the building committee. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building, according to the plan and specification, would 
 be two thousand dollars. 
 
 N. B. In the erection of this class of buildings, should Directors think 
 proper to leave out the glass partitions, and make one large room, it can 
 be done, as they are designed with that object in view. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 67 
 
 IV. CONSTRUCTION OP SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 ON THE SIZE, FORM, MATERIAL AND INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS GRADES 
 
 OP SCHOOL-HOUSES REQUIRED IN VILLAGES AND SMALL TOWNS, WHETHER FOR SEPA¬ 
 RATE OR UNION GRADED SCHOOLS. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 In arranging the Schools and system of instruction in towns with from 
 about one hundred and fifty to five hundred Pupils, (for which the plans in 
 this class are designed) the first question to be determined is, whether the 
 Separate or the Union graded system shall prevail. If the former, then the 
 Schools being necessarily separate — each with about fifty Pupils and one 
 Teacher — one or other of the plans in class I, will be suitable for the pur¬ 
 pose ; or possibly some of those in class II may be required to accommodate 
 a School with over fifty Pupils and an assistant Teacher. 
 
 But if the Union system be adopted, (by which all the Pupils are brought 
 into the same building,) a house of the capacity and arrangement of one or 
 other in this (third) class w r ill be requisite. And if the number of Pupils 
 approach five hundred it may even become necessary, either to enlarge the 
 dimensions of the plan selected from the third class, cr to resort to one of 
 those in class IV. 
 
 It is found by experience that nearly two-thirds of the youth of School 
 age, in a town or other District, belong to the Primary, and a little over 
 one-third to the higher grades; and that of those above the primary grade, 
 something more than two-thirds belong to the Grammar grade, and some¬ 
 what less than cne-third, (or about one-tenth of the whole number) to the 
 High. Hence, dividing the whole number into ten equal parts, Directors 
 will be safe in providing Primary Schools for six-tenths, Grammar Schools 
 for three-tenths, and a High School for one-tenth. The time may, and it is 
 to be hoped will, soon come when a larger proportion than this shall seek 
 the benefits of the higher studies; but these being about the present pro¬ 
 portions, they are mentioned as affording some guide in making School¬ 
 room arrangements. 
 
 Thus, in a District with one hundred and fifty Pupils of all ages, two 
 Primary Schools with about fifty Pupils in each, and one Grammar School 
 with the same number, and each with its separate Teacher, will be needed, 
 
68 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 under the Separate system; while, on the Union plan, the same number of 
 Teachers—-one principal and two assistants, in one building — will be 
 required. So, a District with three hundred Pupils on the Separate plan, 
 will have four Primary Schools with forty-five Pupils in each, two secon¬ 
 dary with forty-five in each, and one High with thirty; that being none 
 too few to have full justice done them by one Teacher of the higher branches. 
 If the same three hundred be collected together under the Union system, 
 there may be, possibly, one Teacher less in the primary department, and 
 therefore a saving to that extent. 
 
 In arranging the Schools, Directors should have an eye to the future as 
 well as the present. Most of our Districts, and especially the towns, are 
 regularly, and many of them rapid!} 7 , growing in population. It will be well, 
 therefore, to make a liberal provision of School-room, so as to meet the de¬ 
 mands of this growth, at least for several years to come ; and in purchasing 
 lots for Schools in towns, place should be obtained and reserved for an ad¬ 
 ditional building on each, when necessary. 
 
 This last remark is, however, more ajqriicable to Districts with the Sepa¬ 
 rate than the Union system of graded Schools. In the latter, when the 
 number of Pupils materially exceeds five hundred, (which would give about 
 three hundred in the Primary, one hundred and fifty in the Grammar, and 
 fifty in the High departments) probably the better mode of providing for 
 the wants of such increasing population will be the erection of an additional 
 Union School, in another part of the town. By this means the various 
 sections will be better accommodated, the congregation of an undue number 
 of Pupils at the same point avoided, and a generous emulation be estab¬ 
 lished between the two Schools. 
 
 As this class of plans embraces the first structures, higher than one story, 
 that have been presented in this Manual, it becomes proper to call attention 
 to the importance of providing large entries and passages and wide stair¬ 
 ways, in all such buildings. In the construction of stairs no slight hand 
 rails should be permitted. The sides should be solidly and strongly boarded 
 in, so as to resist pressure in time of a sudden alarm ; and the width should 
 be such as to give egress to the inmates, in the shortest possible time. No 
 economical considerations will ever justify or excuse those dreadful occur¬ 
 rences, which have arisen from the insufficiency of stairway and entr_y 
 accommodations, in times of School panic. To remove all danger from 
 this source, as well as to increase general convenience, every story of a 
 School-house higher than one story, should have two stairways and two 
 outlets. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 69 
 
 CLASS III. — No. 1. 
 
 From the presence of trees and shrubbery around this building, it must 
 not be supposed that it is a rural School. On the contrary, it is mainly 
 designed for large villages and the smaller class of boroughs. But the 
 artist has shown his taste by allowing a good sized lot, and throwing in 
 those natural embellishments which should adorn every School, whether in 
 town or country. 
 
 There are four School-rooms in this building, averaging about twenty-five 
 feet square, and each capable of seating forty-five or fifty Pupils comforta¬ 
 bly. It may, therefore, be called a School for two hundred Pupils. 
 
 The arrangement as shown on the plan of the lower story is probably 
 not the best that might be made. If the desks were ranged in rows of six 
 each, the Pupils facing the blank partition next the entries and stairs, where 
 
 also an extended platform and black-board should be placed, it would add to 
 the completeness and comfort of the rooms. In that case the communicating 
 doors in the sash partitions should be near the platforms, and the middle 
 passages wider than the others, say not less than three feet. Advantage 
 might also be taken of the slight difference in the size of the two rooms 
 on the same floor, by assigning the smaller ones to the younger divisions, 
 whose seats and desks will, of course, be less than the others. Thus each 
 room would still accommodate the same number. 
 
 The building should, if practicable, be placed with its greatest length 
 
TO 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 extending from east to west. This position will throw the light most 
 equally and pleasantly into all the rooms. 
 
 FIRST STORY FOR BOYS. 
 
 a. Entrance and lobby for boys, G by 8 feet. 
 
 b. Entrance for girls and stairs leading to 
 
 the second story. 
 
 c. Closet for books and apparatus. 
 dd. Closets for buckets and brushes. 
 ee. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 ff. Flues for gas or warm air. 
 
 gg. Teachers’ desks, on platform 4 by 12 feet. 
 
 h. Door-way in the partition. 
 
 k. Passages two feet wide. 
 
 l. Teachers’ room, 6 by 15 feet. 
 in. Entrance to the cellar. 
 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 The artist has omitted a closet for books and apparatus on the second 
 story. This is an oversight; and should, by all means, be included. It 
 
 may be taken off the Teachers 5 
 room, and should be of liberal size. 
 
 SECOND STORY FOR GIRLS. 
 
 a. Teachers’ room, 6 by 18 feet. 
 
 b. Clothes room, 9 by 10 feet. 
 
 c. Passage. 
 
 d. School-room, 24 by 26 feet. 
 
 e. School-room 34 by 24 feet. 
 g. Stairs. 
 
 vvvv. Ventiducts. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This is the plan of a framed building thirty-four feet wide on the front, 
 and fifty deep on the flank; two stories high, first fourteen and second 
 thirteen feet, each in the clear of floor and ceiling; and pitch of roof seven 
 feet. This being the first of this class of buildings, a full specification is 
 given as follows: 
 
 EXCAVATION. 
 
 The cellar will be excavated seven feet deep, in clear of floor and lower 
 edge of joists, the cellar door-way likewise; and the trenches for the cellar 
 walls six inches below the cellar level; a well for a privy will be dug twelve 
 feet deep, six feet in diameter, circular, and bricked up with a dry four inch 
 hard brick wall. All rubbish and earth, not required for leveling or grading 
 around the building, will be removed from the premises, according to the 
 direction of the Directors or their committee. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The cellar walls will be built up of good building stone, sixteen inches 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 71 
 
 thick, tho height to receive the sills of the frame; and the stone work 
 above the level of the ground, to be neatly pointed on the outer surface. 
 Four piers will be built in the cellar eighteen inches square, to support the 
 glass partitions; the inside surface of the walls to be dashed. Two stacks of 
 chimney flues will be built up from the cellar, with two flues in each stack, 
 up from the second floor, and from that line upwards but one in each, 
 and topped out with good back stretchers; the flues to be each nine by 
 eighteen inches, and well pargeted; the mortar to be composed of clean 
 sharp sand and wood burnt lime. Open cast iron guards will be inserted 
 in the cellar windows for light and air. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The sills will be six by eight inches, of white oak. All the other tim¬ 
 bers of hemlock and pine:—Posts four by eight inches; ties and plates four 
 by six inches, and braces four by five; flooring-joists three by twelve, and 
 ceiling-joists two by ten, and the joists and studding placed sixteen inches 
 between centres, and flooring joists backed with three quarters of an inch 
 crown, and two lines of lattice bridging secured in each floor. All studding 
 will be placed the four inches in the thickness of the wall. A trussed par¬ 
 tition will be made in the loft over the glass partitions; the sill or tie beam 
 four by ten, braces four by eight, and plate and struts four by five, well 
 bolted at the heel, and a one and quarter inch iron rod through the centre, 
 securely fastened at the ends. The pole plate, three by twelve inches, will 
 rest upon the trussed partition, right and left, and the rafters to bear upon 
 all in the usual manner. The valley rafters to be three by ten inch joists, 
 and the others the usual cut and placed twenty-two inches between centres; 
 to be lathed and covered with the best white pine or cypress shingles, 
 butted and jointed. The partitions to be three by four inches, and between 
 each box of the glass partition (in the first story,) a piece of timber three 
 inches thick, with a plate at top, will be secured for the support of the 
 second floor of joists. In the second story the arrangement is to be such 
 that one partition may be removed, should it be deemed necessary, without 
 impairing the strength of the building. 
 
 OUTSIDE FINISH. 
 
 The weather-boarding will be inch, planed, ploughed and over dropped; 
 the window dressings will be a plain architrave with a weather strip over 
 the top. The door head and eave will be according to “ Architectural 
 Details,” plate No. 5. 
 
 WINDOWS 
 
 Will all be made with boxes for double hanging, sash one and a half 
 inches thick, and hung with the best pulley cord and weights; rolling blinds 
 will be made one and a half inches thick, (or panel shutters, moulded on one 
 
72 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 side, and bead and butt on the other, as Directors may order,) hung with 
 straps and hooks, and secured with eight inch shutter bolts. 
 
 FLOORS, &c. 
 
 "R ill be ol heart pine one inch thick, ploughed and grooved, well nailed 
 
 to the joists and joints shot. 
 Stairs will be built on strong 
 bearers, and steps of one 
 and a quarter inch oak or 
 ash, to be enclosed within 
 a planed and grooved par¬ 
 tition, continued three feet 
 above the second floor, and 
 capped on the top. A flight 
 will also be continued to 
 the cellar, with a door hung 
 
 at the head. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The outside doors will be made one and three quarter inches thick, bead 
 and butt on the inside, moulded on the outside, hung with four by four 
 inch butts, and secured with a good quality of knob rim lock. The doors 
 will be hung in pairs to open outwards. The inside room doors will all 
 be one a half inches, hung with three and a half by three and a half inch 
 butts, and secured with cottage rim locks. Closet doors will all be one and 
 a quarter inches, hung with three inch butts, and secured with good closet 
 locks. 
 
 DRESSINGS. 
 
 The jambs of the doors will be an inch thick, with a hanging stile three 
 inches wide, nailed on the same, and a two inch moulding covering the joint 
 of plastering. The same finish will be put on the windows. 
 
 GLASS PARTITIONS. 
 
 The partitions dividing the two rooms will be composed of sash one and 
 a half inches thick, double hung; and in one of the openings will be a sash 
 door one and a half inches thick, hung with three and a half by three and 
 a half inch butts, and secured with lock as the other doors; and above the 
 door a transom sash will be made, to make the glass correspond in height 
 with the windows. 
 
 WAINSCOTING, &c. 
 
 The School-rooms will be wainscoted the height of the window sills, and 
 the partitions also, with planed and grooved boards, and capped on the top. 
 The wash boards in entries and clothes rooms will be eight inches wide, 
 including a moulding on the top. Rails for maps, &c., will be inserted in 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 7S 
 
 the walls of the main rooms, at such height as may be directed. The 
 closets will be fitted up neatly with shelving, and pin rails will be put up 
 in the clothes rooms, and a sufficient number of clothes hooks put up for 
 the accommodation of the pupils, to be of the best quality. 
 
 VENTILATION. 
 
 Flues will be made for each room, of strong boards,^smoothed on the 
 inside and air-tight, to be continued direct to the loft from each story; and 
 from the vertical ducts to the ventilator on the roof, a shaft, well made, 
 equal in capacity to the four, and capped on the top with a ventilator. 
 The ducts will be six inches by twenty-four in the clear. 
 
 CELLAR. 
 
 Cheeks, sill, and door, will be made to the cellar entrance ; the door hung 
 with straps and hook, and secured on the outside with a hasp and pad lock. 
 Strong steps will be made and secured in the doorway, and outside steps 
 according to the elevations. 
 
 * TIN WORK. 
 
 The valley and gutters will be properly tinned, and arranged to convey 
 the water to four by three inch conductors, which will be continued to the 
 ground, and finished with shoes at the bottom. The gutters and valleys to 
 be painted two coats of red lead. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 All the interior to be plastered two coats of brown mortar, and one of 
 hard white finish; the mortar to be composed of clean sharp sand, and 
 wood burnt lime, and well mixed with slaughtered hair. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted will receive three coats of pure 
 white lead and linseed oil, in such tints as directed. The sash will be all 
 glazed with the best American glass, well bedded and back puttied. The 
 size of the glass to be twelve by fifteen inches, eighteen lights to a frame, 
 and those of the partitions to correspond. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The lumber to be all of the best quality, and properly seasoned, and all 
 hardware necessary to complete the building, to be of the most approved 
 kind and manufacture; and all other material, and the workmanship re¬ 
 quired to carry out the plan and specification, to be of the best quality, and 
 all to be done to the satisfaction of the Directors or their proper committee. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of the building, according to the specification, taking the average 
 of material and labor throughout the State, will be twenty-five hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CLASS III. —No. 2. 
 
 This building will be found very suitable for a small Grammar School 
 in any district having separate Primary Schools. The males may be placed 
 on the lower and the females on the upper story; or, if taught together, one 
 floor can be devoted to the first and the other to the second division. 
 
 Each story will readily accommodate fifty Pupils. It would probably be 
 better to remove the Teacher’s platform, on both floors, from the front of 
 the large end windows, and to place them at the opposite side of the rooms. 
 This, by reversing the position of the Pupils, will save their eyes from an 
 unnecessary glare of light. It will also afford greater blacK-board space 
 behind the Teacher, and enable the platform to be extended from one side 
 door to the other, without loss of floor space. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This being the first stone building of this class, a full specification is 
 given. The size is to be twenty-seven feet on front, by thirty-five feet 
 deep; two stories high, first fourteen feet, and second thirteen feet, each 
 in the clear of floor and ceiling; pitch of roof six feet. 
 
 EXCAVATION. 
 
 The cellar will be excavated seven feet deep in the clear of floor and 
 lower edge of joists; a cellar doorway, also, and trenches, six inches below 
 the cellar level; a well for a privy will be dug twelve feet deep, and six 
 feet in diameter, and bricked up with a dry four inch hard brick wall. All 
 surplus earth and rubbish to be removed from the premises. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 75 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 a. Girls entrance and approach to the second story. 
 
 b. Boys entrance and lobby eight by ten feet. 
 
 c. Closet for books, &c. 
 
 d. Passages two teet wide. 
 
 e. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 ff. Flues for gas or warm air. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk and platform four by twelve feet. 
 
 h. Seats for three Pupils each, or recitation. 
 
 k. Entrance to boys clothes room, under stairs. 
 
 l. Cellar stair door. 
 
 m. Outside cellar door. 
 v. Ventiduct. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The walls will be made of good building stone, laid upon their broadest 
 beds, and well and solidly bedded in mortar. The thickness up to the base 
 line around the building will be twenty inches, and above that line eighteen 
 inches; the inside wall dashed with mortar, and the outside up to the line 
 base to be neatly pointed. The foundations of the flues will be built up 
 with stone to the line of the first floor; and above that will be of brick, 
 well pargeted, and topped out the usual height above the roof, with back 
 stretchers, and joints neatly struck on the exterior. All the plain surface 
 of the walls will be stuccoed with mortar, composed of clean sharp sand, and 
 wood burnt lime. The door sills will be 
 of cut stone, eighteen inches wide on the 
 top face, and eight inches rise. Open 
 iron window guards will be inserted in 
 the cellar windows. 
 
 SECOND STORY. 
 
 a. Lobby and entrance to second story School-room. 
 
 b. Clothes room, eight by ten feet. 
 
 c. Closet. 
 
 f. Flues. 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The joists in the first and second stories will be three by fourteen inches, 
 backed with three quarters of an inch crown, and two lines of cross bridg¬ 
 ing through each floor. The ceiling joists will be two by ten; and directly 
 under the cupola two girders will be placed, four by twelve inches, and a 
 single trussed rafter formed on each. All the joists will be placed sixteen 
 inches between centres. The rafters will be the usual cut, and placed two 
 feet between centres, well secured on the raising piece, and a one and half 
 inch collar beam spiked across them. The cupola eave and outside dressings 
 will be in accordance with “Architectural Details,” plates Nos. 5 and 6. 
 The rafters will be closely boarded, and prepared for metal roofing. Floors 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 7 6 
 
 will be laid with heart pine hoards one and a quarter inches thick, planed 
 
 and grooved, well nailed to the joists 
 and joints shot. Platforms for the 
 Teacher’s desks to be made where 
 marked out on the plan, and map 
 rails to be inserted in the walls. 
 Partitions will be made with three 
 by four inch scantling, placed four 
 inches in the thickness, and six¬ 
 teen inches between centres, well 
 secured to floor and ceiling, and 
 bridged across the centre. Stairs 
 will be constructed on strong bearers, 
 and enclosed within a planed and 
 grooved partition of inch boards, 
 which will extend three feet above 
 
 the top. The steps to be one and a quarter inches thick, of oak. Stairs 
 will lead to the cellar on the inside, made in the usual manner of such 
 stairs. Closets will be made where drawn on the plan, and neatly shelved. 
 Pin rails will be put up in the clothes rooms, and a sufficient number best 
 quality clothes hooks properly secured to same. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 The window frames will be made with double boxes, and plank archi¬ 
 traves, according to the plan. The sash one and a half inches thick, hung 
 with the best sash cord, pulley and weights. Inside pannel shutters or 
 blinds will be made for all the windows, and hung with two folds to a jamb 
 without boxes, and secured with inside shutter hooks. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The outside doors will be made one and three quarter inches thick, and 
 moulded on one side, hung with four by four inch butts, and secured with 
 eight inch rim knob locks. The inside room doors will be one and a half 
 inches thick, moulded, hung with three and a half by three and a half inch 
 butts, and secured with three inch mortice locks. The closet doors will be 
 one and a quarter inches thick, hung with three inch butts, and secured 
 with the best closet locks. 
 
 DRESSINGS. 
 
 The jamb casings will be inch thick, with hanging stiles three inches 
 wide, and a two inch moulding to cover the joint of plastering. 
 
 The sides of the School-rooms will be wainscoted the height of the win¬ 
 dow sills, and be capped on the top; at the windows the inside sill will 
 finish the same. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 77 
 
 VENTIDUCTS. 
 
 Ventiducts will be inserted in the walls, and the front will be of 
 strong inch boards, screwed on to grounds secured to the walls; there 
 will be an opening at the top and bottom, with shutters to the same. 
 A horizontal shaft of the capacity of both will be made in the loft, to con¬ 
 nect with the cupola or belfry, as a ventilator. The vertical ducts to be 
 six by twenty-four inches in the clear. 
 
 CELLAR, &c. 
 
 A set of cellar door cheeks, sill and cellar door will be made, and hung 
 with straps and hooks, and fastened with hasp and padlock. A strong step 
 ladder will be secured in the cellar way. Outside steps, of wood, will be 
 made, and a movable step ladder to lead up to the belfry. 
 
 TIN ROOFING. 
 
 The roof will be overlaid with the best quality cross leaded roofing tin> 
 put on standing grooves, and well cleated to the boards; gutters will be 
 formed on the roof, and four three inch conductors will be required, with 
 shoes at the bottom. The tin to be painted two coats, the first to be red lead. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 All the walls and ceilings will be lathed, and plastered two coats of 
 brown mortar, and one of hard white finish. The mortar to be composed 
 of clean sharp sand, and wood burnt lime, and well mixed with slaughtered 
 hair. The jambs of the windows will be plastered, and angles rounded. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted, will be painted with three coats of pure 
 white lead and linseed oil, and finished in such tints as directed. The sash 
 will be glazed with the best American glass, well bedded, sprigged and puttied. 
 The size of the glass will be ten by fifteen inches, eighteen lights to a frame. 
 
 PRIVY AND FENCING. 
 
 The well will be squared up, and a building eight by twelve feet, of 
 brick, will be erected over the same; the walls above the floor will be tour 
 inches thick, to be covered with shingles, and batten doors to be hung, 
 and secured with latches and bolts. A partition will be put up in the cen¬ 
 tre, and each part neatly fitted up with seats and risers. The partition 
 walls and ceiling will be plastered, and the wood work painted in a proper 
 manner. Fencing will be put up, dividing the yards, as directed by the 
 Directors or committee. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The materials are all to be of the best quality. The lumber to be well 
 seasoned, and all requisite hardware, to be furnished, to complete the same. 
 The workmanship to be neatly and substantially done, according to the plan 
 and specification. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building would be two thousand six hundred dollars. 
 
78 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 CLASS III.— No. 3. 
 
 This building will suit a small town with only one hundred and fifty 
 Pupils, of all ages and both sexes. Each story will accommodate seventy- 
 two Pupils and require two Teachers, a principal and one assistant, if the 
 sexes be separately taught. 11 taught together, one principal and three as¬ 
 
 sistants will be required for both rooms. In that case, the first floor may be 
 devoted to the Primary Pupils, and the second to those of the Grammar 
 grade, males and females together. 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 % 
 
 □ □ □ LZJ 
 
 l_J L_J 1_1 I—_1 
 
 □ lzj □ □ 
 
 a □ □ a □ □ 
 
 □ □ □ nzj lzj nn 
 
 a a izz! cm a □ 
 
 that can be made of such a building will 
 room, to the Primary Pupils, under a pr 
 
 a. Girls’ entrance and approach to second 
 
 story. 
 
 b. Roys’ entrance and clothes room 4 by 10 
 
 feet. 
 
 cc. Closets for books and apparatus. 
 d. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 c. Passage 2 feet wide. 
 
 /. Flues for gas or warm air. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk and platform, 4 by 9 feet. 
 
 II. Seats with closets under them for maps. 
 m. Cellar door. 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 The chief defect of this plan is 
 the want of recitation rooms. 
 Probably the best arrangement 
 be to devote the first floor, in one 
 ineipal and an assistant Teacher 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 79 
 
 and to divide the second story into two rooms, by means of a partition, one 
 for the first and the other for the second division of the Grammar Pupils, 
 with a Teacher to each. This will remedy, to a great extent, the want 
 
 of class rooms. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This is a building twenty-seven 
 feet by thirty-six, two stories high; 
 first, fourteen feet, second, thirteen 
 feet, with an additional wing, eleven 
 by twenty-four feet; the pitch of the 
 roof is six feet. 
 
 SECOND STORY. 
 
 cc. Closets. 
 
 /. Flues. 
 
 £•. Teacher’s desk. 
 
 h. Girls’ clothes room, 9 by 11 feet. 
 
 1. Seats with closets under them for maps. 
 v. Ventiducts. 
 
 This requires no full speci¬ 
 fication, as the materials will 
 be the same as in No. 2, and 
 the thickness of the walls and 
 accommodations generally the 
 same. The work of the in¬ 
 terior will be the same ; and 
 on the exterior it will be ex¬ 
 plained fully by the details in 
 plate No. 5, “ Architectural 
 Details.” 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building 
 would be three thousand dol¬ 
 lars. 
 
 CLASS III. — No . 4. 
 
 This is the plan of a larger building than that of No. .3- It is to be of 
 brick, and the main difference from the last, consists in the division of each 
 
80 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 floor into two rooms by means of glass partitions; thus affording the 
 opportunity of having four independent Schools in the same building, or of 
 
 combining the whole together under one principal Teacher, on the Union 
 
 plan, as in No. 3. The chief 
 defect is the want of class 
 rooms. 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 a. Entrance for girls and approach to the 
 stairs. 
 
 b. Boys’ entrance and clothes room. 
 cc. Closets for books, Ac. 
 dd. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 ee. Passages two feet wide. 
 ff. Flues for gas or warns air. 
 gg. Teachers’ desks on platform 4 by 8 ft. 
 k. Door in glass partition. 
 m. Cellar door. 
 w. Ventiducts. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This plan is somewhat larger than the last; it will be built of brick and 
 specified only where it differs from No. 2 of this series. It is to be twenty- 
 eight feet by forty, with a wing twenty-five feet, and ten feet projections; 
 two stories high, first fourteen, second thirteen feet, each in the clear; and 
 pitch of roof six feet. 
 
 EXCAVATION AND MASONRY. 
 
 The excavations will be the same depth as in No. 2, but increased in 
 size, according to the dimensions of the building. The cellar walls will be. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 81 
 
 of stone, as in the preceding plan, up to the level of the ground, the same 
 thickness, and likewise done in the same manner. From the stone walls 
 the remainder will be of well burnt brick, faced on the exterior with the 
 best dark stretchers, laid smoothly, and the joints neatly struck. The walls 
 to be eighteen inches thick to top of base, and the remainder fifteen inches, 
 being a thirteen inch wall, with a hollow space of two inches, between 
 the inside four inches, and the outside thickness, to be carefully bonded 
 together with alternate headers every fifth course. An additional wall, 
 or piers three feet by eighteen inches, will be built in the cellar, under 
 the glass partitions, with the openings arched at the head. The flues 
 will be the same as in No. 2, and topped out the usual height above 
 the roof. The cellar windows will 
 be finished in the same manner. 
 
 will be as in the 
 preceding, excepting the outer 
 walls, which will not be lathed. 
 
 The outside door sills will be of cut 
 stone. 
 
 SECOND 3TOEY. 
 
 b. Girls’ clothes room, 6 by 9 feet. 
 cccc. Closets for books and apparatus. 
 d. Teachers’ closet. 
 ff. Flues for gas or warm air. 
 gg. Teachers’ desks. 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK. 
 
 The joists of the first and second floors will be three by twelve inches, 
 backed and bridged as before mentioned. The first floor will be supported 
 on the centre and outer walls; and in the second story one end will be on 
 the outer wall, and the other supported by a girder four by twelve inches, 
 with an iron post, two by four inches, from the cellar wall upward, enclosed 
 between the boxes of the glass partition. The ceiling joists will be two 
 by twelve inches, laid cross-wise the building, on the wall plates; all joists 
 and partitions to be sixteen inches between centres. The roof will be con¬ 
 structed with a principal rafter over the glass partitions, the tie beam 
 four by twelve, rafters four by eight, struts and braces four by six. Three 
 iron rods, one and a quarter inches in diameter, will be required, and the 
 rafter well bolted at the foot of the same. «A ridge pole three by twelve 
 inches will bear upon the principal rafter and the end walls, and common 
 rafter in the usual manner, and to heel upon a raising piece; the rafters to 
 be two feet between centres, and the usual cut, to bfe boarded and prepared 
 for covering with metal. The eave, cupola and front window heads, will 
 11 
 
 The plastering 
 
82 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 bo in accordance with the details in plate No. 8, “ Architectural Details.” 
 The window frames will all be plank face, double hung, with sash as in the 
 
 preceding; the heads of the 
 front frames will be of wood; 
 shutters will be hung on the 
 outside (or blinds,) one and a 
 half inches thick, moulded on 
 one side, hung with straps and 
 hoops, and secured with nine 
 inch shutter bolts. The sash • 
 partitions will be as in No. 1, 
 
 • of this class. The remaining 
 portion of the carpenter work 
 will be similar to No. 2, as be¬ 
 fore mentioned. Black-boards 
 live feet in height, and extend¬ 
 ing from window to window, 
 in each end of the building, 
 will be placed on each floor, 
 of such material as the Directors may select. 
 
 ROOF AND PAINTING. 
 
 The roof will be covered with the same material, and in the same man¬ 
 ner as in No. 2. The painting, glazing, and size of glass, the same as in 
 No. 2, and privy and fencing accordingly. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The work and materials will be of the same kind as in the plans, referred 
 to, and every thing necessary to complete the building in all its parts, will 
 be according to the same, and the changes set forth in the above specifica¬ 
 tion. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 A building, according to this plan, would cost three thousand three hun¬ 
 dred dollars. 
 
 CLASS 111. — N o . 5 . 
 
 The plan now presented is for a building twice the capacity of the last. 
 As arranged, it will seat two hundred and eighty-eight Pupils. That num¬ 
 ber should have six Teachers— a principal and five assistants, on the Union 
 plan ; or, if the sexes be separated, two principals with two assistants to 
 each. An improvement on this plan, as prepared by the artist, would be 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS 
 
 83 
 
 effected by the extension of the platforms across the whole side of the 
 
 building, where they are now shown, with an equal extent of black¬ 
 board. 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 a. Entrance to the second story for girts. 
 
 b. Bovs entrance to first story, and clothes 
 
 room, extending to foot of stairs at 
 a, where a door is- intended to ba 
 hung. 
 
 ec. Passages twp feet wide. 
 dd. Seats for two Pupils eaeh. 
 ee. Teachers’ desks, and platforms. 
 ff. Flues for gas or warm air. 
 gggg. Closets for books and apparatus. 
 h. Door way in the glass partition. 
 m. Cellar door. 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 The arrangement of desks, in the plan of the first story of this building, 
 admits of improvement. The practice of placing one end of a desk against 
 the wall of a building is not a good one. It brings the Pupil who sits at 
 it too near the cold wall, and embarrasses the motion of his arm while 
 writing, &c. But the chief objection is, that it deprives him of that access 
 to his own seat without disturbing any other person, which every Pupil in 
 School should possess. The better plan would therefore be, to make five 
 passages or aisles instead of four : — there being eight feet now allowed for 
 passages, this would give full nineteen inches to each; or, a still better 
 
 m 
 
 □ 
 d! 
 □ 
 d 
 □ 
 □ 
 d 
 d 
 d 
 
 d d 
 d d 
 d d 
 d d 
 d □ 
 d d 
 d d 
 d d 
 d d 
 
 dl d d 
 d d d 
 d d d di 
 di d d 
 d d c d 
 d □□ 
 d d d d| 
 id □□[ 
 
 d d d 
 / 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 84 
 
 arrangement might be effected, by making the central passage full two feet 
 wide, and the others, eighteen inches. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 These represent the ground plan of a building forty-four feet square ; two 
 stories high, first fourteen, and second thirteen feet; each in the clear. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 This house is to be built of stone and stuccoed; but if brick is the most 
 convenient material in the neighborhood, the style will suit very well for 
 that article; and in such case, the walls would be similar to No. 4, of the 
 same class, excepting that the pilasters would project four inches, as there 
 laid down. If built of stone, the cellar walls, and up to the line of the 
 base, will be the same thickness as No. 2, of this class, and the same thick¬ 
 ness continued in the pilaster; but in the recesses the walls will be sixteen 
 inches, and laid in the same manner, with the same kind of materials as in 
 the plan aforesaid. The cellar openings will be secured in like manner. 
 The partition between the School-rooms and stair-way, will be of brick, 
 above the first floor; the flues all well pargeted and topped out the usual 
 height above the roof. The ventiducts will be inserted in the walls, as dis- 
 
 cribed in No. 2, and those for the sec¬ 
 ond story will be secured directly in. 
 front of the first, and made likewise in 
 the same manner, each six by twen¬ 
 ty-eight inches in the clear. The out¬ 
 side door sills will be of cut stone, 
 eighteen inches on the top face, and 
 eight inch rise. 
 
 SECOND STORY. 
 
 а. Teachers’ room. 
 
 б. Clothes room, seven by nine feet, 
 c. Entry. 
 
 ee. Teachers’ desks, and platforms. 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK. 
 
 The joists and roof timbers will be the same sizes, and constructed simi¬ 
 larly to the plan referred to, excepting that in this case, both ends of the 
 principal rafter, or girder, are leveled, forming the ridge of the roof. The 
 framing is shown in the accompanying section of the building. The rafters 
 will be boarded and prepared for covering with metal. The window dres¬ 
 sings on the front, and the corbels between the pilasters, and the sills and 
 eave will be of wood, and fully explained by details of the same, in plate 
 No. 5, “ Architectural Details.” The window frames will be made with 
 inside shutters, as described in No. 2. The partitions dividing the rooms 
 will be of sash, double hung, as before explained; but in the first story 
 every other post or box will be formed with an iron pillar in the centre, 
 
construction of schools for small towns. 
 
 85 
 
 and the boxes formed around, as will be explained by details in plate Iso. 
 12, “Architectural Details.” 
 
 The floors will be of heart pine, one and a quarter inches thick, planed 
 and grooved, well nailed to the joists and the joints shot. The stairs will 
 be constructed where they are 
 shown on the plan, with bearers 
 three inches in thickness. Steps 
 one and a quarter inches thick, 
 of oak or ash; risers of the same 
 material, to be enclosed within 
 a grooved partition of one and a 
 half inch plank, continued three 
 feet above the second floor, and 
 capped on the top. Black-boards 
 twenty feet long and five feet 
 high to be put in each of the 
 four rooms, at such places as the 
 Directors shall order. Closets, 
 inside dressings, doors, wainscoting, rails for maps and clothes pins, outside 
 steps, and cellar door and ladder, privies and fencing will be according to 
 plan No. 2. The roof will be covered with tin of the same quality, and 
 done in the same manner, as in No. 6 of Class I. 
 
 plastering, painting and glazing. 
 
 The plastering, and rough-cast¬ 
 ing, to be done as in No. 2, and in 
 this plan the'exterior to be laid off 
 in blocks, in imitation of cut stone, 
 and tinted as directed. The paint¬ 
 ing and glazing in like manner, and 
 the glass of the same size, as in the 
 plan referred to. All the materials 
 to be as specified, or referred to in 
 No. 2; and every thing required to 
 complete the building to be furnish¬ 
 ed by the contractor, at his own 
 cost and expense; and the workmanship of the different parts to be done 
 in the best and most substantial manner. 
 
 estimate. 
 
 The cost of this building, according to the plans, would be three thou¬ 
 sand five hundred dollars. 
 
 inote —- In the foregoing plans no reference has been made to heating by means of furnaces in the cellar; but 
 in all the plans of this class, the flues are intended to be so constructed, that it shall be optional with the com¬ 
 mittee, to adopt either furnaces or stoves in the School-rooms. 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECT U ll£ 
 
 Sb 
 
 CLASS III. —No. 6 . 
 
 This is a view, with plans, of the new Common School-house, now in 
 progress of construction in Lewisburg, Union County. It is quite a hand¬ 
 some edifice, and allows unusual space for the number of Pupils intended 
 to be seated. The height of the ceilings and the provision for ventilation 
 are both quite ample; and the “Directors’ office” on the second floor, is a 
 most useful and convenient addition. Here may be kept the records and 
 papers of the Board to be used at their meetings, and a library of text and 
 educational books may be gradually collected, which will be found of great 
 advantage for reference. The double stair-way is also worthy of all com¬ 
 mendation. The Architect is Henry Pv. Noll. 
 
 A building of this size, and designed for no greater number of Pupils 
 than indicated by the seats in the plan, would admit of a class-room being 
 partitioned oft' each main apartment, and still leave space enough for the 
 Pupils. Such a change, with a corresponding alteration in the mode of in¬ 
 struction, might be desirable in some places. 
 
 Some other parts of the interior arrangements, would also seem to admit 
 of slight modification. If along platform for the Teacher, with an equal 
 length of black-board behind it, were placed along the partition next the 
 stair-way, and the Pupils’ seats faced in the opposite direction to that they 
 now occupy, the fifty, designed to be seated, would be equally well accom- 
 mdated as to room, with much pleasanter light and greater space of black¬ 
 board. A door or doors might, also, be put in each main partition, so as 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOR SMALL TOWNS. 
 
 87 
 
 to admit of both rooms on the same floor being placed under one principal 
 Teacher, on the Union plan, if thought expedient. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This building measures fifty feet on the front and forty-eight feet deep. 
 The elevation of the first floor is two feet; the height of the first story four¬ 
 teen feet, and the second thirteen, each in the clear; and the pitch of roof 
 
 twelve feet. It somewhat resem¬ 
 bles No. 5 of this class, in the 
 interior arrangements, excepting 
 that in this, there are two flights 
 of stairs. It is built of brick 
 above the level of the ground, 
 and in the cellar of good building 
 stone. 
 
 GROUND PLAN 01? FIRST STORY. 
 
 aa. Entrance to the stairs and second story. 
 
 bb. Entrance to the first story. 
 
 cc. Platforms for Teachers’ desks. 
 
 dd. Seats for two Pupil3 each. 
 
 ee. Passages three feet wide. 
 
 f. Flues for gas or smoke. 
 
 vvvv. Ventilating flues. 
 
 THE EXCAVATIONS 
 
 And the exterior walls will be the same as in No. 4 of this class, ex¬ 
 cepting at the pilasters in front, which project twelve inches, and form the 
 pediment and the entablature, which is of brick, and projects one inch from 
 the face of the wall. A plain projecting base is continued around the 
 building. A partition wall of stone sixteen inches thick, will be built in the 
 cellar and continued up to t'.e roof of brick, nine inches thick. Flues for 
 smoke, warm air or ventilation 
 will be built in the walls, where 
 shown in the ground plans, and 
 smoothly plastered on the inside, 
 of the same size as in preced¬ 
 ing numbers of this class. The 
 sills, steps and platforms of the 
 entrance doors will be of cut 
 stone. 
 
 SECOND STORY. 
 
 aa. Lobby at landing of stairs. 
 b. Directors’ office, 
 y. Flues for smoke or gas. 
 vv. Ventilating flues. 
 
88 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The joists will be the same as in the plan No. 5, before mentioned, but 
 the bearing will be on the partition walls, instead of the girders; and in 
 
 this building principal raf¬ 
 ters will not be required. 
 Diagonal rafters will be 
 three by twelve inch joist, 
 jack rafters three by five, 
 two feet between centres, to 
 bear upon a wall plate at 
 one end, and secured to the 
 diagonals at the other. The 
 partition wall supports the 
 centre of the roof; the roof 
 will be covered with the 
 best white pine shingles. 
 The eave and cornice will 
 be the same as in No. 7, 
 Class IV. The cupola and 
 entrance door-way will be 
 
 in accordance with the elevation. Excepting the partitions dividing the 
 School-rooms, the remaining work and materials will he the same as No. 5, 
 Class III, in every particular, viz: floors, stairs, window frames, shutters 
 and sash, wainscoting, black-boards, wash-board, doors and dressings, map 
 and pin rails, clothes hooks, cellar door, ladder up to the roof, and privies 
 and fencing. 
 
 The painting and glazing will also be done in like manner; the glass of 
 the first story will be twelve by twenty-two, and for the second story twelve 
 by twenty inches. 
 
 The work and materials will be of the best quality for the different kinds 
 of work, and every thing necessary to complete the building in all its parts 
 to be furnished by the contractor, according to the plan and specifications 
 referred to. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building, as being erected in Lewisburg, is three thousand 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLS FOlt SMALL TOWNS 
 
 by 
 
 GLASS III. — No. 7. 
 
 The ground plan of this building being similar to that of No. 4 of this 
 class, and the material the same, reference is made to that plan for the 
 
 interior arrangements, and to the specification for details of construction, 
 with regard to interior finish. The exterior is to be finished in accordance 
 
 with the elevation and details of the 
 same, as here shown, and with plate 
 No. 7, “ Architectural Details.” 
 
 The dimensions of the building 
 are twenty-seven by forty-four feet, 
 with a projecting wing twenty-five 
 by ten feet; two stories high — 
 first fourteen feet, and second thir¬ 
 teen : elevation of the first floor 
 two feet, and pitch of roof nine 
 feet. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building, includ¬ 
 ing a beater in the cellar, will be 
 four thousand five hundred dollars. 
 
 12 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 90 
 
 V. CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 ON HIE SIZEjjjFORM, MATERIAL AND INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF THE VARIOUS KINDS 
 
 OF SCHOOL HOUSES REQUIRED IN LARGE TOWNS AND CITIES, WITH DRAWINGS, PLANS, 
 
 SPECIFICATIONS AND ESTIMATES OF EACH KIND. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 It is not to be understood that all the plans in this class are exclusively 
 fitted or designed for cities and the larger towns. On the contrary, several 
 of them may, with advantage, be adopted in the smaller county seats and 
 other towns with from two to three hundred Pupils; but, as some general 
 classification was necessary, the one selected appeared to he sufficiently 
 definite for the purpose of methodical arrangement and easy reference. 
 
 The smaller of the houses in this class, will suit those towns of considera¬ 
 ble size, in which the system of gradation is adopted, without the strict 
 Union feature. If the different grades of Schools he separated from each 
 other, but all or several of the same grade be placed in the same building, 
 then the smaller houses in this class, and the larger ones in Class III, will 
 be found suitable, according to the circumstances of the case and the grades 
 of School to be accommodated. 
 
 The houses in this class are all of greater cost, and most of them, of larger 
 dimensions than those in the third class. The increased cost, even when 
 the size is no greater, is owing to superior finish and the greater convenience 
 of interior arrangements. In these plans, for instance, an ample provision 
 of class-room will be frequently found, and double stair ways are provided 
 fur in nearly every instance. The exterior appearance will also be gen¬ 
 erally found more attractive. 
 
 With regard to the size of these houses, it may be remarked, that, in 
 selecting, Directors should generally adopt those of larger dimensions than 
 are actually necessary for the present number of youth to be accommodated. 
 All our towns are increasing, and many of them very rapidly, in popula¬ 
 tion ; and there can be no error in that prudent foresight which provides 
 for this increase. The only exception to this rule, are those instances in 
 which Directors have adopted the plan of erecting separate and additional 
 School buildings, whenever required by an increase in the number of Scho¬ 
 lars to be accommodated. In such cases, houses of a certain size and plan 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 91 
 
 for each grade may be adopted, suitable to the exact number to be admit¬ 
 ted in each. 
 
 It will be perceived that in these, as in all the other buildings described 
 in this Manual, the artist has indicated the number and position of the 
 Pupils’ desks, and that in every case double desks, (or desks for two Pupils,) 
 are represented. It must not be inferred from this, either that the precise 
 arrangement of the desks here shown is the best that can possibly be made, 
 or that the double desk is recommended to be used in every case. On the 
 contrary, the arrangement of the furniture of a School-room admits of 
 great variety; and the practical Teacher, after all, will be the best person 
 to direct how it should be made, and, being more interested than any one 
 else in this matter, his advice should have a controlling influence. 
 
 As to desks, it will probably be found that double ones for Primary and 
 most Grammar Scholars are the more suitable, but that in the High and in 
 some Grammar Schools, the single desk is preferable, and should be used 
 when space serves, and the means of the District will bear the additional 
 expense. 
 
 Class-rooms also require their appropriate furniture, but it has not been 
 thought expedient to add the ground plan of a room of this kind to the 
 description of each building, or to lengthen the work by repeating the de¬ 
 tails of it in every instance. Under the head of “ School-room Furniture,” 
 the plan of a recitation room, with seats, platform, black-board, &c., will be 
 found, together with some remarks on the whole subject, which is of the 
 utmost importance. As the furniture of the several houses in this Manual 
 is not included in the specifications, nor intended to be embraced in the 
 contract for their erection, except such fixed articles as platforms and black¬ 
 boards, the details of the class-room will come in more appropriately in the 
 division relating to furniture. 
 
 Many plans of privies will be found in this and the preceding classes. 
 The matter is one deserving great care. At the end of this class some 
 general remarks upon it will be found, with suggestions as to proper form, 
 arrangement and location and as to the necessity and good effect, in regard 
 both to health and decency, of proper attention to this point. 
 
 Most of the houses in this class are surmounted by a belfry. This is a 
 most suitable and convenient addition, which should never be omitted in 
 School buildings of the larger sizes. 
 
92 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE 
 
 CLASS IV.— No. 1. 
 
 This building is arranged for two hundred and fifty-two Pupils — one 
 hundred and twenty-six on each floor. It is liberally provided with recita¬ 
 tion rooms, and, with a greater extent of platform and black-board, will be 
 found very convenient for a small Union School, with one principal and 
 three or four assistants; or for two primary or two secondary Schools, each 
 
 with two or three Teachers, under the separate system. If the black-board 
 and platform be extended across the whole of the end, where the latter is 
 shown on the ground plans, two of the end windows might be transferred, 
 one to each side. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The following ground plans are those of a building fifty feet by forty; 
 two stories high, first fourteen and second thirteen feet, each in the clear of 
 floor and ceiling; and elevation of the first floor two feet. 
 
 This plan being the first of the fourth class, a full specification will be 
 given. The material of the building should be of brick. For the de¬ 
 scription and interior arrangements, reference will be had to the plans and 
 drawings of the same, and to the specifications and details. 
 
 EXCAVATION. 
 
 The excavation of the cellar will be throughout the extent of the building, 
 and seven feet deep in the clear of floor and lower edge of joists. A cellar door 
 way will be dug where marked on the plan, and trenches for the foundations, 
 eight inches below the cellar level. A well eight feet in diameter, circular, 
 and twelve feet deep will be dug for the privy and walled up dry, with four 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 93 
 
 inches of hard brick work. All requisite grading will be done around the 
 building, and the surplus earth and rubbish, collected in and about the same, 
 will be removed to such place as the committee shall direct, and the premises 
 made fit for occupancy. 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 a. Main entrance. 
 
 b. Lobby and entry five feet wide. 
 cc. Closets for books, &c. 
 
 d. Class-room sixteen by twenty feet. 
 
 e. Clothes room for boys or recitation, 
 
 eleven by sixteen feet. 
 ff. Flues for gas or warm air. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk on a platform 4 by 10 ft. 
 
 h. Main School-room, thirty by twenty- 
 
 six feet in the clear. 
 lc. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 nn. Seats for four Pupils each, and closet 
 under for maps, &c. 
 
 vv. Ventilators, two in the large room 8 
 by 24 inches, and one in the class 
 room, 6 by 24 inches. 
 
 MASONRY, 
 
 The cellar walls, up to the level of the pavement, will be built of goo.l 
 quarry building stone, laid on their broadest beds, and solidly bedded in 
 mortar; the outer walls will be twenty inches thick, and the cross wall 
 sixteen inches, with arched openings directly under those of the first story; 
 and from the level of the pavement upwards, the wall will be built of well 
 burnt brick. The front will be faced with the best pressed brick, the 
 flanks and rear With good dark stretchers; the window heads will be arched, 
 with a projection of two inches from the face of the wall. The wall, from 
 the pavement line up to the level of the floor, will be eighteen inches thick, 
 and capped between the pilasters with moulded brick; the walls in the re¬ 
 cesses will be fourteen inches thick, and the pilasters eighteen, the differ¬ 
 ence projecting on the outer surface ; the partition wall forming the large 
 School-rooms will be nine inches thick from the level of the first floor up¬ 
 wards. Flues for gas and warm air will be built where marked, thoroughly 
 pargeted, and those for gas topped out two feet above the apex of the roof. 
 The flues for ventilation will be inserted in the walls, smoothly plastered on 
 the inside. 
 
 The mortar for all the above work must be composed of clean sharp 
 sand and wood burnt lime. Cast iron window screens will be built in the 
 openings of the cellar for light and air. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The joists of the first and second-story large rooms will be three by four¬ 
 teen, and those of the other portions three by twelve, and all placed sixteen 
 inches between centres; a tension rod will be put in, of one and a quarter 
 inch round iron, with two lines of cross bridging well secured to the same, 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 94 
 
 all to be backed and blocked up their whole bearing on the walls; one 
 principal rafter will be required; tie beam five- by twelve, rafter five by 
 nine, braces and struts five by five inches, framed with one and a quarter 
 inch iron rods, as shown in the section of No. 5, Class III. The diagonal 
 rafters forming the valleys will be three by ten, and the jack rafters three 
 by five inches, placed two feet between centres; the ceiling joists will be 
 two by ten inches, sixteen inches between centres, to be placed longitudi¬ 
 nally, bearing on the walls and on the tie beam of the principal rafter, in 
 
 which case the tie beam will be cleated, and the joists will be notched and 
 
 well secured to the same; the 
 trimmers of the llooring joists 
 will all be double, and pinioned 
 together. 
 
 SECOND STORY. 
 
 cc. Closets. 
 
 d. Class-room. 
 
 e. Teacher’s room. 
 
 ff. Flues for gas and warm air. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk. 
 
 h. Clothes room for girls. 
 k. Entry five feet wide. 
 
 nn. Seats, same as first story. 
 vv. Ventilators, same as first story. 
 
 The rafters will be covered and otherwise properly prepared for covering 
 with metal. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 All the windows will be made plank face, with sub-sills of heart pine 
 nailed on them; sash all one and a half inches thick, double hung with the 
 best pulleys, patent cord and weights; inside shutters or blinds, in four folds, 
 will be made and hung in tfie usual manner, to fold against the window 
 jambs without boxes, and fastened on the inside with a wooden bar. 
 
 FLOOR. 
 
 Floors will be of one and a quarter inch heart pine, planed and grooved, 
 well nailed to the joists and joints shot; the platforms will be laid in the 
 same manner. 
 
 EAVE, &c. 
 
 The eave, brackets and cornice will be in accordance with the details in 
 plate No. 8, M Architectural Details.” 
 
 STAIRS. 
 
 The stairs will be built on strong bearers of three inch joists; steps of 
 ash or oak, one and a quarter inches thick, and enclosed within a partition 
 of one and a half inch plank, (planed and grooved) up to the second floor, 
 and above that by a plastered partition, and skirted on the wall side ; on 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 95 
 
 both sides a rail of cherry plank will be secured to the wall with iron stays. 
 The stairs to the cellar will be under these, and built in the usual manner. 
 
 PARTITIONS-. 
 
 All the partitions not of brick, excepting that of the stair, (first story,) 
 will be of three by four inch scantling, placed sixteen inches between 
 centres and well secured at the floor and ceilings. 
 
 WAINSCOTING. 
 
 All the walls and partitions of th( 
 scoted three feet in height, with 
 planed and groved boards, verti¬ 
 cally, and capped on the top; the 
 inside sills of the windows will be 
 one inch thick, and to correspond 
 on the edge with the capping. 
 Two black-boards or other dark 
 surfaces to be approved by the Di¬ 
 rectors, each of not less than twen¬ 
 ty-five feet in length by five in 
 height, will be put up where the 
 Board shall direct, and rails four j 
 inches wide, with hooks for maps, : 
 &e., will be inserted all around the i 
 such height in the walls as shall be 
 
 School and class-rooms will be wain- 
 
 nain rooms and the recitation rooms, at 
 ordered. 
 
 VENTILATORS. 
 
 The ventilators will be boarded neatly on the front, by securing the 
 same to strips or grounds put up before the walls are plastered, with regis¬ 
 ters top and bottom in each story, and continued to the roof with horizon¬ 
 tal shafts, of capacity equal to all the vertical ducts, and capped on the top 
 with an approved ventilator. 
 
 JAMBS AND DRESSINGS. 
 
 All the door jambs will be one and a quarter inches thick, with beaded 
 hanging stile, four inches wide, and a moulding two inches by one, cover¬ 
 ing the joint of plastering. 
 
 CLOSETS. 
 
 Closets will be made where they are marked, and neatly shelved. Pin 
 rails will also be put up in the clothes rooms, with a sufficient number of 
 clothes hooks of the most approved kind. Where there is no wainscoting, 
 wash boards will be put, eight inches wide, including a moulding on 
 the top. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The outside door will be in pairs, one and three quarter inches thick, 
 
9G 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 hung to open outwards in the jambs, with four inch butts, and secured with 
 iron flush-bolts on the centre joint, and an eight inch rim lock ; to be pan¬ 
 elled as in the elevation. All the room doors will be one and a half 
 inches thick, flat panel and moulded, hung with three and a half inch by 
 three and a half inch butts, and secured with cottage rim locks. All the 
 closets and cellar stair doors will be one and a quarter inches thick, moulded 
 on one side, bead and butt on the other, hung with three and a half inch 
 butts and secured with good locks and knob latches, and a bolt on the cellar 
 door; cheeks, sill and cellar door of heart pine, will be made and put up 
 at the door-way, (the door to be hung with straps and hooks,) and a strong 
 
 step ladder secured in the same. 
 
 PRIVIES AND FENCING. 
 
 The well will be squared up with brick work, and a brick building 
 erected over the same eight by twelve feet, out to out, to be divided into 
 two apartments, and to be covered with shingles; doors to be ledged, and 
 hung with straps and hooks to a frame of scantling, and secured with hitches 
 and hooks oh the inside; to be floored, and the seats and risers neatly fitted 
 up ; and to be plastered and painted in a similar manner to the main build¬ 
 ing. All requisite fencing to be put up six feet high, with planed and 
 grooved boards and locust or red cedar posts, not more than eight feet 
 apart. 
 
 TIN ROOFING. 
 
 The building will be overlaid with the best quality cross-leaded roofing- 
 tin, put on standing grooves, and well cleated to the boards; the gutters 
 will be properly formed, and four three inch conductors continued to the 
 ground, with shoe and spout stone at the bottom. 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 The door sills and front steps will he of cut stone, neatly dressed, and 
 solidly and securely set; two wrought iron scrapers to be supplied and se¬ 
 cured at the same. 
 
 HARDWARE AND PLASTERING. 
 
 All the hardware required in the construction of the building is to be of 
 the best quality, and every article necessary for the completion of the same 
 to be furnished by the contractor. All the walls and ceilings are to be 
 plastered with two coats of brown mortar, and one of hard white finish ; 
 the mortar to be composed of clean sharp sand and wood burnt lime, and 
 well mixed with slaughtered hair, the laths to be sound and free from bark. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted will receive three coats of pure white 
 lead and linseed oil, in such tints of plain colors as may be directed; the 
 front door and frame will be grained oak, and varnished. All the sash will 
 be glazed with the best American glass, we 11 bedded, bradded and back 
 puttied; the size will be twelve by eighteen inches, eighteen in each frame. 
 
97 
 
 INSTRUCTION OF CUT SCHOOL MOUssS*. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The materials are all to be of the best quality, and the workmanship to 
 be done in the best and most substantial manner, and to the satisfaction of 
 the committee. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building according to this plan, would be five thousand 
 five hundred dollars. 
 
 CLASS IV. — No. 2. 
 
 This is a beautiful, commodious and substantial edifice. Though the 
 plan only shows seats for forty-two Pupils in each room, it will easily seat 
 fifty with single, and sixty with double desks. The whole building will 
 thus comfortably accommodate from two hundred to two hundred and forty. 
 
 This number will fully employ six Teachers — one principal and five assis¬ 
 tants, for the whole building; or, one principal and two assistants, for each 
 floor. The communicating doors between the main rooms, and the glass 
 partitions between the main and class-rooms, admirably favor this arrange¬ 
 ment. While two of the Teachers on each floor are conducting recitations 
 in the class-rooms, the third can preserve order and promote the studies in 
 the two main rooms, which will be, at the same time, fully in view of the 
 Teachers in the class-rooms. 
 
 18 
 
9S 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 In Schools of this rank the largest provision of black-board should be 
 made. Five feet, in height, of the partitions between all the class-rooms, 
 commencing two feet from the floor, and the whole length of the partitions, 
 should be devoted to this purpose. The wall or partition at the back of the 
 book closets, and that opposite the stairs, in each main room, as shown on the 
 
 ground plaus of both stories, 
 should also have the same 
 height of black surface. 
 
 FIRST STORT. 
 
 aa. Entrances. 
 
 bb. Clothes rooms. 
 
 cc. Closets for books, &c. 
 
 dd. Class-rooms. 
 
 ee. Passages, 2 and 3 feet wide. 
 
 ff. Flues for warm air and gas. 
 
 gg. Seats for two Pnpils each. 
 
 hh. Teacher’s desks. 
 
 kk. Outside porches. 
 
 m. Passage for Teachers. 
 
 nn. Glass paitition. 
 
 o. Cellar door. 
 
 vv. Ventiducts. 
 
 In Schools of this kind, there is little use or need for a Teacher’s plat¬ 
 form and desk, except at time of opening and closing the exercises. One 
 Teacher will necessarily be in charge of two of the main rooms, if there 
 be a Teacher with a class in each recitation room at the same time, and 
 while thus engaged will have no time to sit. A small platform, near the com¬ 
 municating door between 
 the main rooms, will thus 
 probably be found suffi¬ 
 cient, and most suitably 
 placed. This slight change 
 will not only save space, 
 but turn the eyes of the 
 Pupils from the light. 
 
 SECOND STORY- 
 
 aa. Clothes rooms. 
 bb. Entrances or lobbies. 
 
 The other letters represent the 
 same parts, as in the first story. 
 
 For the accommodation of greater 
 numbers, the remaining plans in this 
 class have all two flights of stairs. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 These represent the plan of a building measuring thirty-seven feet on the 
 front, and forty-seven deep, with projecting wings of twelve by twenty- 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 99 
 
 three feet on each side; the first story is fourteen feet, and second thirteen, 
 each in the clear; twelve feet pitch of roof; elevation of first floor two 
 feet. In this specification reference will be made to all similar work in the 
 preceding plan in this class, and only such materials and workmanship as 
 differ from it, will be described. 
 
 The material in this building is stone; and for the arrangements of the 
 interior, reference will be had to the plans and explanations of the same. 
 
 EXCAVATION AND MASONRY. 
 
 The excavations will be made in the same manner, including the well, as 
 in the preceding. The walls, from the foundations upwards, will be of 
 good quarry building stone, and laid in a substantial manner, with mortar 
 composed of clean sharp sand, and wood burnt lime, and the walls on the 
 inside well dashed with the same material; on the exterior they will be 
 coated with rough-casting, and laid off in blocks in imitation of cut stone. 
 The thickness of the outer walls, up to the line of the first floor, will be 
 twenty inches, and all above that line, eighteen inches ; the cross walls in 
 the cellar will be sixteen inches, and arched openings will be made under 
 those of the first story.. From the first floor, the partition forming the 
 stairways will be of brick, nine inches thickthe partitions on the back 
 will be of sash, with three iron posts enclosed within the boxes of the same. 
 All the cellar window openings will be secured with open cast iron guards; 
 and all flues for gas and warm air will be built of brick, well pargeted, 
 topped out with smooth brick work, and painted and sanded. The front 
 door sills and steps, will be of cut stone, smoothly dressed, and solidly set, 
 and the outside porch paved with pressed brick, laid in mortar. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists will all be three by twelve inches, backed, and a line 
 of cross bridging secured through the centre of the large School-room 
 floors. The ceiling joists will be two by nine inches, all placed sixteen 
 between centres; the diagonal rafters forming the valleys, will be three by 
 ten inches, and jack rafters three by five, placed two feet between centres, 
 and well secured to wall plates of three by nine inches. The rafters will 
 be lathed for slate if the article is convenient; if not, the building will be 
 covered with the best white pine shingles, butted and jointed. 
 
 Window frames and the inside shutters and sash, will be made the same 
 as in No. 1, of this class; also the floors and stairs, excepting that the plank 
 partition is to be continued up, to form a railing for the stairs on the second 
 floor. Partitions of scantling are to be the same; and in addition, those 
 separating the large School-room from the class-rooms, will be made with 
 sash, double hung, the same as the outside windows; and in the partitions 
 separating the stairways from the School-rooms, will be inserted windows 
 
100 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 to correspond with those of the exterior, and hung in the same manner. 
 The section on page 85 of this Manual, will illustrate the manner of con¬ 
 structing the partitions of sash, in connection with the iron posts for the 
 support of the doors above. The wainscoting will be the same, and con¬ 
 tinued on both sides of the sash partitions. The ventilators, jambs and 
 dressing of doors, wash boards, closets, platforms, map and pin rails, and 
 clothes hooks, doors, and cellar door, cheeks, and sill, will be done in the 
 same manner as in No. 1. 
 
 Black-board, or such other dark 
 surface as the Directors shall ap¬ 
 prove, will be put on both sides of 
 the partitions in the class-rooms, 
 live feet in height, (commencing 
 two feet from the door,) and the 
 whole length of the partitions; and 
 also of the same height in each 
 main room, between the two front 
 windows on the first, and the front 
 windows and the lobby doors on 
 the second stories, and on one half 
 of the partitions between the main 
 rooms, on both stories ; the whole 
 to be neatly finished with mouldings and bottom ledges for chalk or 
 crayons. 
 
 The exterior will be done in accordance with “ Architectural Details,” 
 plate No. 8. 
 
 The lumber all to be well seasoned, and of the best quality for the dif¬ 
 ferent kinds of work; and all hardware required in the construction and 
 erection of the above work, to be of the best and most approved manufac¬ 
 ture. 
 
 TIN GUTTERS. 
 
 The valleys and gutters will be properly formed with the best cross leaded 
 roofing tin, and four inch conductors secured to the walls, and continued to 
 the ground; and finished with shoes and spout stones; the gutters and 
 valleys to have two coats of red lead. 
 
 PLASTERING, PAINTING, &c. 
 
 The plastering of the interior will be the same as No. 1. The painting 
 and glazing also the same as in No. 1, and likewise the privy and 
 fencing. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The building to be completed in all its parts, according to the above plans 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCIIOOL HOUSES, 
 
 101 
 
 and specfications, or the references to No. 1, as aforesaid; and all materials 
 to be of the best quality, and the workmanship to be neatly and substan¬ 
 tially done. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 This building, according to the specification, will cost six thousand dollars. 
 
 CLASS IV. —No. 3. 
 
 This building is really no larger than the last; though, on account of 
 its difference in shape and arrangement, it will accommodate one third 
 more Pupils. 
 
 Eight Teachers — one principal and seven assistants — for the wdiole 
 School will be required, on the Union plan. If the sexes are kept on sepa¬ 
 rate floors, a principal and three assistants should be assigned to each ; or, 
 if the Schools are to be independent of each other, a principal and an as¬ 
 sistant will be needed for each of the four rooms. 
 
 As this building has only one small class-room, all the recitations must 
 necessarily take place in the study rooms. Sufficient space seems to be 
 left for this purpose, both near the Teachers’ stands and at the opposite 
 ends of the apartments. The platform is well placed ; and if the window 
 
102 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 at its back be darkened by means of a blind, the light will fall pleasantly 
 
 on the Pupil’s eyes. 
 
 The closets for books 
 on both floors might be 
 transferred to the op¬ 
 posite ends of the room, 
 by which a larger 
 space for black-boards 
 could be secured. 
 
 FIB.ST STOEY. 
 
 aa. Entrances & clothes room. 
 b. Class-room. 
 cccc. Closets for books, &c. 
 ff. Flues for warm air and gaa. 
 gg. Teachers’ desks. 
 k. Library and apparatus. 
 pp. Passages two feet wide. 
 as. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 w. Ventiducts. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This plan will not require many specifications, as the same kind of ma¬ 
 terials and workmanship will be used as in No. 2 ; in explanation of the 
 interior, reference to the plans will be had, and the exterior will be in ac¬ 
 cordance with the elevation and details, in which they are all fully ex¬ 
 plained. 
 
 This building is to measure thirty-six by fifty-five feet, with a projecting 
 
 wing on the front, fifteen 
 by thirty-four feet; two 
 stories high — first, four¬ 
 teen feet and second thir¬ 
 teen feet,each in the clear 
 of floor and ceiling; the 
 pitch of the roof is to 
 be seven feet, and the 
 elevation of the first 
 floor two feet. 
 
 SECOND STOUT. 
 
 aa. Clothes rooms. 
 bb. Entrances or lobbies. 
 
 The other letters the same as 
 ’n first story. 
 
 The material for the walls will be stone; a wall will be put under the 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 103 
 
 sash partition sixteen inches thick, with arched openings in the same; the 
 cellar wall between the wing and main building will also be sixteen inches, 
 and above that will be of brick nine inches thick; the joists of the first 
 and second story will 
 be three by fourteen 
 inches, placed sixteen 
 inches between centres 
 supported on the outer 
 and centre walls in the 
 first story; and in the 
 second by a girder six 
 by twelve inches, bear¬ 
 ing upon three iron 
 posts, as explained by 
 details in plate No. 12, 
 
 Architectural Details. 
 
 Three principal rafters 
 will support the roof, of 
 the same sized timbers and framed in the same manner as in No. 1; the 
 ceiling joists will be two by eight inches, the cupola will be properly framed 
 and finished as shown in plate No 7, “Architectural Details.” In all 
 other particulars, including four hundred feet of black-board surface, the 
 material and workmanship will be similar to No. 2, as aforesaid; and all to 
 be completed in a substantial and workmanlike manner. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building according to this plan would be six thousand five 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 CLASS IV.— No. 4. 
 
 This is the plan of a plain and capacious edifice. It has been adopted 
 in the erection of the Lancaster, Charlotta and Fitzwater streets Schools in 
 Philadelphia, and is said to give satisfaction. Being without recitation 
 rooms, the classes in it must necessarily receive instruction in the presence 
 of the rest of the School. Each room is arranged for fifty-four Pupils, and 
 there being eight rooms, the number of Teachers required will also be eight. 
 Each room having a separate entrance, this building will suit for eight 
 separate and independent Schools; or, if the Union plan be preferred, it is 
 
104 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE 
 
 equally well .adapted to that, the glass partitions affording to the principal 
 Teacher a full view of all the Schools on one floor. 
 
 The chief defects in this plan are the insufficiency of closet accommoda¬ 
 tions and of surface for black-board. Two of the rooms on each floor are 
 
 without closets, directly opening into them. This can, however, be remedied 
 by a slight change in the plan. The other two rooms on each floor have 
 their walls so broken by doors and windows as to leave little space for black¬ 
 board surface. The only remedy will be the use of move aide black-boards on 
 frames, though these are always less desirable than those permanently fixed 
 
 
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 t=¥ 
 
 tzzzzs 
 
 
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 EEJ 
 
 
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 to the wall, whenever 
 the latter,can be ob¬ 
 tained . 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 aa. Entrances and approaches to 
 tlie stairs. 
 
 bb. Entrances to the first story 
 and clothes room. 
 ee. Closets for brushes, See. 
 dd. Closets for books aDd ap¬ 
 paratus. 
 
 ff. Flues for warm air and gas. 
 gggg. Teacher’s desks, on plat¬ 
 forms 4 by 10 feet. 
 kkklc. Sash doors for Teachers. 
 oooo. Passages 2 feet wide. 
 ppp. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 rrr. Seats for Pupils. 
 rrrv. Vurrfrfdnet*, 8 by 24 inek*». 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 105 
 
 In this specification, under the head of “ Deafening,” a precaution is de¬ 
 scribed which should be omitted in no School-house with more stories than 
 one. The object is to prevent the noise made by the changing of classes 
 and other movements, on the second story, from being heard by and incom¬ 
 moding the Schools in the lower part of the building. This is an annoy¬ 
 ance always complained of, when not guarded against in the first construction 
 of the house; and the 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The first of these ground plans represents that of a building measuring 
 forty-seven by fifty feet; with projecting wings on both flanks ten by 
 thirty-four feet; two stories high, first fifteen feet, second fourteen, each in 
 the clear of floor and ceiling. As the plan differs considerably from all 
 those preceding it, a full specification is necessary, that it may be under¬ 
 stood properly. 
 
 EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 The cellar will be, throughout the entire extent of the building, seven 
 feet deep in the clear of floor and lower edge of joists; the trenches for the 
 foundations will be eight inches deep below the cellar floor, or deeper, if 
 necessary to procure an approved foundation. The cellar door-way, and 
 foundations to the steps will be made a proper depth. If the condition 
 of the ground should require it, the earth from the cellar will be graded 
 around the building, and all the surplus earth and rubbish removed from 
 the premises. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The cellar walls will be of quarry building stone of a good quality, laid 
 upon their broadest beds; the foundation course large and flat, and solidly 
 bedded in mortar. The front and rear walls and return to the wings will 
 be twenty inches thick, and those of the wings eighteen, up to the line of 
 the pavement. The wall separating the wings from the main building 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 106 
 
 will also be eighteen inches, up to the level of the under edge of the joists, 
 and the walls of the cellar door-way will be sixteen inches; the foundation 
 of the steps and piers in the cellar will be likewise of stone. The mortar 
 will be composed of clean sand or gravel, and wood burnt lime. All the sur¬ 
 faces will be smooth¬ 
 ly dashed with mor¬ 
 tar, and all openings 
 recpiired by the plan 
 will be made; and in 
 the cellar windows 
 cast iron guards will 
 be inserted. 
 
 A. Plan of cellar. 
 aa. Furnaces. 
 b. Cellar stairs.' 
 dd. Cold air boxes under cel¬ 
 lar floor. 
 
 e. Piers to support glass par¬ 
 titions. 
 
 The walls above the levels just described, will be of well burnt brick. 
 The front, including the wings and the return of the flanks to the wings, 
 will be of the best pressed brick, and the remaining surfaces faced with the 
 best dark stretchers. From the level of the pavement to the first floor, 
 the wall will be eighteen inches thick, and from that level to the roof, in 
 the recesses thirteen inches, and the pilasters eighteen, the difference pro¬ 
 jecting from the face of the recesses. The base will be finished on the top 
 with moulded brick, between the pilasters; jfiers will be built in the cellar 
 of hard brick, for the support of the iron pillars, twent}^-seven inches at the 
 base and tapering upwards to eighteen inches at the top. The Avail sepa¬ 
 rating the wings from the main building will be nine inches, of brick. All 
 flues for warm air, gas, or ventilation will be thoroughly pargeted, and those 
 for gas to be topped out a sufficient height above the roof. The mortar for 
 all brick Avork must be composed of clean sharp sand and wood burnt lime. 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 Each front and back door will have a sill four feet six inches long, seven 
 and a half inches rise and twelve inches tread, and a platform of same length 
 and rise and two feet six inches wide, recessing in from the front, the doors 
 being hung to open outAvards over the same ; and at each front entrance 
 will be two steps five feet long, seven and a half inch rise and tAvelve inch 
 tread. A set of cellar door-cheeks and a sill will be required, and four 
 spout stones, likeAvise two scrapers to be provided at each entrance. The 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 107 
 
 stone to be smoothly dressed, and solidly and securely set. A date stone 
 of white marble will also be required, with such lettering as may be directed 
 by the committee. See plate 13, “Architectural Details.” 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists will be three by twelve inches, backed, with two 
 courses of cross bridging well nailed through each tier; a girder will be 
 required to each floor ten by twelve inches, and the joists notched in one 
 inch, and eight inches downwards, that portion crossing the top meeting 
 the opposite joists in the centre. All joists supporting the cross partitions 
 and all stair and flue trimmers, will be double and pinned together; those 
 of the partitions will be trussed with an oak board between them; all the 
 trimmers will be kept three inches from the flues; all lintels will be placed 
 on their edges, and not less than six inches deep. 
 
 ROOF. 
 
 The roof will be constructed with three principal rafters, the tie beam 
 five by twelve, rafters five by nine, the straining piece five by nine and 
 braces four by five inches; the ceiling joists will be two by eight inches, and 
 secured to the tie beams by cleating them, notching over and well nailing 
 the joist to the same ; the ceiling joists will extend one inch below and the 
 tie beam be cross-cleated to secure the ceiling from cracking; the roof joists 
 will be three by six inches, twenty inches between centres, and well se¬ 
 cured across the principal rafters. The cornice will be supported by look¬ 
 out joists, three by nine inches, two feet apart. The roof of the wings will 
 have three by five inch rafters, to bear upon a wall plate and ridge piece ; 
 all to be covered with boarding well nailed to the rafters, and otherwise 
 prepared for metal roofing. The cornice will be constructed according to 
 the elevations, and the details in plate No. 8, “ Architectural Details.” 
 That on the rear will correspond with the front, excepting that no level 
 cornice will be required across the pediment. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 All the window frames will be made plank face, the sash one and three 
 quarter inches thick, double hung with the best patent cord and axle pul¬ 
 leys. The second story will have inside blinds, one and a quarter inches 
 thick, in two folds each, and hung to open against the jamb, without boxes, 
 secured with hooks, and cut at the meeting rail. The first story will have 
 panel shutters, one and a half inches thick, hung with straps and hooks 
 and secured with ten inch shutter bolts. 
 
 PARTITIONS, &c. 
 
 All the glass partitions will be constructed with one and a half inch 
 sash and double hung, as those of the exterior; each division will have 
 thirty-two lights with glass about eleven by seventeen inches; boxes will 
 
108 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 be framed around the iron posts, five of which will be required in one 
 longitudinal partition of the first story, with iron plate on the top, and also 
 on the brick pier under the girder. The boxes in the second story will all 
 be of wood. The partitions will all be wainscoted on both sides with 
 planed and grooved boards, and joints beaded; the walls throughout the 
 building will also be done in like manner, put up vertically about three 
 feet six inches high, and neatly capped on the top. The window sills will 
 be of inch, and form that portion of the capping. Each room will have a 
 sash door, one and a half inches thick, with head lights over them, and 
 hung with three and a half by three and a half inch butts and secured with 
 mortice latches. 
 
 The gable on the rear will require a circular slat window for ventilation. 
 The cellar windows will have inside sash made, and hung to casings, fastened 
 with metal buttons, and secured when open with hooks and staples. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The entrance doors on front and back will be one and three quarter 
 inches thick, made folding, and panelled, with mouldings and circular head 
 lights over the doors, hung with four by four inch butts, three on each door, 
 and secured with upright rebated mortice locks on the front, and good park 
 gate latches on the back; iron plate flush bolts will be required on both 
 front and back, at the centre joints, and in addition ten inch flat bolts on 
 the back across the joint. The doors opening from the hall into the School¬ 
 rooms, and into the clothes-rooms, will be one and a half inches thick, 
 panelled, hung with three and a half by three and a half inch butts, and 
 secured with four inch mortice locks. The one at the head of the cellar 
 stairs will be one and a quarter inches thick, hung with three inch butts, and 
 secured with latch and bolts. All closet doors will be made and hung in 
 like manner and secured with good closet locks. All the jamb casings for 
 the doors will be one and a half inches thick, rebated, and the dressing for 
 the same will be a four inch moulding covering the joint of plastering. The 
 cellar doors will be made in pairs, hung with hooks and straps, and fastened 
 with a hasp and padlock, and a strong step-ladder will be placed in the 
 cellar door-way. 
 
 FLOORS. 
 
 The floors will be of heart pine, planed and grooved, one and a quarter 
 inches thick, well nailed to the joist and the joints shot. 
 
 ‘ stairs, &c. 
 
 The stairs will be built on strong bearers of three inch joists, the steps 
 of one and a quarter inch oak or ash, and risers of inch, to be enclosed 
 within a partition of one and a half inch plank, planed and grooved to¬ 
 gether, and to extend six feet above the landing on the second floor, neatly 
 capped. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 109 
 
 A step ladder will be required to approach the loft; the trap door on the 
 roof will be hung with strap hinges, and secured with hooks and stapels; 
 a cover will also be hung to the opening in the ceiling. All necessary map 
 and pin rails to be put up in the main rooms, closets, and halls, and forty 
 dozen wrought iron clothes hooks will be properly put up where directed by 
 the committee, and all necessary black-boards with mouldings for the frames. 
 A rail of cherry plank will be put up on each side of the stairs, firmly 
 secured with iron stays. 
 
 VENTIDUCTS. 
 
 Ventiducts will be constructed with brick flues, eight by twenty-four 
 inches, smoothly plastered on the inside and faced with planed and grooved 
 boards, one to each room, with openings at the floor and ceiling; the upper 
 one to turn on a pivot, and the lower one to be hinged, and secured with a 
 metal button. From the ceiling joists to the apex of the roof, the shaft 
 will be of wood, and of capacity equal to all the vertical ducts, made 
 air tight and smooth on the inside; the main shaft will extend eight inches 
 above the roof, neatly capped, and surmounted with an ejecting ventilator. 
 
 All the lumber to be well seasoned and of the best quality for the different 
 kinds of work; and all hardware necessary to complete the same to be of 
 the best and most approved manufacture, including all cast and wrought 
 iron work, stubs, screws, anchors for the joists, scrapers for the entrance 
 doors, &c. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 All the walls and ceiling will have two coats of brown mortar, and one 
 of hard white finish; the jambs of the windows will be flared, and the 
 angles rounded; the mortar to be composed of clean sharp sand and wood 
 burnt lime, and well mixed with slaughtered hair; and the lath to be sound 
 and free from bark. 
 
 DEAFENING. 
 
 The floors of the second story will be deafened, by cleating the joists and 
 flooring crosswise between them, to receive two inches of gravel mortar, to 
 be flush with the top of the joists. 
 
 TIN WORK. 
 
 The building will be covered with cross leaded roofing tin of the best 
 quality, put on standing grooves and to be well cleated to the boards; the 
 tin to be painted on both sides, the upper with two coats, the first to be red 
 lead; the gutters to be properly tinned, and four three inch conductors pro¬ 
 vided, and well secured to the wall and finished at the bottom with an iron 
 section and shoe The level cornice of the pediment 'will also be covered 
 with tin, the same as the roofing. 
 
110 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted is to have three coats of pure white 
 lead and best linseed oil, and to be finished in such tints of plain colors as 
 directed ; the wainscoting will be grained plain oak, and varnished, as well 
 as the wall rails; the Venetian blinds will be finished in the best style of 
 green. The sash will all be glazed with the best American glass, well 
 bedded, bradded and back puttied ; the size in the outer windows will be 
 twelve by eighteen inches, eighteen lights in each frame, and in the glass 
 partition eleven by seventeen inches; the sash in the cellar will be glazed 
 with glass of the second quality. 
 
 PRIVIES. 
 
 A well will be dug eight feet in diameter and twenty feet deep, and 
 walled up dry, with four inches of hard brick, to be squared up properly, 
 and a brick building erected eight by twelve feet, divided into two apart¬ 
 ments ; the walls will be four inches, of good hard stretchers, the story to 
 be seven feet six inches in the clear when finished; the covering to be 
 shingles; the doors to be battoned, and hung with straps and hooks to 
 scantling frames, and secured with latches and hooks; to be floored and 
 fitted up with seats and risers; and in each apartment will be a window 
 frame with slats; the building to be plastered and painted in the same 
 manner as the main building. A closely boarded screen will be placed in 
 each yard eight feet long the height of the fence; and on the boys’ side a 
 cast iron urinal will be placed, to connect with the well. A ventilating 
 flue nine by eighteen inches of wood, will be made in the centre, to extend 
 from the bottom of the seats about six feet above the roof, and neatly cap¬ 
 ped on the top. 
 
 Fencing will be put up, separating the boys’ and girls’ play-ground, and 
 otherwise as directed by the committee, to be six feet six inches high, 
 planed and grooved, with posts of locust or red cedar, and to be three feet 
 in the ground, and not more than eight feet between centres. A gate will 
 be required for each yard, to be battoned and hung with strong straps and 
 hooks, and secured with strong latch and bolts, hasp and staple. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The materials of the various parts are to be of the best quality, and the 
 workmanship to be done in a neat and substantial manner. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building after this plan would be eight thousand dollars. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES 
 
 111 
 
 CLASS IV. — No. 5. 
 
 Many valuable suggestions will result from a close examination of this 
 plan. It contains all the essential features of a complete School-house for 
 a Union graded School with about four hundred Pupils; but for that pur¬ 
 pose it will require some change in the details of the interior arrangement. 
 These will now be freely stated ; the object of this Manual, being, as much 
 to offer a large collection of parts out of which intelligent Directors and 
 Builders may select and construct a suitable and harmonious whole, adapted 
 to their local circumstances, as to present a set of plans, each perfect in 
 itself. 
 
 With the changes hereafter suggested, this house will be found to be 
 very suitable for a small town with from three hundred and fifty to four 
 hundred Pupils of all grades; or for the ward or other division, containing 
 the same number, in a larger town or a small city, in which the plan of 
 having the schools of each part separate from the others, but still on the 
 Union graded system, is preferred. 
 
 The general idea of the plan is admirable. It provides not only for the 
 three regular grades of Schools in the same building, all so arranged as to 
 be within the full control of the principal Teacher, but it affords considera¬ 
 ble class room, great facility of entrance and egress, and a fine large lecture 
 hall. These are all very desirable qualities. In the details, however, it 
 slightly fails; but it can be readily improved both in capacity and arrange¬ 
 ment, with little trouble and no increase of cost. 
 
112 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 The objections to the plan of both stories, as prepared by the artist, are, 
 1, that they do not provide seats for a sufficient number of Pupils, in pro¬ 
 portion to the size and cost of the building; and 2, that the seats are not 
 assigned in proper proportion to the different grades. 
 
 □□□□□□ 
 
 □□□□□□ 
 
 □ Q0QJ1LI 
 
 mm 
 
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 =a e# 
 
 OOODOQQQQQ 
 
 DQQQQ3QQQQ 
 
 □□□□□□□□□a 
 □□□□□□ 
 
 □□□□□□ 
 
 Baauaa 
 
 FIRST STORY. 
 
 A. Girls’ intermediate or High 
 School-room. 
 
 C. Boys’ intermediate or High 
 School-room. 
 
 B. Boys’ Primary. 
 
 D. Girls’ Primary. 
 aa. Outside porches for boys and 
 
 girls. 
 
 bb. Clothes rooms for boys and girls. 
 
 c. Teacher’s or recitation room. 
 
 d. Entrance to Primary School and 
 clothes room, with stair to boys’ 
 ripper room. 
 
 e. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 /. Flues for warm air or gas. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk. 
 
 h. Passages two feet wide. 
 v. Ventiducts. 
 
 There is no actual necessity for the third or back stairway. The space 
 occupied by it, if thrown into the girls’ Primary School, will make it of 
 equal capacity with that of the boys’. Each of these rooms will then he 
 about twenty-five feet by thirty-five. This will readily seat two hundred 
 Primary Pupils —one hundred in each room. The High School-rooms are 
 about twenty-five feet square; a space which will seat from thirty-five to 
 forty Pupils of that grade in each room. 
 
 ? □ □ □□ 
 cm cm C3 c:j 
 
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 I cm C_3 Cd cm 
 
 SECOND STORY. 
 
 E. Girls’ Secondary School. 
 
 F. Boys’ Secondary School. 
 
 G. Lecture room. 
 
 a. Lobby and entrance to lecture room 
 
 b. Clothes room for boys. 
 c d. Class-rooms. 
 
 ee. Passages. 
 
 f. Flues. 
 
 g. Teachers’ desks. 
 
 h. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 
 1. Closets for books, <kc. 
 mm. Water closets. 
 
 mi. Wash-basins. 
 vv. Ventilating flues. 
 
 w. Girls’ clothes room. 
 
 x. Closet for library and apparatus. 
 
 To secure readiness of entrance to the Primary Schools, there should be 
 an outside door to each, opening through a small entry or clothes room. 
 These doors had better both open directly into the yard at the back of the 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 113 
 
 building, and neither of them into the street; but a gate should lead from 
 them to the street. 
 
 The second story also admits of some desirable changes. The two Sec¬ 
 ondary Schools may be placed across the back part of the building over 
 the primaries, each being of sufficient size to seat about sixty Pupils; the 
 partition between them should be also of glass, to correspond with the 
 first story. 
 
 The remaining portion of the second story, next the stairs, will then be¬ 
 come applicable to the lecture hall and class-rooms; two class-rooms of 
 about twelve by fifteen feet each, being taken off one end of this space. 
 
 The lecture hall will be about thirty by forty feet, and, as it will never 
 be occupied when the Schools are in session, the doors to the secondary and 
 class-rooms may open into it. By this arrangement, also, the class-rooms 
 will be readily accessible both to the High and Secondary Schools, in con¬ 
 nection with which they will be chiefly used. 
 
 Thus the same space will be made to accommodate a larger number of 
 Pupils and in better proportion to the numbers and wants of each grade, 
 than as set forth in the plans above given. The cost of the third stairway 
 will also be saved, and will defray the expense of the alterations just speci¬ 
 fied. 
 
 If, however, the plans as given are preferred, the following are the spe¬ 
 cifications prepared to accompany them, without embracing any of the 
 changes above recommended. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This building is larger and in a style differing considerably from No. 4, 
 but the workmanship of the interior will be similar to it, and the exte¬ 
 rior will be in accordance with the elevation and details. A general de¬ 
 scription only will be given, and for the particulars, reference will be made to 
 No. 4, as aforesaid. The building will be fifty-five by seventy-six feet, with 
 two towers projecting slightly from the line of the building. The first and 
 second stories will be each fifteen feet in the clear; pitch of roof nine feet; 
 and elevation of first floor two feet six inches. The walls will be of stone, 
 stuccoed on the exterior, and laid off in blocks in imitation of cut stone. 
 The eave and cornice and cupola, from the level of the eave, will be of 
 wood, and painted and sanded in imitation of cut stone. The covering of 
 the roof will be of tin, as also the base of the cupola and roof of the same, 
 and of the porches. The exterior walls in the cellar will be twenty-four 
 inches, the first story twenty-two, and the remainder twenty inches thick; 
 the walls forming the front stairways will be of brick, thirteen inches first 
 story, nine inches second. Piers will be built in the cellar, as directed in 
 No. 4, for the support of the glass partition, which runs longitudinally 
 through the building, and for the support of the floors of joists. The floor- 
 15 
 
114 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 ing joists of the first and second stories will be three by fourteen inches; 
 and in addition to the manner described in the preceding plan, a camber- 
 rod will be run through them. The roof will be constructed as in the plan 
 aforesaid. The window frames the same, excepting that all the shutters 
 will be hung inside. 
 
 This building will re¬ 
 quire three bights of stairs, 
 each enclosed as in the plan 
 referred to, with Avail rails, 
 &c. The glass partition in 
 the first story will also re¬ 
 quire iron posts. The par¬ 
 tition separating the girls’ 
 and boys’ superior School¬ 
 room in the second story 
 will also be of sash, Avith- 
 out the iron posts. The 
 partitions forming the lec¬ 
 ture rooms and all others 
 will be of three by six inch 
 scantling. A Avater closet and wash-basin for the accommodation of the 
 girls of the superior School, and also one of each for the Teachers, Avill be 
 constructed Avhere shown in the plan, and connected with sufficient and 
 properly constructed sinks or wells. In all other particulars reference Avill 
 be had to the preceding plan. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building after this plan will be tAvelve thousand dollars. 
 
 CLASS IV. —No. 6. 
 
 The drawing and plans noAV presented are those of a brick edifice, at 
 present in the course of erection in Williamsport, Lycoming County. It is 
 the first three story building included in this class, and seems to have been 
 designed with great care, and attention to the health and comfort of its 
 future inmates. The whole number of Pupils intended to be accommo¬ 
 dated is eight hundred and ninety-two; of whom those on the second and 
 third stories — five hundred and twelve — are to be of the more advanced 
 classes, and only those on the first — two hundred and eighty — to be of 
 the lower grades. The design, probably, is that the chief portion of the 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES, 
 
 115 
 
 primary Pupils of the town shall be accommodated in separate buildings 
 in their respective localities. The lot on which this noble School-house 
 
 is to stand, is two hundred and eight feet square. The architect who de¬ 
 signed it is William Fink, of Williamsport. 
 
 The front and side entrances to the first story afford greater facilities for 
 this purpose, than are usually 
 met with. The number of ward¬ 
 robes is perhaps too great, and 
 the provision of closets for books 
 and apparatus, too small; but 
 two of the wardrobes can easi¬ 
 ly be used for apparatus, &c. 
 
 The means for heating and ven¬ 
 tilating seem to be proper and 
 ample, and the partitions divi¬ 
 ding the rooms longitudinally, 
 offer large space for black-board 
 surface. 
 
 riaST STORY. 
 
 C. Halls or lobbies. 
 
 D. AVardrobes. 
 
 H. Recitation room, 16 by 18 feet. 
 m. Registers for hot air. 
 
 V. Ventiducts. 
 
 The second and third stories, which are divided and arranged alike, and 
 
116 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 seem to be intended for the same classes of Pupils, are well adapted for in¬ 
 struction in the higher branches. With two good sized recitation rooms, a 
 
 library room, and two extra ward- 
 i robes- (opening into the recitation 
 I. rooms and suitable for apparatus,) all 
 
 r'j 
 
 |L 
 
 
 r -) <i'. „ « 
 
 m m\ 
 
 ■ /,■ § ~ 15 
 P p 
 
 ;' A ' 1 
 
 k; 1 id 
 
 1 If f" 
 
 | 
 
 vru 
 
 3 er: 2 B®sB 2 ssc^ 4 ' 011 th e same floor, every thing seems 
 fCS'S hdiiOlihj, to be at hand for convenience and 
 f f ff’if ifC'CS | efficiency. The position of the Pupils, 
 j [iOC^'OSOS i also, with their backs to the light, 
 
 .J and a large space for black-board in 
 
 fyj '•> !>•■!.I'H ■ : . ! 
 
 HJ;. t-i, Ij-L-iX; 
 
 i hi 
 
 p;-[:;f chipv front, is the best that could be chosen. 
 
 ' ! j 
 
 1 %y — 1 id SECOND AND THIRD FLOORS. 
 
 ii r.rvp:ri •n , -i • fi*fh k 
 
 0 twSAjeuHAL. •LMjo i n Ttr j 1 
 
 i 1). Wardrobes. 
 
 s';.-! r,'.n-n,-n-ric°r..r’J 
 
 jffij LkiAij- i>la;LpUo ji Jl. Senior School-rooms, 28 by 43 feet. 
 
 t-A 1'’. Recitation room, 16 by 22 feet. 
 
 | G. Library room 16 by 18 feet. 
 
 e b I/ i c } m. Register for hot air. 
 
 5 ; : f-n- : s. Flues for smoke or gas. 
 
 
 T: M j 
 
 r “ 
 
 'TtsZat 
 
 i ■ - 
 
 „ 1 =; 
 
 1 Ali 
 
 . _ _ : 
 
 F. Ventiducts. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The dimensions are sixty by eighty feet, three stories high, each twelve 
 feet in the clear, and the elevation of the first floor three feet. For the 
 arrangement of the interior reference will be had to the plans where they 
 are fully explained. 
 
 EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 The cellar will be under the whole building, and eight feet deep in the 
 clear of floor and lower edge of joists. The trenches for the outer walls 
 will be twelve inches deeper than the cellar level, and those of the partition 
 walls six inches ; the foundation for the cheek-blocks and outside steps will 
 he sunk two feet six inches below the surface of the ground, and a cellar 
 door-way will be dug, and two coal shoots, as indicated by the plan. 
 
 A privy well will be dug twenty feet deep and eight feet in diameter 
 and walled up with hard brick, dry. All earth not required in grading the 
 lot, and all the rubbish collected in and around the building, during the 
 progress of erection, to be removed from the premises, and the same made 
 fit for occupancy. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The cellar walls are to be of good building stone and the foundation 
 course large and flat, and solidly imbedded in mortar; the outer walls up 
 to the level of the ground will be twenty-two inches thick, and all the di¬ 
 vision walls as indicated by the plans, will be built up to receive the joists, 
 sixteen inches thick ) those of the cellar door openings the same thickness. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 117 
 
 The foundation course will project four inches from each face and be laid 
 cross-wise; the whole face to be flushed with mortar, composed of sharp 
 coarse sand or gravel, and wood burnt lime. All openings throughout the 
 cellar will be arched at the head with hard brick; the inside of the walls 
 to be well dashed with mortar. 
 
 BRICK WORK. 
 
 All the walls, from the level of the masonry just described, will be built 
 of well burnt brick, and the exterior faced with good pressed brick; up to 
 the level of the first floor the outside wall will be twenty-two inches, and 
 will form a base, capped with a moulded brick; from that level up to the 
 second floor twenty inches ; in the recesses of the two upper stories sixteen 
 inches, and at the pilasters eighteen inches. The belt courses, as indicated 
 by the elevation, will project from the wall of the first story two inches and 
 pilasters two inches, which will make a projection from the face of the re¬ 
 cesses of four inches. The walls 
 
 in the recesses and first story, will 
 be built with a hollow space of two 
 inches between the inside four 
 inches, and the remaining outside 
 thickness ; the two surfaces to be 
 well bonded together, with alter¬ 
 nate headers every fifth course. 
 A brick cornice will be put around 
 the building) and in its construc¬ 
 tion two courses of moulded brick 
 will be required. 
 
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 1 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 BASEMENT. 
 
 m. Register. 
 
 nn. Coal slides. 
 
 s. Flues for smoke or gas. 
 
 All flues for gas, hot air, or ventilation will be built where they are 
 marked on the plans, carefully pargeted, and all carried up separately and 
 the full size at starting; those for hot air and gas to be commenced in the 
 cellar; and all requisite preparation to be made for the building of two 
 large sized heaters in the cellar. The longitudinal division wall of the first 
 story will be thirteen inches thick, and all the other nine inches. The 
 pilasters of the entrance doors will be brick and project two and a quarter 
 inches, and the frieze and cornice of the same will be of cut stone*. The 
 cellar window openings will be slightly arched at the heads and will have 
 
118 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 cast iron guards inserted in all, excepting one, which will have a wrought 
 iron gate secured with bolt and lock. 
 
 The mortar for the above work is to be composed of clean sharp sand 
 and wood burnt lime. 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 The sills of all the entrance doors and the frieze and cornice of the same, 
 the cheek-blocks and steps and the cellar window sills and cheeks, and sills 
 of the shoot cellar door, will be of cut stone, neatly tooled and secured, and 
 solidly set. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists of the first story will be three by twelve inches, and 
 the second and third, three by fifteen inches all placed sixteen inches be¬ 
 tween centres, backed and well blocked upon the walls, and two lines of 
 lattice bridging well secured through the centre of each tier. All framing 
 will require double trimmers, pinned together, and at the breast of the 
 flues to be framed at least two inches clear of the brick work. The prin¬ 
 cipals will be place:! over the fourth, fifth and sixth piers from the front; 
 the beams four by twelve inches, rafters four by nine, braces four by four, 
 with one and a quarter inch iron rod in the centre, with double nuts and 
 securely bolted on the heels. The diagonal rafters will be three by twelve, 
 on the rear they will require trussing. Those on the front will bear on the 
 walls of the stair-way ; the purlins, four by ten, will be laid across the walls 
 and rafters, and common rafters secured two feet between centres, heeled 
 against raising pieces secured on the ceiling joists. The ceiling joists will 
 be two by twelve inches, sixteen inches between centres, to be laid cross¬ 
 wise the building over the School-rooms ; and front and back of the outside 
 principal rafter to be laid length-wise; all to bear on three by nine inch 
 wall plates ; to have one line of lattice bridging through the centre of each 
 two. All the wardrobe partitions and those forming the rear boundary of 
 the large School-rooms on the second and third story, will be three by four 
 inch scantling, sixteen inches between centres, well secured between floor 
 and ceiling; those forming door jambs will be four by four inches. All 
 the lintels to be placed on their edges, to suit the thickness of the walls. 
 
 A cupola will be constructed according to the elevation, well secured on 
 the roof and prepared to ventilate the building. The rafters will be closely 
 boarded, the gutters formed on the eaves, and otherwise prepared for cover¬ 
 ing with metal. A trap-door 'will be made in the roof, and a ladder to ap¬ 
 proach the same. Ventiducts will be made where marked on the plans; 
 those in the brick walls will have fronts of sound one and a quarter inch 
 boards? smooth on the inside and all air-tight. These ducts will be con¬ 
 tinued over the loft, the full capacity of those discharging into them, and 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 119 
 
 connected with the cupola. Openings top and bottom will be made on the 
 vertical ducts, with shutters for the same. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 All the windows will be made plank face or casing, with heart pine sills. 
 The sash will be made one and three quarter inches thick, double hung, 
 with axle pulleys, cord and weights. The cellar windows will have sash 
 made and hung to a casing, and fastened to a bolt and secured, when open, 
 with a hook to the joists. The entrance door frames will be of two inch 
 plank, beaded on the front edge with plain hanging on the back, and a 
 head light over each. Shutters will be made in three panels for all the 
 first story windows, one and a half inches thick, bead and butt on one face 
 and flat panel and moulded on the other; and rolling blinds same thickness 
 for the second and third stories; all hung with strong hooks and straps; 
 the shutters secured with twelve inch bolts, and the blinds with eight inch, 
 and all provided with turn bolts. The size of the glass will be thirteen by 
 twenty-two inches, twelve lights to a frame. 
 
 FLOORS, &c. 
 
 All the floors will be laid with one and a quarter inch heart pine boards, 
 planed and grooved, well nailed to the joists and joints shot. Upright 
 wainscoting will be put around all the rooms, planed and grooved, and 
 joints beaded, and capped on the top, on a line with the window sills. The 
 wardrobes will all have pin rails put up and a sufficient number of the best 
 quality wardrobe hooks secured to the same ; map rails will also be inserted 
 in the main rooms where ordered. 
 
 JAMB CASINGS, &c. 
 
 All the jamb casings of the doors will be one and three quarter inches 
 thick, rebated on each edge; and all dressing to be four inches, one and a 
 half inches thick, neatly moulded. Wash-boards are to be eight inches 
 wide, including one and a half inch moulding on the top. 
 
 STAIRS. 
 
 The stairs will be built according to the plan. Steps of one and a half 
 inch oak or ash plank, risers one inch of the same material, to be enclosed 
 with a partition of one and a half inch plank, planed and grooved, and on 
 the wall side will be a rail of ash, moulded and secured to the wall, with 
 iron stays. The stairs will be continued to the cellar in the usual manner, 
 and a rough flight also in the cellar door, which opening outside, will have 
 strong batton doors made and hung, and secured with bar on the inside. 
 
 DOORS. 
 
 The outside doors will be in pairs, each four panels, one and three quar¬ 
 ter inches thick, moulded on the outside, hung with four by four inch butts, 
 three on each door, and secured with iron plate flush bolts, and six inch 
 
120 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 rebated mortice locks. All the inside doors will be one and three quarter 
 inches thick, four panels, flat panel and moulded on both sides, hung with 
 four by four inch butts, and secured with three and a half inch mortice 
 locks. Over each School-room door will be a head light, made and hung 
 with pivots. 
 
 PLATFORMS, &c. 
 
 Platforms will be made according to the plan; and one hundred feet of 
 black-board or other dark surface, to be approved by the Directors, put up 
 in each School and recitation room. 
 
 PRIVY, &c. 
 
 The privy and fences will be the same as in No. 4, of this series. 
 
 LUMBER, &c. 
 
 The lumber all to be of the best quality for the different kinds of work, 
 and all thoroughly seasoned; and all hardware required in the construction 
 and completion of the work, to be provided, including all smith-work, viz * 
 iron rods and bolts for the roof, anchors for the joists, stubs, screws, 
 stays, &c. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 The walls, ceilings and partitions will be plastered with two coats of 
 brown mortar, and one of white finish; the mortar to be made of clean 
 sharp sand and wood burnt lime, and well mixed with slaughtered hair. 
 The laths to be sound ; the halls and stairways will be finished with rough¬ 
 casting, and laid off in blocks in imitation of cut stone, and tinted as di¬ 
 rected. The jambs of all the windows will be plastered. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted will have three coats of pure white 
 lead and best linseed oil. The outside doors will be grained in imitation 
 of oak and varnished, as also the hand-railing of the stairs. The interior 
 will be finished in such tints of plain colors as may be directed. The sash 
 all to be glazed with the best American glass, well bedded, bradded and 
 back puttied. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 The materials and workmanship of the different parts are to be of the 
 best kind, done in the most substantial manner, and under the supervision 
 of the building committee of the board of Directors or their agents. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The Williamsport building, after this plan and specification, is to cost 
 seven thousand dollars. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 121 
 
 CLASS IV. — No . 7. 
 
 The views and plans now presented are those of the beautiful and capa¬ 
 cious Common School-house, recently completed and opened in the borough 
 of Washington, the county town of Washington county. The general plan 
 
 and arrangement nearly resemble those of the First and Third ward Schools 
 in the city of Pittsburg. It is placed on a lot two hundred and forty feet 
 square. The architect was John Chislett, of Pittsburg, and the details were 
 directed by A. M. Gow, the present Principal of the School. 
 
 
 
 
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 FIRST STORY. 
 
 a. Main entrance. 
 
 b. Back entrance. 
 
 c. Closets for books, &c. 
 
 d. Front portico. 
 
 e. Clothes room, &e. 
 
 /. Flues for gas. 
 
 g. Teacher’s desk. 
 
 h. Register for warm air. 
 
 k. Passages between seats. 
 
 l. Doors into the clothes rooms. 
 s. Seats for two Pupils each. 
 c. Ventiducts. 
 
 w. Windows into clothes rooms. 
 
 As this building embraces all 
 
 the improvements suggested by 
 
 the researches and experience of 
 
 an accomplished Teacher, it is probably as perfect as any in the State, to 
 
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122 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 suit the system of instruction for which it is designed. No class-rooms 
 being included in the plan, of course no recitations in separate apartments 
 are contemplated. The number of Teachers for such a School, on the regu¬ 
 lar Union system, will not be less than eleven; that is one for each room, 
 and a principal or superintendent over the whole. 
 
 The wide front and back entry doors, broad double stairwaj’s, convenient 
 clothes rooms, numerous closets, and careful preparation for heating and 
 ventilation, are all admirable. The fronting of the Pupils towards the 
 
 side windows is a very slight 
 defect in the arrangement of 
 the furniture, which can be easi¬ 
 ly overcome by placing the 
 Teacher’s desk at the opposite 
 side of each room, or at the par¬ 
 tition which runs at right an¬ 
 gles with the entry. 
 
 SECOND STORT. 
 
 c. Closets. 
 e. Clothes rooms. 
 
 /. Flues for gas and warm air. 
 g. Teacher’s desk. 
 v. Ventiducts. 
 
 Two of the rooms, at least, in a building of this size and grade, should 
 have single seats and desks, for the larger and more advanced Pupils. Each, 
 thus furnished, would seat'about fifty, and would accommodate somewhat 
 more than the usual proportion of High School Pupils, seven hundred 
 being the total capacity of the School. 
 
 The noble lecture hall on the third story, (forty by seventy feet,) is a 
 most desirable and useful feature in this plan. Here may not only the 
 ordinary exercises of the School, in declamation and public reading to a 
 large audience (a part of instruction, by the by, too much neglected) be 
 performed, but the examinations and other public exhibitions of the Pupils 
 may take place, in a way to show fully to the public the condition of the 
 institution and the progress of the Scholars. And, though such a hall 
 should never be permitted to be used for any but educational, literary, 
 scientific or moral purposes, yet within these bounds it will often, in vari¬ 
 ous ways, accommodate and improve the community whose honor it is that 
 it was erected. Here there will be no local associations arising from those 
 low exhibitions, mountebank tricks, or quackeries in science, which pollute 
 so many public halls. From these the Common School should be kept as 
 free as the Church. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 This plan differs considerably from the others of this class. A full spe- 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 123 
 
 cification will therefore be given, 
 four feet; three stories high, the 
 first and second, fourteen feet,and 
 third, fifteen feet, each in the 
 clear of floor and ceiling; eleva¬ 
 tion of the first floor three feet. 
 
 For the arrangements of the 
 interior, the ground plans, where 
 they are fully explained, are re¬ 
 ferred to. 
 
 THIRD STORY. 
 
 c. Closets. 
 g. Teachers’ Desks, 
 ft. Registers for warm air. 
 p. Platform. 
 v. Ventiducts. 
 
 The building is seventy-four by eighty- 
 
 EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 The cellar will be under the whole building and eight feet in the clear, 
 trenches will be dug twelve inches below the cellar level for all the foun¬ 
 dations in the cellar, and for those of the portico or other outside steps, 
 three feet below the level of the pavement, or all deeper if necessary to 
 secure a good and firm foundation. All the earth not necessary for grading 
 the lot, to be removed from the premises; also all rubbish upon the com¬ 
 pletion of the building; and the same delivered up in a condition fit for 
 occupancy. 
 
 For the specification of the privy well and fencing, reference will be had 
 to No. 4, of this class. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 The cellar walls to be of good building stone, large and flat, and solidly 
 bedded in mortar; the outer walls twenty-four inches thick up to the level 
 of the first floor ; the foundations to be laid with large stone, cross-wise the 
 thickness of the wall, to project six inches from each face of the same. 
 The outer walls above the grade of the lot to be built up with hammer 
 dressed range work, in courses not less than twelve inches thick, and to 
 finish on the top with a neatly tooled course, fourteen inches in thickness, 
 with the edge bevelled two inches from the face which forms the line of 
 brick work ; the work to be bonded with frequent headers, and the inside 
 to be dashed with mortar. The walls of the cellar door-way and foun¬ 
 dations of portico and door-ways, will be eighteen inches thick; the foun¬ 
 dations of piers supporting the girders will be twenty-two by twenty-eight 
 inches, of large and flat stone, levelled on the top to receive the brick 
 work; all openings to be made as required by the plans; and all the cellar 
 windows excepting one, will have cast iron guards inserted, and all will 
 have hammer dressed sills. 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 324 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 The sills of all the entrance doors will he of stone, eight inches thick? 
 nine feet six inches long and two feet six inches wide; all window sills 
 five inches thick and heads eight inches, and not less than eight inches on 
 the bed ; lintels for the doors thirteen inches thick and thirteen inches bed ; 
 steps of the portico and door-ways twelve inch tread and eight inch rise 
 when finished. The chimney to be capped with stone eight inches in 
 thickness. A set of cellar door-cheeks, head and sill, of stone will be re¬ 
 quired. All the above stone work to be well selected, and wherever ne¬ 
 cessary, to be well cramped with iron; all drilling and securing of cramps 
 and hinges, to be done by the stone cutter. 
 
 ERICK LAYING. 
 
 All the walls from the stone base will be of well burnt brick, and on the 
 exterior faced with good pressed brick, the thickness as indicated by the 
 plans. All the walls will be carried up to the roof, excepting one division 
 wall which terminates with the floor of the third story. The frieze around 
 the building is to be of brick and project one and a half inches. All flues 
 for gas, hot air, or ventilation, to be built where shown on the plans, and 
 thoroughly and smoothly pargeted. The gas flues to be topped out with 
 pressed brick and capped as hereinbefore mentioned; all flues to be carried 
 up separately and their full size, as at the commencement. Eight brick 
 piers to be built in the cellar for the girders, eighteen by twenty-six inches 
 at the bottom, and tapering up to twelve by eighteen inches at the top, and 
 capped with hammer dressed stone, ten inches thick and the size of the pier 
 at the top. The bricklayer will be required to set the heaters under the 
 direction of the manufacturer or his agent; and all requisite paving and 
 water courses and bricklaying of the privy, to be done as referred to in the 
 foregoing part of this specification. The work to be done in a substantial 
 manner, and the mortar to be composed of clean sharp sand and lime. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK. 
 
 • The flooring joists of the first story will be three by twelve inches, all 
 the others three by fifteen, and backed, and blocked up their whole bearing 
 on the walls; placed sixteen inches between centres, and two lines of cross¬ 
 bridging through each tier; all framing will require double trimmers 
 pinned together. The first floor of joists will be supported in the middle @f 
 the rooms by girders eight by fourteen inches, which bear upon the outer 
 walls and brick piers. The floors of the second and third stories will be 
 strengthened by tension rods of one inch round iron, run through each 
 tier with double nuts well set up. Five set of principal rafters will be re¬ 
 quired, the tie beams eight by twelve, rafters eight by ten, braces and 
 struts six by six; to have upright one and a half inch round iron rods, 
 with cast iron heads or saddles and shoes, and all framed and bolted in a 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 125 
 
 substantial manner; all bolts to have double nuts and washers. The pur- 
 lins to be six by eight, common rafters three by five, and twenty inches 
 between centres. The principal rafters to be levelled upon pieces of oak 
 four by nine, each five feet long, well bedded in mortar. Ceiling joist, 
 two by eight inches and sixteen inches between centres, will be secured 
 between the bearers, by cleating them, and notching the joists, and firmly 
 nailing the same. The joists will be one and a half inches below the lower 
 edge of the tie beam, and the tie beams stripped cross-wise to secure the 
 ceiling against cracking. Look-out joists will be pinned into a three by 
 twelve inch joist, for the support of the eave. The cornice and eave will 
 be in accordance with the elevation, and with plate No. 13, “ Architectural 
 Details.” The rafters will be sheathed and covered with the best white 
 pine shingles butted 
 and jointed. The gut¬ 
 ters will be prepared 
 with stops for tinning, 
 and the valleys and 
 gutters lined with the 
 best cross leaded tin, to 
 have four five inch con¬ 
 ductors of the same 
 kind of tin, with an 
 iron section at the bot¬ 
 tom of each. A trap¬ 
 door will be made in 
 the roof, hung with straps and hooks, and secured with hook and staple , 
 a ladder will be made to approach the same, and around and under the 
 ladder, the loft will be floored with rough boards. 
 
 WINDOWS. 
 
 All the window frames will be made plank faced and moulded ; sash all 
 double hung with best axle pulleys, patent cord and weights, all one and 
 three quarter inches thick; on the front and rear twenty-four lights, and 
 in the flanks twenty-eight lights each, twelve by eighteen inch glass. The 
 cellar windows will have sash, hung to a strip, secured against the walls, and 
 fastened shut with bolts, and open with hooks and staples, secured to the 
 joists. Each School-room on the first floor will have a window in the di¬ 
 vision wall, twelve lights, twelve by seventeen inch glass, sash one and 
 three quarter inches thick, double hpng, same as those described, the frames 
 to be set five feet from the floor. The entrance door frames front and rear 
 will be six feet wide and ten feet high, with side lights and transom sash , 
 the inside jambs to be deepened, so that the doors can be hung to open 
 
126 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 outwards in the recess of the door frame. The entrance doors to be in 
 pairs, each four panels, two inches thick, and moulded on the outside, hung 
 with four by four inch butts, three on each door, and secured with iron 
 flush bolts on the centre joint, and eight inch rebated mortice locks. All 
 the inside doors to be one and three cptarter inches thick, six panels each, 
 and moulded on both sides, hung with four by four inch butts, and secured 
 with three and a half inch mortice locks; and over each School-room door 
 a transom sash will be made and hung on pivots. 
 
 FLOORS, &c. 
 
 All the floors will be laid with one and a quarter inch yellow pine or 
 oak, planed and grooved, well nailed to the joists and joints shot. Up¬ 
 right wainscoting, three feet high, will be put around all the rooms, planed, 
 grooved and capped on a line with the outside window sills. The clothes- 
 rooms and closets, will have rails, and the requisite number of the best 
 quality clothes-hooks screwed into the same ; wash-boards all to be eight 
 inches wide, including one and a half inch moulding on the top. 
 
 STAIRS. 
 
 The stairs will be built according to the plan, on four three inch bearers. 
 Steps to be one and a half inches thick of ash plank, risers one inch, of the 
 same material; the steps to be enclosed within a two inch plank partition, 
 planed and grooved and to have a door hung and secured at the top, opening 
 into the large room of the third story. A flight of rough steps will be 
 continued to the cellar in the usual manner of such stairs ; a rough flight will 
 also be put up in the outside cellar door-way; the cellar doors to be made 
 in pairs battoned, hung with straps and hooks and secured with hasp and 
 padlock. A wall rail of cherry plank two and a half by three inches, will 
 be secured on each side of the stair by iron stays. 
 
 closets, &c. 
 
 The space over the hall, in the second story, to be divided into four 
 closets with door and window to each; the doors to have transom sashes 
 corresponding with the other doors, and the windows to have twelve lights 
 twelve by fifteen inch glass all double hung. All the jamb casings of the 
 doors will be one and three quarter inches thick, rebated on each edge, and 
 all dressings to be five inches wide, and one and a half inches thick, neatly 
 moulded. 
 
 FLUES, &c. 
 
 Ventilating flues will be made where they are marked on the plan, 
 and faced on the front, with sound pine boards, grooved and put together 
 with screws, made air tight, and all continued separatety to the loft, where 
 they will converge to the centre, in shafts of the combined capacity of those 
 emptying into them. The centre will be finished above the apex of the 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 127 
 
 roof one foot, to receive the ventilator. The flues will have openings top 
 and bottom in each story, with hinged or pivot shutters. Platforms will 
 be made according to the plans; and not less than one hundred square feet 
 of black-board, or such other black surface as the Directors may select, shall 
 be put up in each of the eleven rooms of the building, and at such places 
 as they may direct. 
 
 PORTICO. 
 
 A portico will be built over the front entrance, as shown on the plans 
 and according to Plate No. 13, “ Architectural Details” ; to be sheathed and 
 covered with the best cross leaded tin, painted two coats on the upper side, 
 with one four inch tin conductor continued to the ground and a spout stone 
 at the bottom. 
 
 BLINDS AND PRIVIES. 
 
 The windows will all have one and a half inch rolling blinds made in 
 four folds, hung with back flaps and secured in the usual manner. 
 
 The privy will be built according to the specification of No. 9, Class IV. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 The walls, ceilings and partitions will be plastered with two coats of 
 brown mortar, and one of hard white finish. The mortar to be composed 
 of clean sharp sand and wood burnt lime, and well mixed with slaughtered 
 hair. The laths to be sound. The hall and stair-ways will be finished 
 with stucco, and laid off in blocks in imitation of cut stone, and tinted as 
 directed. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted and the conductors, spouts, &c., will 
 receive three coats of pure white lead and best linseed oil; the front portico 
 to have an additional coat and to be sanded two coats; all the doors and 
 wainscoting to be grained in imitation of oak and varnished; the hand- 
 railing to be varnished two coats; the sash are to be glazed with the best 
 American glass, well bedded, bradded and back puttied. 
 
 memorandum;. 
 
 All the materials of the different parts to be of the best quality, and the 
 workmanship to be done in a neat and substantial manner, and all to the 
 satisfaction of the board of Directors or their proper committee. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building according to the foregoing plans and specifications, 
 as erected in the borough of Washington, was about fifteen thousand dollars, 
 without furniture. The furniture will cost about two thousand five hun¬ 
 dred dollars. 
 
128 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CLASS IV. —No. S. 
 
 This building is of a different shape and arrangement from the one last 
 described. The Hancock School in Coates street, Philadelphia, has recently 
 been altered according to the same plan. The first floor has seats for two 
 hundred and fifty Pupils, and as the second and third are laid out in the 
 same manner, the total capacity of the house would seem to be for seven 
 hundred and fifty. 
 
 A peculiarity in the plan of this School-house is seen in the small size 
 of the two rooms in each end of the building on all the floors; there being 
 seats for only thirty-six Pupils in each. Probably the mode of instruction 
 embraces the idea of a constant change of Pupils from one Teacher to 
 another; and if so, the four corner rooms on each floor, are, in effect, class 
 rooms, the main room in the centre, being the study hall, under the constant 
 supervision and control of the Principal. 
 
 FIRST STORY FOR GIRLS. 
 
 a. Boys’ entrance and stairs to 
 second and third stories. 
 bb. Girls’ entrance and clothes 
 rooms. 
 
 cc. Closets on the Teachers’plat¬ 
 forms. 
 
 d. Principal’s class room and pas¬ 
 
 sage three feet wide. 
 
 e. do. do. do. 
 
 f. Flues for warm air or gas, and 
 
 ventilation. 
 
 g. Principal’s desk. 
 
 hh. Passage three feet wide. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES, 
 
 123 
 
 Under 1 his system of government and instruction, for which the glass 
 partition throughout, and the wide central passages, afford full facilities, 
 each story would require five Teachers—a Principal and four assistants—and 
 each would thus constitute one large School. The two class-rooms (mark¬ 
 ed a) on the second and third stories, will be found very suitable for recita¬ 
 tion purposes, if either or both of those stories be appropriated to Pupils of 
 an advanced grade. 
 
 The first story is for girls; the second and third stories are for boys, 
 and are nearly similar to the first story. 
 
 SPECIFICATION, 
 
 This represents the ground plan of a building forty-seven by ninety-two 
 feet; three stories high, 
 first and second fourteen, 
 and third thirteen feet each 
 in the clear; pitch of roof 
 seven feet and height of the 
 first floor two feet six inch¬ 
 es. A general description 
 of this plan will only be 
 given, and for particulars 
 reference will be made to the succeeding number of this class, which will 
 have a full specification. 
 
 This building is three stories high, divided into class-rooms separated by 
 glass partitions, the first story being for the girls, and the second and 
 third for the boys. 
 
 It is intended to lie 
 of stone and stucco¬ 
 ed ; but if brick is 
 more economical, it 
 would answer equal¬ 
 ly well. 
 
 In this building the 
 two transverse parti¬ 
 tions are to be sup¬ 
 ported by piers in the 
 cellar, the girders to 
 bear on the top of the 
 piers and the walls 
 of the flank; and the 
 joists, arranged lon¬ 
 gitudinally, to be doubled under the other glass partitions, as described in 
 17 
 
SCHOOL ARC 11 IT EC T U R E. 
 
 13 © 
 
 plan referred to. The exterior, viz : eave, cornice, cupola, windows and 
 door dressing, will be made in accordance with Plate No. 10, “ Architec¬ 
 tural Details.” If the building should be built of stone, the walls will be 
 the same thickness as in No. 5, of this class; but if of brick, they will be 
 similar to those of No. 0. The doors and window sills, and the platforms 
 and steps are to be of cut stone. 
 
 In all other particulars, reference will be had to the plan of No. 9, Class 
 IY, as the work and material will be the same; the difference being only 
 in the arrangement of the rooms and in the details of the exterior. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building after this plan would be fourteen thousand dollars. 
 
 CLASS IV. —No. 9. 
 
 The plates now presented are those representing the exterior and ground 
 plans of the “ North East Grammar School,” in New street, Philadelphia. 
 It is calculated for eight hundred and sixteen Pupils, and not less than 
 fifteen Teachers. 
 
 This building seems to possess all the improvements adapted to the 
 liberal mode of public instruction pursued in the chief city of the State. 
 The glass partitions, affording the principal Teacher a full and constant 
 view of all the Schools or divisions on the same floor, are a feature almost 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 131 
 
 peculiar to Philadelphia. The separation of the entrances to the lower 
 story from those leading to the stairways of the higher parts of the build¬ 
 ing, is a convenient and proper arrangement. The number of windows is 
 such as to insure full light to every part of the house. 
 
 FIRST FLOOR. 
 
 <nabb. Entrance lobbies to first floor. 
 cc. Teachers’ communication between 
 class-rooms. 
 d. Clothes rooms 
 ff. Flues for gas and warm air. 
 gggg. Teachers’ desks on platforms six 
 by eight feet. 
 tnm. Entrances to stairs. 
 v. Large ventilating shaft, to which no 
 gas flues are attached. 
 
 The rooms containing from forty-eight to sixty Pupils each, or a number 
 sufficient for one Teacher, neither recitations in separate class-rooms, nor 
 changes of Pupils from one Teacher to another, seem to be provided for. 
 This being understood, the building appears to be admirably arranged for 
 the system of instruction and government intended. The chief defect in 
 arrangement would seem to be the small allowance of clothes-rooms and 
 closets, for so large a number of Teachers and Pupils. 
 
 SECOND AND THIRD STORIES. 
 
 tsbcdc. Are school-rooms. 
 
 f. Flues. 
 
 g. Lobby for second story entrance. 
 
 h. Lobby for third story entrance. 
 k. Shows the third story stairs. 
 
 SPECIFICATION - . 
 
 These represent the ground plan 
 of a building eighty-two feet on the 
 front by fifty-five feet deep, with pedi¬ 
 ments front and back, projecting 
 about eight feet from the line of the building; three stories high, first and 
 second stories fifteen, and third fourteen feet each in the clear; pitch of 
 roof nine feet, and elevation of the first floor two feet six inches. For di¬ 
 mensions and general arrangements, reference will be had to the foregoing 
 plans and explanations of the same. 
 
 Sc/l(?06 
 
 EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 The cellar will be throughout the whole extent of the building, and 
 seven feet six inches deep in the clear. The foundations for all the walls 
 will be sunk twelve inches below the cellar level, or deeper if necessary for 
 the stability of the structure. 
 
cLTICOL ARC lU-TECTUKEL 
 
 JO-A 
 
 CELLAR STONE WORK. 
 
 All the walls in the cellar will he of good quarry building stone, and 
 the foundation course, large and flat and solidly bedded in mortar; the 
 outer wall, to the level of the cellar floor, will be thirty inches thick, and 
 up to the line of pavement twenty-four inches ; the division walls for the 
 partitions, will be eighteen inches up to the level of the first floor of joists. 
 All the facings of the walls to be smoothly dashed; the mortar to be com¬ 
 posed of sharp sand or gravel and wood burnt lime. 
 
 CUT STONE. 
 
 All the outside door sills, steps and platforms, and all the window-sills 
 will be of marble, or free stone, smoothly dressed and free from defects; 
 two hydrant stones will be provided for the yards, and two iron scrapers to 
 each step; cellar door-cheeks and sill will likewise be of cut stone. 
 
 BRICK WORK. 
 
 All the walls, from the cellar upwards will be of brick ; the outside up 
 to the first floor of joists will be twenty-four inches thick, and from that 
 level up to the second floor of joists twenty-two inches, and from that to 
 the square of the building eighteen inches. The vestibule walls will be 
 thirteen inches thick one story high, and the remainder nine inches. The 
 front and flanks are to be faced with the best pressed bricks, (laid Flemish 
 bond) and the back with the best dark stretchers. A base will be formed 
 around the building capped with moulded brick. All the outside walls, 
 above the level of the first floor, will be laid with a hollow space of two 
 inches between the inner face and the body of the wall, to be bonded to¬ 
 gether with alternate headers every fifth course. The walls of the tympa¬ 
 num will be thirteen inches solid; all flues tor heating and ventilation to 
 be well pargeted. 
 
 A ventilating shaft will be built from the cellar up to the "oof, smoothly 
 plastered on the inside; to have an iron door inserted in each story, and to 
 be arranged to admit of a stove being placed in the shaft, for summer ven¬ 
 tilation. 
 
 The piers in the cellar to support the iron posts, are all to be two feet 
 three inches by three feet, tapering upwards to two feet, built with straight 
 hard brick, and capped with stone two indies thick. The cellar windows 
 will all be arched at the head; arches will also be pat over all the other 
 openings in the cellar, and over all the lintels in the upper stories; the 
 bricks will all be laid with clean sharp sand and fresh wood burnt lime. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The joists of all the floors are to be three by fourteen inches, sixteen 
 inches between centres, backed, and a line of cross bridging through each 
 tier; and, in addition, a chain bar of one and a quarter inch round iron 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES, 
 
 133 
 
 With nuts at each end, will be inserted. Each tier of joists will be sup¬ 
 ported by girders six by fourteen inches, to bear upon the iron posts 5 
 anchois will be secured on 
 the outer ends, and likewise 
 over the vestibules ; the roof 
 is to be constructed with four 
 principal rafters, as shown in 
 the detail drawings; the 
 common rafters to be three 
 by six inches and twenty 
 inches between centres, and 
 to be overlaid with sound 
 boarding and prepared for 
 metal roofing. 
 
 All ventilating flues are to 
 be formed in the floor and 
 ceiling, and all connections 
 with the main shaft will be air tight. The Teachers 5 platforms will be 
 raised eight inches. Pin rails will be put up in the clothes-rooms, and the 
 requisite number of hooks well secured to the same. A movable step 
 ladder will be made to the loft. Closets will be fitted up neatly with 
 shelves. The entrance doors to the stairs will be hung to open outwards, 
 as also the doors opening into the outside vestibules. 
 
 The cupola will be framed and connected with the main roof in a sub¬ 
 stantial manner, and all exterior dressings, viz: eave and cornice, cupola, 
 window heads, &c., will be in accordance with plate No. 11, “ Architectural 
 Details.” Outside cellar doors will be made and hung, and a step-ladder 
 placed in the door-way. 
 
 FLOORS. 
 
 All the floors are to be laid with the best quality heart yellow pine one 
 and a quarter inch boards, planed and grooved, well nailed to the joists and 
 joints shot. The second and third floors will be deafened by cleating the 
 joists, and flooring roughly between them, and filling the space to the top 
 of the joists with two inches of mortar. 
 
 STAIRS. 
 
 The stairs are to be put up on strong carriages, with steps one and a half 
 inches thick, of heart yellow pine or ash, glued and blocked to the risers, 
 and let into the wall string; to be enclosed with one and a half inch plank 
 partitions planed and grooved together, with wall rails of cherry well se¬ 
 cured with iron stays. 
 
 WINDOAVS, DOORS, &c. 
 
 The windows are all to be reveal, sash one and three quarter inches thick, 
 
 ^SCHOOL OF DESIGN Sr — 
 
134 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 made in three parts, six lights each, twelve by eighteen inch glass ; the top 
 and bottom sash to be hung with the best axle pulleys, cord and weights, 
 and the centre to be stationary; the partition dividing the class-rooms, 
 will have sash made and hung in the same manner as those in the walls, and 
 will be wainscoted on each side, three feet high above the floor. The walls 
 will also be wainscoted in the same manner, and capped on the top on a 
 line with the inside window sills. The vestibules in the centres of the par¬ 
 titions are to be enclosed with sash doors on three sides, and a close door 
 opening into the hall. Inside panel shutters will be made in the first stogy, 
 and blinds in the second and third, one and a quarter inches thick, in four 
 folds, hung to open against the jambs, without boxes, and cut at the upper 
 meeting rail. The outer doors are all to be one and three quarter inches 
 thick, bead and butt on both sides, and hung with four and a half inch butts, 
 three on each jamb, and all to be secured with eight inch rim knob locks; 
 all the room doors will be one and a half inches thick, bead and butt, hung 
 with four by four inch butts and secured with four inch mortice locks. 
 
 All the lumber in the above work, to be of the best quality tor the dif¬ 
 ferent parts and all thoroughly seasoned. 
 
 HARDWARE AND IRON WORE. 
 
 Strong cast iron guards will be made and inserted in all the cellar win¬ 
 dows, excepting two, which will have wrought iron gates secured by hasps 
 and padlocks. The partitions and ceilings are to be supported by cast iron 
 posts as sliowm in plate No. 12, “ Architectural Details.” All requisite 
 registers for the ventilators, iron rods, bolts and beds for the roof, and an¬ 
 chors and straps for the joists, camber rods, and all other iron work neces¬ 
 sary to complete the building, to be provided, and to be of the best quality. 
 
 TIN WORK. 
 
 The roof will be overlaid with the best quality cross leaded tin, put on 
 standing grooves, and well cleated to the boards; to be painted on both 
 sides, the upper, two coats; all requisite gutters to be made, and four five 
 inch tin conductors to be provided, and secured to the walls, and finished 
 at the bottom with a section of iron. 
 
 PLASTERING. 
 
 All the walls and ceilings will have two coats of brown mortar, and one 
 of hard wdiite finish; the mortar to be composed of clean sharp sand and 
 wood burnt lime, and well mixed with slaughtered hair; all lath to be 
 sound and free from bark ; the jambs of the windows will be plastered, and 
 an'gles chamfered. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood and iron work usually painted will have three coats of pare 
 white lead and linseed oil. in such tints of plain colors as the Board or 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 135 
 
 committee may desire; all the wainscoting and doors will be grained in 
 imitation of oak and varnished; all the sash will be glazed with the best 
 American glass, well bedded, bradded and puttied. 
 
 PRIVY AND FENCING. 
 
 A well will be dug in the yard eight by twelve feet in the clear, of oval 
 form and twenty feet deep, walled up with hard brick nine inches thick, 
 and substantially arched over at the top. A building will be erected over 
 the well ten by fourteen feet, with nine inch outside walls, and four inch 
 division walls, seven feet six inches in height of story in the clear; to be 
 divided into three apartments, with ledge door to each, hung to scantling 
 frames with straps and hooks; one door secured with a lock, the others with 
 latches, hooks and staples; to be roofed with shingles, floored and fitted up 
 with plank seats and risers, and each apartment with a small Venetian slat 
 window in the wall; all to be plastered complete and painted three coats. 
 To conceal the doors in each yard, ihere will be made a slat screen ten feet 
 long, and the height of the fence. A cast iron urinal will be required in 
 the boys’ yard, to connect Avith the well; a ventilating flue nine by twenty- 
 four inches, will be constructed in the centre, to extend from the bottom of 
 
 t 
 
 the seats to eight feet above the roof, neatly capped on the top. 
 
 All requisite fencing will be put up six feet six inches high, planed and 
 grooved and neatly capjDed on the top; the posts to be locust or red cedar, 
 and to be not more than eight feet between centres. A gate will be in 
 each yard, hung Avith strong hooks and straps, and secured Avith latches, 
 hasps and padlocks. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 As the items of paving and plumbing are governed by local circum¬ 
 stances, specifications of them are here omitted. 
 
 The contractor is to furnish, at his own cost and expense, all the mate¬ 
 rial and Avorkmanship necessary to erect, finish and complete the building, 
 according to the above plans and this specification. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of a building after this plan Avould be sixteen thousand dollars. 
 
 CLASS IV. —No. 10. 
 
 The High School of Philadelphia, is the last Avhich will be presented and 
 fittingly concludes the series. Of this noble structure it is neither deemed 
 necessary to give a full detailed description nor a Avorking specification. 
 A brief account of the institution, Avith a description of some particular 
 
130 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 features in the plan and arrangement of the building, will be more gener¬ 
 ally useful and interesting. These have been furnished by Professor Hart, 
 the Principal of the institution. 
 
 This School went into operation in October, 1838, with four Professors, 
 and sixty-three Students. It has since been gradually enlarged in plan and 
 in numbers, until it has now twelve Professors, four assistants and six hun¬ 
 dred Students. The whole number admitted up to July, 1855, was three 
 thousand two hundred and twelve. 
 
 The building originally erected for the use of the School was in Juniper 
 street, back of the United States mint. It had been for several years in¬ 
 adequate to the wants of the School, and in 1853, the Controllers sold the 
 old building and erected the new one, larger and more commodious, at the 
 corner of Broad and Green streets. The new building was finished and 
 dedicated to the purposes of its erection on the 28th of June, 1854. The 
 entiie cost of the lot, building and furniture was seventy-five thousand dol¬ 
 lars:— The cost of the lot being seventeen thousand dollars. 
 
 S 
 
 The lot is one hundred and fifty feet front on Broad street, by ninety- 
 five feet deep. It has Green street for a boundary on the north, and Bran¬ 
 dywine street on the south. The building stands back five feet from the 
 line of the street, and is one hundred feet long by seventy feet deep. This 
 gives an open area of twenty feet in the rear and twenty-five feet at each 
 end, besides a wide public street on three sides. The building, therefore, 
 offers free access on all sides for light and air, and is comparatively free 
 from noise and the risk of fire. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 137 
 
 The building is constructed throughout in a substantial manner, with 
 good materials, and with a main reference to utility rather than ornament, 
 although the latter has not been altogether lost sight of, The walls through¬ 
 out are built hollow, to prevent dampness; the outside walls and those 
 on each side of the transverse hall have an average thickness of eighteen 
 inches, while those separating the various class-rooms have a thickness of 
 thirteen inches. The exterior is built of the best quality of pressed brick. 
 The plainness of the external facade is relieved by projections and recesses 
 on the line of the outer wall, by a horizontal line of marble work separating 
 the first story from those above, by a large main entrance in the middle, 
 by the cornice, and by the dome of the observatory above. Though simple 
 in design, and constructed in an economical manner, the building presents 
 externally quite an ornamented appearance. 
 
 The observatory is built upon two piers of solid masonry. These piers 
 stand isolated from all the rest of the structure, being inclosed within the 
 walls on each side of the front entrance. They are sixteen feet wide by 
 two and a half feet thick, and extend upwards, without material change, 
 from below the foundation to the top of the third story. They are con¬ 
 nected by iron girders, and on these girders the instruments rest. The 
 dome of the observatory rests upon the other walls of the building, and 
 has no connection with the piers that are used to support the instruments. 
 The height of the floor of the observatory above the level of the pavement 
 is eighty-two feet. 
 
 FIRST FLOOR. 
 
 b. Hot air flues. 
 
 c. Ventilating flues. 
 
 f. Stairs. 
 
 g. Tower walls. 
 
 h. Book cases. 
 
 Throughout the build¬ 
 ing, careful provision 
 has been made for light. 
 
 The windows are all 
 large, and are as closely 
 placed as a due regard 
 to the strength of the walls would permit. Four out of six of the class¬ 
 rooms on each floor, are corner rooms, admitting light from two sides. The 
 large lecture room on the first floor, is lighted on three sides. 
 
 There are two main stairways, one at each end of the large hall. That 
 in front runs in a well, from the first floor to the arch of the observatory. 
 That in the rear likewise runs in a well from the first floor to the third. 
 18 
 
138 
 
 SCHOOL AUC H1 TECTORE. 
 
 The building has also a double flight of stairs in the rear, connecting the 
 main hall with the basement, a double flight of outside stairs into the base¬ 
 ment from each end of the building, and a small stairway connecting the 
 chemical laboratory with the class-room above. The main stairways are 
 all six feet wide, each stair having a rise of seven, and a tread of twelve 
 inches. The door into the main entrance in front, is a folding door, eight 
 feet wide and eighteen feet high. That in the rear is also folding, eight 
 feet wide and fourteen high. The main entrance into the lecture room is 
 likewise a double door, seven feet wide. The class-rooms are all severally 
 connected by doors with each other, as well as with the main hall. These 
 doors are all three and a half feet wide. The building thus has admirable 
 facilities for the movements of the classes, as well as for being instantly 
 cleared in case of panic. 
 
 SECOND AND THIRD FLOORS. 
 
 b. Hot air flues. 
 
 c. Ventilating flues. 
 
 /. Stairs. 
 g. Tower walls. 
 
 The general plan of the 
 building is exceeding sim- 
 pie. It is in shape an ob¬ 
 long parallelogram, front¬ 
 ing lengthwise on Broad 
 street, being one hundred 
 feet long by seventy deep. 
 There are three stories besides the basement. The plan in each story is 
 nearly the same. A hall, sixteen feet wide, runs east and west, dividing the 
 building on each floor into two equal parts ; these parts are again severally 
 sub-divided by walls running north and south, into three rooms averaging 
 thirty-eight feet by twenty-two. This gives six rooms on a floor, except 
 on the first floor, where the whole of the north side is reserved for a lec¬ 
 ture room. The lecture room on the first floor is sixty-eight feet long by 
 thirty-eight feet wide, and twenty feet high, and is capable of seating six 
 hundred persons. 
 
 The height of the several stories, in the clear both of the floor and ceil¬ 
 ing, is as follows: the basement story ten feet; the first story twenty feet 
 three inches; the second story sixteen feet six inches; the third story six¬ 
 teen feet. The basement in front is five feet three inches above the level 
 of the curb-stone; and, as the lot descends considerably in the rear, the 
 basement is, on an average, more than one half above ground. It is di¬ 
 vided into six rooms, with a transverse hall, on the same plan as the stories 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF CITY SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 139 
 
 above, the rooms being intended for a chemical laboratory, clothes-room, 
 storage, &c. 
 
 BASEMENT. 
 
 aaaa. Furnaces. 
 dddd. Area. 
 ec. Cellar stairs. 
 gg. Tower walls. 
 klckk. Coal vaults. 
 
 In regard to the 
 important matter 
 of heating and ven¬ 
 tilation, two meth¬ 
 ods engaged the 
 attention of the 
 Controllers. The 
 
 first was to generate all the heat in one large chamber in the centre, and 
 send it thence, north and south, to the ends of the building. The objection 
 to this plan was the difficulty of producing, in connection with it, a proper 
 ventilation. To secure good ventilation in an apartment, it is necessary to 
 establish a current through it. The air must be brought in at one end and 
 carried out at the other end. The ventiducts for carrying off the air, after 
 it has been used, must be, as nearly as possible, opposite to the warm flues 
 by which the pure air is introduced; consequently, if the hot air chamber 
 were placed in the centre of the building, the ventiducts would have to be 
 in the extreme ends. But the end walls, in a building standing apart from 
 others, and entirely exposed to the external atmosphere, are naturally colder 
 than those in the centre; they would consequently chill the ventiducts, and 
 thereby greatly impair their efficiency in carrying off the foul air. 
 
 Besides this, in order that the ventiducts may be perfectly reliable in all 
 weathers, it is necessary that some artificial means should be used for in¬ 
 creasing the current by rarifying the air within them. This is ordinarily 
 done by introducing within the ventiduct, a jet of burning gas, or a small 
 stove. The trouble and expense of such an apparatus are greatly increased 
 by multiplying the number of places where it must be applied. It was, 
 therefore, very desirable, that the ventiducts should be all brought together 
 into one general tube, before going out of the roof. One good fire main¬ 
 tained within it would then suffice for the whole building. But this ar¬ 
 rangement would be impracticable, if the warm air flues were to radiate 
 from the centre, and the ventiducts be placed at the extremities. 
 
 It was, therefore, determined to take the other method, namely : to cen¬ 
 tralize the ventilating apparatus and generate the heat at the extremities. 
 This is done by four of the largest size furnaces, two being placed at each 
 
140 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 end of the building, and the heat sent inwards towards the centre. This 
 is indicated by the position of the hot air flues, which are all placed in 
 the north and south walls of the several apartments. The ventiducts 
 being at the opposite ends of the apartments, all occur in the two that line 
 the central hall, and are all brought together in two tire proof apartments 
 in the loft, seven feet square, known as ventilating chambers. In each of 
 these is placed a large coal stove, and from the top extends a large cylin¬ 
 drical exit tube, surmounted by an Emerson ventilating cap. By means 
 of the stove in the ventilating chamber, a large amount of heat may be 
 generated, and an impetus may be given to the ascending current, to any 
 extent that is desired. 
 
 This part of the arrangement is deemed especially important. In clear, 
 cold weather, when the furnaces are in action, and a current of warm air 
 is constantly setting into one extremity of an apartment, it is not difficult 
 to establish and maintain an ascending exit current from the other end. 
 The air is forced into the ventiduct by the constant pressure from the other 
 end. Moreover, it enters the ventiduct already warmer than the external 
 air. The ventiduct itself becomes warmed ; and so the current, once estab¬ 
 lished, perpetuates itself. But when the furnaces are not in operation, 
 nothing of this sort takes place. And yet, this occurs precisely in those 
 parts of the year, when ventilation in a School-room is most needed, viz: in 
 moderate weather, when it is not warm enough to open the doors and win¬ 
 dows, and yet not cold enough to maintain a tire. At such times, the stove 
 in the loft, acting directly and powerfully upon the ventiduct, will at all 
 times create an ascending current, sucking the foul air up, as it were, from 
 the several apartments, and thereby causing fresh air to enter from the 
 other extremities. The position of the windows, directly opposite the ven¬ 
 tiducts, gives a special facility for this purpose, when the furnaces are not 
 in action. The windows, at such times, take the place of the warm air 
 flues in supplying a stream of fresh air. 
 
 The following additional particulars may be mentioned in regard to the 
 apparatus for heating and ventilation. The flues are all made large, both 
 those for the admission, and those for the exit of the air. In the class¬ 
 rooms, which are thirty-eight feet by twenty-two, the warm air flues aver¬ 
 age one and one-sixth square feet, aud the ventiducts two and one-third 
 square feet. In all the rooms the warm air is introduced at the bottom of 
 the apartment, as near as possible to the level of the floor; and the ordinary 
 opening for the escape of the foul air is also on a level with the floor at the 
 opposite extremity, so as to sweep constantly the lower stratum of air, in 
 which the Pupil is immersed. The ventiducts are also supplied with 
 openings at the ceiling, to be used, not in ordinary 7 but whenever needed, 
 to get rid of the excessive heat. 
 
CONSTRUCTION OP CIT? SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 14:1 
 
 In reckoning the advantages of the building, in respect to pure air, espe¬ 
 cial emphasis should be given to the commendable height of the ceilings. 
 Each apartment has a large volume of air at its disposal, in proportion to 
 the area of its floor; and it is obvious, that the air of a room eight or ten 
 feet high, is much more rapidly vitiated than that of one fifteen or twenty 
 feet high. The average proportion of atmosphere allowed to each Pupil is 
 three hundred and forty-three cubic feet, — equal to an area of seven feet 
 square in a room whose ceiling is only seven feet high. 
 
 The High School is supported by the city at an annual expense of about 
 twenty thousand dollars. It has a liberal course of study, running through 
 four years, differing somewhat from a college course, but equivalent to it, 
 and those students who complete the course receive regularly the degrees 
 of Bachelor and Master of Arts, a charter to this effect having been granted 
 by the Legislature, The success of the Philadelphia High School contri¬ 
 buted largely to the establishment of the New York Free Academy, an in¬ 
 stitution of similar character, and on a still more liberal footing. Both of 
 these noble institutions, as well as all the subordinate subsidiary schools by 
 which they are fed, are absolutely and entirely free, the only test and the 
 only chance of admission being the individual merit of the applicant. 
 
 The primary and main end of the Pligh School was to elevate the whole 
 system with which it is connected. It has accomplished in this respect all 
 that was expected of it. Both the Pupils and the Teachers of the lower 
 Schools have been stimulated to an extraordinary degree of activity, and their 
 popularity has kept pace with their progress. When the High School was 
 first projected, there were only about seven or eight thousand Pupils in the 
 public Schools of Philadelphia, although the system had been in operation 
 for nearly twenty years; there are now more than fifty-three thousand in 
 daily attendance. When the High School was first opened, candidates went 
 to the lower Schools the term required, only in obedience to an odious re¬ 
 striction of law. Now these lower Schools themselves have become attrac¬ 
 tive places of education, and some of the richest and most aristocratic peo¬ 
 ple of the city send their children there, not merely as a stepping stone 
 to the High School, but because those Schools offer the best training which 
 the city affords for a common English education. 
 
142 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 CLASS II —No. 6. 
 
 The plate prepared by the artist as an ornamental Frontispiece, repre¬ 
 sents a building which would properly be No. 6, Class II, if in its proper 
 place in this Manual. The plan will suit either for two separate primary 
 Schools, or for a secondary School in a small village, or in a densely peo¬ 
 pled rural district. It shows seats for only ninety-six Pupils, but has ample 
 space for one hundred and twenty-eight. 
 
 If used as a secondary School, one of the main apartments may be de¬ 
 voted to males and the other to females ; or, a still better arrangement will 
 be, to form the Pupils into two divisions, without regard to sex, but with 
 sole reference to standing in studies, and to place one division in each room. 
 
 The large provision of class-rooms seems to indicate that there shall be 
 no recitations in the main study rooms. According to this system, four 
 Teachers will be needed for the full number of one hundred and twenty- 
 eight Pupils ; one in each class-room, hearing recitations, and one in each 
 study room keeping order and preparing classes. The latter two might be 
 young or assistant Teachers, at a small salary, and under instruction for 
 the profession of teaching. Thus arranged, a more ample provision for in¬ 
 struction, or better accommodations for both Pupils and Teachers, can 
 hardly be imagined, than this building presents. 
 
 SPECIFICATION. 
 
 The building is intended to be of smooth brick work on the outer surface, 
 with the projections of the piers, pilasters and architraves of the same 
 material. The dimensions are eighty feet on the front and twenty-eight 
 feet across the end. The elevation of the first floor is two feet six inches ; 
 the height of the story sixteen feet in the clear, and the pitch of roof six 
 feet. 
 
 PLAN OF FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 a. Girls’entrance and clothes 
 room. 
 
 a. Boys’ entrance and clothes 
 room. 
 
 bb. Teachers’ desks. 
 cc. Class-rooms. 
 
 d. Passages 2 feet 6 inches. 
 
 e. Seats for two Pupils. 
 ff. Flues. 
 
FRONTISPIECE. 
 
 143 
 
 For the arrangement of the building and manner of work, reference will 
 
 go J 
 
 be had to the plans and the following specifications. 
 
 EXCAVATION. 
 
 Excavations will be made for a cellar seven feet in the clear, and for a 
 door way ; with trenches of sufficient depth for a solid foundation. 
 
 MASONRY, &c. 
 
 The walls of the cellar will be of good quarry building stone. The outer 
 stone walls, up to the level of the ground, will be sixteen inches thick. The 
 division walls will be the same, built up to receive the joists. 
 
 The brick walls will be fifteen inches at the base and in the corner piers, 
 and in the recesses eleven inches, being a nine inch wall, spread two inches 
 in the middle, with the surfaces bonded together alternately with headers. 
 
 The pilasters around the doors and windows will project two inches from 
 the face of the wall; flues will be made in the walls for smoke and venti¬ 
 lation, and all other preparations requisite for heating with a furnace. 
 
 The division walls across the building will be of brick, nine inches thick. 
 The brick on the exterior will be of the best dark stretchers, smoothly 
 laid and joints neatly struck. The base around the building will be capped 
 with a moulded brick; openings will be made to the cellar under each win¬ 
 dow for light and air, and neat iron guards secured in the same. 
 
 Cut stone sills will be required for the outside doors and windows. The 
 inside of the walls and ceilings will be plastered with two coats of brown 
 mortar, and one of white finish. The mortar for the same to be made of 
 clean sharp sand and wood burnt lime. 
 
 CARPENTER WORK AND MATERIALS. 
 
 The flooring joists will be three by twelve inches, placed sixteen inches 
 between centre, and well secured with cross bridging through the centre of 
 each length. Those of the middle portion of the building will bear upon a 
 six by twelve inch girder, supported by brick piers in the cellar. The 
 roof will be supported by a trussed ridge pole or girder, running lengthwise 
 and resting on the division walls crossing the building. The rafters will 
 bear upon the wall plate and ridge pole, and be placed two feet between 
 centres. The hip and valley rafters will be three by ten inches. Jack 
 rafters three by five inches. The eave and cupolas will be made in accord¬ 
 ance with plate No. 12, “ Architectural Details.” The cupolas are intend¬ 
 ed for ventilators, and to be connected with the ventiducts under the roof. 
 The ceiling joists will be two by eight inches, sixteen inches between cen¬ 
 tres. The rafters will be sheathed in with boards of uniform thickness, 
 and together with the cupolas prepared for covering with tin. The win¬ 
 dows will all be made plank face or casing, sash all one and a half inches 
 thick, double hung with patent cord, axle pulleys and weights. Inside 
 
144 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 rolling blinds, one and a half inches thick, will be made in four folds, hung 
 and secured in the usual manner without boxes. The outside door frames 
 will be beaded casings with plain hanging stiles. The doors one and three 
 quarter inches thick, in pairs, and hung with suitable sized butts, and secured 
 with flush bolts and six inch mortice locks. The floors will be of yellow 
 pine or ash, one and a quarter inches thick, planed and grooved, well nailed 
 to the joists, and joints shot. Partitions not of brick will be of three by four 
 inch scantling. The walls of the School-rooms will be wainscoted to the 
 height of three feet, and capped on a line with the window sills. The 
 jamb casings of the windows will be inch thick, and beaded on the edge to 
 receive the plastering. The jamb casings of the doors will be one and a 
 half inches thick and rebated. The dressings of the inside doors will be a 
 moulding four inches wide. The doors will be one a half inches thick, 
 made in six panels and moulded, hung with suitable sized butts and secured 
 with three and a half inch mortice locks. The outside steps will be of wood ; 
 a set of outside cellar door-clieeks, sill and doors, will be made and hung, 
 and strong steps be made to lead to the cellar. 
 
 Platforms for the Teachers’ desks will be made where shown in the 
 ground plan; one hundred square feet of black-board, or other dark surface 
 to be approved by the Directors, will be put up in each of the two School¬ 
 rooms and the two class-rooms; map rails will be put up in both, and pin 
 rails in the clothes-rooms, with a sufficient number of the most approved 
 wardrobe hooks on the latter, as directed during the progress of the work. 
 
 TIN ROOFING. 
 
 The roof will be overlaid with the best quality cross leaded roofing tin, 
 painted two coats on the upper side, the first coat of red lead. 
 
 PAINTING AND GLAZING. 
 
 All the wood work usually painted, will have three coats of pure white 
 lead and linseed oil, and be finished in such tints of plain colors as directed. 
 The sash will lie glazed with the best American glass, well bedded, sprigged 
 and puttied. 
 
 PRIVY AND FENCING. 
 
 The privy and fencing will be according to the specification of No. 2, 
 Class III. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 All the materials are to be of the best quality for the different kinds of 
 work, and the workmanship to be done in a complete and substantial man¬ 
 ner, in accordance with the plans and this specification. 
 
 ESTIMATE. 
 
 The cost of this building will be about three thousand dollars. 
 
THE PRIVY. 
 
 145 
 
 THE PRIVY. 
 
 It is now universally admitted that education is not confined to the cul¬ 
 ture of the intellect, but that the preservation of health, the formation of 
 correct habits and the inculcation of sound morality, are also embraced in 
 the term. Cleanliness of person, decency of conduct and propriety of man¬ 
 ners, are as essential to the comfort and happiness of the social state, as a 
 cultivated intellect and a well ordered store of practical knowledge are to 
 individual success. It may even be asserted, that the number of persons 
 who make their way in the world by the force of physical health, easiness 
 of manner and sound morals, though undistinguished by great talent or en¬ 
 larged acquirement, is at least as great as that of those who rely solely on the 
 latter. Be this as it may with respect to the individual, certain it is, that 
 when regarded in their relation to society, those decencies, which have been 
 aptly denominated “ the minor morals,” rise at once into importance, and 
 demand the utmost care at the hands of those to whom the training of the 
 youth of a community is entrusted. Hence it is, that a work of this kind 
 would be incomplete, if the subject now proposed were wholly omitted. 
 
 When attention is turned directly to the point, no argument is needed to 
 show the intimate connection which exists between the common decencies 
 of life and a high state of civilization. Yet the practice of many, who 
 have charge of the Common School-houses, would seem to indicate, either 
 that they have never fully considered the importance of this subject, or 
 that they disregard, in respect to the Schools of their children, those very 
 proprieties which they are so careful to provide for, at home, in reference to 
 themselves. In no other way can the offensive condition of the grounds 
 around so many School-houses be accounted for; and it is time that atten¬ 
 tion should be plainly called to this matter. 
 
 Injury to the bodily health of the young from unwholesome effluvia, is 
 the smallest portion of this evil. The indecency of the practice cannot be 
 long continued without generating habits, whose very existence is proof of 
 the absence of that sense of delicacy and of those finer feelings, which are 
 indispensable to a high and correct moral character. When the sense of 
 shame for doing that which is indecent is eradicated, one, and by no means 
 the weakest, of the barriers against committing that which is dishonest, 
 has also been removed. 
 
 19 
 
I4G 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Nor is the total neglect to make suitable arrangements the only or the 
 chief evil, in this direction. The loathsome condition in which these 
 buildings are often found, is equally blame-worthy, and if possible, more 
 prejudicial to health than their entire absence. Their care is as indis¬ 
 pensable as their erection. Children require as constant oversight in the 
 formation of this, as of any other habit, and the teacher or the director 
 who thinks it beneath his dignity to inspect, regularly and closely, all the 
 out-houses of the School, entertains strange vieAVs of true dignity of char¬ 
 acter, and omits a very important duty. 
 
 Though the importance and obligation of this duty are thus insisted on, 
 the difficulty of successfully performing it is fully admitted. Hence, every 
 proper expedient for effecting the object should be adopted, and the most 
 careful arrangements should be made in the first plan of the School premises. 
 
 The following principles would seem to be applicable: 1. These build¬ 
 ings should always be so located as to be, as much as possible, out of view, 
 without removing them to an inconvenient distance. 2. Their outward ap¬ 
 pearance should not be such as to invite injury, but should be so neat and 
 agreeable as to claim for them care and protection. 3. Their form and ar¬ 
 rangement should be calculated to prevent them, as much as possible, from 
 becoming offensive to the senses or injurious to health. 
 
 1. In most cases the best location will be on the extreme rear of the 
 School lot, and within four or five feet of the centre of the back fence. If 
 thus placed, with the entrance doors towards the back fence, as much of 
 privacy as possible will be secured, and the cost of a screen in front will be 
 saved. This position will also suit the division of the building into sepa¬ 
 rate apartments for the sexes, which separation may be readily and effectu¬ 
 al^ made by extending the dividing fence between the boys’ and girls’ 
 play-grounds, from the centre of the back wall of the School-house to the 
 centre of the out-house in question, with a similar division of the space be¬ 
 tween the latter building and the back fence. Such a location will proba¬ 
 bly be found as unobtrusive, yet as convenient, as any that can be selected. 
 
 2. The outward appearance of the building should be as neat and orna¬ 
 mental as the circumstances of the cases will admit. It is poor economy 
 as well as wretched taste, to waste the funds of the district on those high, 
 narrow, board watch-boxes, placed over an unwalled well of slight depth, 
 which the first storm overturns, and whose open joints and exposed door — 
 if door they have — afford little shelter and less privacy while they do 
 stand. 
 
 These buildings should always be in keeping with the architecture of the 
 School-house. If possible they should be of the same material and in the 
 same style; neatly and substantially finished, and well painted or lime- 
 washed ; and altogether such, in outward appearance, as neither to disgrace 
 
THE PRIVY. 
 
 147 
 
 the locality nor invite injury. Attention to these particulars will probably 
 be found to be not only good taste but true economy. If, too, the rose or 
 other climbing flower, be made to add to its beauty and its concealment 
 to the structure, the mischievous hands of childhood will be less apt to in¬ 
 flict injury, and an unsightly object may be converted into an ornament. 
 
 3. As to general form and construction, a building divided into as many 
 apartments as it has seats, is probably the best. Each apartment need not 
 be wider than two and a half feet, by five feet in length or depth. A build¬ 
 ing with four divisions would thus be five by ten feet in dimensions. The 
 well should always be deep and of a round or oval shape, according to cir¬ 
 cumstances. A square or oblong well is liable to cave in; whereas the 
 round or oval arrangement of the stone or brick lining wall, presents the 
 resistance of an arch to the outside pressure. 
 
 If the material of the building be wood, none of the inside work should 
 be planed, except the seat, and it should be all painted or lime-washed with 
 some dark color. If stone or brick be used, the inside should be finished 
 with a hard rough coat of plaster, and lime-washed with a dark color; the 
 object in both cases being to prevent w r riting or marking on the walls. 
 
 The size of the building will, of course, be in proportion to the size of 
 the School, and no exact rule can be laid down on this point. No School 
 for both sexes should, however, have one with less than two apartments, and 
 probably few Schools will require one with more than six. 
 
 The two great objects to be effected by the proper arrangement and 
 care of this building, are ventilation and cleanliness. 
 
 To secure constant and free ventilation, one of the best expedients proba¬ 
 bly is, to have all the inside partitions hollow, and so constructed as to 
 form direct and large passages for the effluvium from the well to the loft; 
 the sides of the partitions being either composed of grooved boards or of lath 
 and plaster; but boards are the best, being less liable to injury. In each 
 gable end of the loft, there should be an open slat window, and also a small 
 cupola on the roof with similar sides. Such an arrangement as this, with 
 close covers to the seats, will effectually cause all effluvia to rise and pass 
 off, at such a height as to prevent injury or unpleasantness. 
 
 In the absence of hollow partitions open at bottom and top, a flue from 
 the well through the loft to the top of the roof, is frequently inserted. Tibs, 
 when of sufficient capacity and properly arranged, is found to answer a good 
 purpose. 
 
 Many expedients have been tried to prevent the defilement of the seats. 
 A very effectual one is to put a hinged cover to each, with a brace or 
 board so fixed, firmly, at the back of the cover, as to prevent it from opening 
 beyond an angle of about sixty degrees with the level of the seat. This 
 cover should also be so much wider than the seat — say six or eight inches —- 
 
148 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 as to extend, when raised, to a line perpendicular to the front edge of the 
 seat. This arrangement will effect the double object, of rendering it im¬ 
 possible to stand on the seat, and of causing the seat to be closed when not 
 in use — the cover, from its position, always falling by its own weight. 
 
 There should be a good lock and key to each apartment, and every Pupil 
 required to report any act of carelessness found to have been committed. 
 The locking of the building is necessary for the additional reason, that most 
 School property is left unprotected during at least sixteen out of the twenty- 
 four hours; and therefore it requires all the safe-guards that can be thrown 
 round it. 
 
 A properly constructed urinal should be attached to the boys’ privy. It 
 should be placed in the most retired corner of the space between the build¬ 
 ing and the back fence, and be connected with the well. One of cast iron 
 will be the most durable and can be procured at little cost; but if wood 
 be used, it will last several years. This arrangement will not only pre¬ 
 vent all unpleasantness to the senses, but conduce to the formation of habits 
 of propriety and decency. 
 
 These are apparently small matters, and it is difficult to speak of them 
 in fitting language; but their proper observance will prove greatly promo¬ 
 tive of the moral improvement of the School. The competent Teacher will 
 know how to enforce them, and will find the result of his efforts beneficial 
 in every respect. 
 
 In some few Schools the practice prevails of refusing Pupils permission 
 to go out, except during intermission, or at certain stated times. No rule 
 could be more reprehensible than this. It has often caused unpleasant 
 consequences, and may inflict serious injury on the health of the child. It 
 is admitted that some Pupils abuse the privilege to leave the School-room; 
 but the competent and watchful Teacher will, in most cases, soon detect 
 such practices, and know how to apply the proper correction. Still, if he 
 cannot, it is the height of oppression to punish and incur the risk of injuring 
 a whole School, on account of the misdeeds of a few. 
 
ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. 
 
 149 
 
 ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. 
 
 For the purpose of saving space and avoiding constant repetition, the 
 Architects have grouped, in the following plates, such parts of the details 
 of the foregoing structures, as could be thus most readily exhibited to the 
 eye. In the various specifications, these plates have been referred to by 
 their proper numbers; and at the foot of the plates, lettered references will 
 be found, indicating the portion of each which is to be taken as part of the 
 specification connected with it. Thus, so much of each plate as relates to 
 it, becomes a part of the proper specification. 
 
 A. Eave and cornice, Nos. 1 and 2, first class, and 
 
 No. 4, second class. 
 
 B. Eave and cornice, Nos. 3 and 5, first class. 
 
 C. Eave and cornice, No. 4, first class. 
 
 D. Column, No. 2, second class. 
 
 E. Door frame, Nos. 1 and 2, first class. 
 
 F. Cornice of porch, No. 4, first class. 
 
 G. Bracket under barge, No. 5, first class. 
 
 H. Porch eave, Nos. 3 and 5, first class. 
 
 I. Bracket and roof over door and window, No. 5, 
 
 first class. 
 
 K. Side view of roof over door and window No. 5. 
 first class. 
 
150 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 A. Base of cupola, No. 6, first class, and No. 4, C. Top of cupola, No. G, first class, and No. 4, 
 second class. second class. 
 
 B. Eave and cornice, Nos. 6 and 7, first class, D. Base of cupola, No. 7, first class, 
 and 2 and 3, second. E. Top of cupola, No. 7, first class. 
 
 B. Large gable window, No. 2, second class. E. Twin window, No. 4, second class. 
 
 C. Barge and window bracket, No. 2, second class, and penthouse bracket over door, No. 6, first class. 
 F. Side view of twin window, No. 4, second class. 
 
ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. 
 
 151 
 
 A. Top of bell turret, No. 3, second class. 
 C. Base of bell turret, No. 3, second class. 
 F. Base of bell turret. No. 5, second class. 
 
 A. Eave and cornice, No. 1, third class. 
 
 B. Front door head, No. 1, third class. 
 
 C. Side view door head, No. 1, third class. 
 
 D. Top of cupola, No. 3, third class. 
 
 B. Top of bell turret, No. 5, second class. 
 D. Large window, No. 3, second class. 
 
 E. Bracket and cornice of Nos. 2, 3 and 5, third 
 
 class. 
 
 F. Centre window, No. 5, third class. 
 
 G. Corbels, No. 5, third class. 
 
152 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 A. Cupola, No. 2, third class. B. Window dressing, No. 2, third class. 
 
 C. Top of cupola, No. 4, third class. D. Base of cupola, No. 4, third class. 
 
 A. Eave and cornice, No. 3, fourth class. 
 
 B. Cupola, No. 3, fourth class. 
 
 C. Hood mould, No. 7, third class. 
 
 D. Sill and block, No. 7, third class. 
 
 E. Eave and bracket for No. 7, third class. 
 
 F. Top of cupola, No. 7, third class. 
 
 G. Base of cupola, No. 7, third class. 
 
ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. 
 
 153 
 
 A. Eave and cornice, No. 4, third class, and No. 4, fourth class, and corbel course, No. 4, fourth class. 
 
 B. Chimney top, No. 4, fourth class. C. Eave and cornice of wing No. 4, fourth class. 
 
 D. Front porch, No. 2, fourth class. E. Eave cornice and bracket, No. 1, fourth class. 
 
 F. Main eave, No. 2, fourth class. 
 
 A. Eave, cornice, bracket and quoins, No. 5, fourth class. B. Base of cupola, No. 5, fourth class. 
 
 C. Eave and cornice of cupola, No. 5, fourth class. 
 
 20 
 
154 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 A. Eave, cornice, medallions and quoins, No. 8, fourth class. 
 
 B. Base of cupola, No. 8, fourth class. C. Eave and cornice of cupola, No. 8, fourth class. 
 
 A. Top of cupola, No. 9, fourth class. 
 
 C. Eave and cornice, No. 9, fourth class. 
 
 B. Base of cupola, No. 9, fourth class. 
 
ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. 
 
 155 
 
 A. Bell turret of frontispiece building. B. Base of turret of frontispiece building. 
 
 C. Top of turret of frontispiece building. D. Eave and cornice of frontispiece building. 
 
 E. Section of iron post of sash partitions, showing the boxes for weights. 
 
 F. Girder cut out to slip on the iron post. G. Elevation of iron post and bearing of girder. 
 
 A. Portico of building, No. 7, fourth class. B. Base of column of building, No. 7, fourth class. 
 
 C. Eave and cornice of main building, No. 7, fourth class. 
 
 D, A date stone. 
 
356 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 SCALE OF GROUND PLANS, 
 
 The following table shows the scale of proportion according to which the 
 plans of the buildings in this Manual have been drawn: The first column 
 of figures under each class indicating the number of the building in its 
 proper class, and the second the number of feet in the building to the inch 
 in the plan. 
 
 CLASS I. CLASS II. 
 
 No. 1, twelve* feet to the inch. 
 
 2, twelve feet to the inch. 
 
 3, twelve feet to the inch. 
 
 4, ten feet to the inch. 
 
 5, twelve feet to the inch. 
 
 6, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 7, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 CLASS in. 
 
 No. 1, twenty feet to the inch. 
 
 • 2, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 3, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 4, eighteen feet to the inch. 
 
 5, twenty feet to the inch. 
 
 6, twenty feet to the inch. 
 
 7, twenty-five feet to the inch. 
 
 No. 1, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 2, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 3, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 4, sixteen feet to the inch. 
 
 5, sixteen feet to the inch, 
 
 CLASS IV. 
 
 No. 1, twenty feet to the inch. 
 
 2, twenty feet to the inch. 
 
 3, eighteen feet to the inch. 
 
 4, twenty feet to the inch. 
 
 5, twenty-five feet to the inch. 
 
 6, twenty-four feet to the inch. 
 
 7, thirty feet to the inch. 
 
 8, thirty feet to the inch. 
 
 9, thirty-five feet to the inch. 
 
 10, thirty-five feet to the inch. 
 
 Frontispiece ground plan (page 142) — twenty-five feet to the inch. 
 
 The “ Architectural Details” are all drawn on a scale of half an inch to 
 the foot. 
 
 The sections of the one story buildings in chapters VI and VII, are on a 
 scale of sixteen feet to the inch; and those of the other buildings in the 
 same chapters are twelve feet to the inch. 
 
 The class-room plans] in chapter VIII, on Furniture, are ten feet to the 
 inch. 
 
 The School-lot plans in chapter XI, are thirty-five feet to the inch- 
 
EXPLANATORY REMARKS, 
 
 157 
 
 EXPLANATORY REMARKS, 
 
 In reference to the foregoing plans and specifications of buildings, it is 
 proper to state, for the information of Directors, Controllers and Contractors, 
 
 I. That no articles of School furniture, except black-boards, platforms 
 and such others as are actually named as intended to be embraced in the 
 specification or in others referred to by it, are included in the estimate of 
 cost, or intended to be furnished by the contractor. It is true that desks 
 and seats, both for Pupils and Teachers, are shown on nearly all the ground 
 plans, but this has been done solely to indicate the architect’s opinion of 
 the best plan for their arrangement, and not for the purpose of including 
 them in the contract for building. Still, if the parties desire to have the 
 furniture included in the contract for building, it can be done; but in that 
 case, the number and kind of each article to be provided by the contractor 
 must be inserted in the agreement. But the better plan will be, to have a 
 separate agreement for the furniture. 
 
 II. That when reference is made, for the sake of brevity, from one spe¬ 
 cification to another, the number of the building thus referred to is always 
 understood to be in the same class as the one from which the reference is 
 made, if the class is not expressly named. When the reference is to a 
 building in another class, in such case both the number and class referred 
 to, will be found named. 
 
 III. That no fencing, except the division fence which should separate 
 most School lots into two parts, is included in the specifications and esti¬ 
 mates. The reason of this was, that frequently outside fences either al¬ 
 ready exist, or one half of them is to be made by adjoining owners. When 
 either is not the case, the whole of the fencing should be included in the 
 contract for building. This can be easily done by adding a few lines to 
 the agreement. 
 
 IV. That it was not thought necessary to lengthen each specification, by 
 stating in it the period for the completion of the building. A clause ot 
 this kind should always be inserted in the agreement, and if possible, the 
 work should all be completed several weeks before the building is to be oc¬ 
 cupied ; not only that it may become thoroughly dry and fit for use with¬ 
 out risk to health, but that the paint and plastering may have time to dry 
 and harden, so as the better to resist injury. 
 
158 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 V. Since the publication, in pamphlet form, of the plans forming Class I, 
 in this Manual, several suggestions have been made, that it would be ad¬ 
 visable to present descriptions of still cheaper buildings than those embraced 
 in this class. At first it was determined to add a series of the kind sug¬ 
 gested, but on more mature consideration the idea was abandoned. On ex¬ 
 amination, the decreased cost was, in most cases, found to consist in the 
 omission of some important part—mostly the cellar and the chimney — 
 or in saving work and material by the erection of a slight, rough structure. 
 The object of this work is to improve the School Architecture of the State; 
 but if changes of the kind alluded to be found unavoidable, they can be 
 effected by adopting the most suitable plan in this work and then by omit¬ 
 ting, from the specification, any part not desired to be retained, or by 
 altering the description of the work, or the quality and dimensions of the 
 material. 
 
 In explanation of the fact that a different arrangement of the furniture, 
 &c., from that indicated on several of the ground plans has been suggested, 
 it is proper to say, that for this the Editor alone is answerable. The draw¬ 
 ings, plans and elevations, with all of the text after the word “ specification,” 
 where it first occurs in capitals under each building, are the work of the 
 Architects; except in case of the Philadelphia High School, the matter re¬ 
 lating to which was prepared by Professor Hart. These drawings and plans 
 having been selected by the proper State authority, the Editor did not feel 
 at liberty to have them altered to suit his own views; but contented him¬ 
 self with suggesting the few improvements they seemed to admit of, and of 
 adding such other remarks as were deemed proper. These suggestions and 
 remarks constitute the portion of the descriptive matter, preceding the 
 word “ specification” under each number. 
 
HEATING SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 159 
 
 VI. ON HEATING SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
 
 ON THE HEATING OP SCHOOL-ROOMS OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS, WITH PLATES OF STOVES, 
 
 / FURNACES, Ac. 
 
 \ 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 The proper heating of a School-house is a point of greater importance 
 than is generally supposed. To procure and set up a stove which shall 
 draw well and be safe, and which a visiting Director, or the Teacher, or a 
 Pupil, may approach on a cold day and at which he may speedily warm 
 himself, is a matter of little difficulty. But this is not by any means enough. 
 The true object — short of which the purpose is not effected — is so to ar¬ 
 range the heating apparatus, whatever it may be, as to produce that proper, 
 equal and regular temperature, by which alone the present comfort of the 
 Pupils can be secured, their disposition and ability to study promoted, and 
 their health protected against injury. 
 
 Persons sitting for a length of time in a state of physical inaction, re¬ 
 quire a higher temperature — a greater degree of heat — than the same 
 persons engaged in any active employment. The experience of practical 
 Teachers, sanctioned by the opinion of Physicians, has settled this proper 
 temperature, for a School-room, at from sixty-five to seventy degrees of 
 heat, according to Fahrenheit’s scale. Any degree materially short of this, 
 either renders the Pupils uncomfortable and uneasy, and is therefore incom¬ 
 patible with study and order; or if the learner’s mind be of that ardent 
 cast which forgets present discomfort in the pursuit of knowledge, he rises 
 from his seat chilled and cramped ; and if the practice be long continued, 
 it must, in the end, be at the expense of health. On the other hand, too 
 great a degree of heat is equally disturbing and injurious. It stimulates 
 and over excites the Pupil, thus also producing impatience, inattention and 
 disorder, while the inevitable relaxation which follows, exposes the system 
 to cold and other diseases. A proper degree of heat is, therefore, indis¬ 
 pensable to order, to study, and to health. 
 
 But it is not enough that a proper temperature shall be found in a certain 
 part of the room. It must be equal throughout the whole chamber, or the 
 injustice will be committed of having a portion of the Pupils—say one- 
 third — comfortably warm and successfully pursuing their studies, while 
 an equal portion are almost roasting and fidgetting near the stove, and the 
 
160 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 remainder, chilled in body and torpid in mind, at the frigid ends of the 
 apartment. Neither uniformity of effort, or of progress, nor proper order 
 can he expected under such circumstances. Equality of temperature, then, 
 is also requisite. 
 
 Finally, the proper temperature must not only be produced and spread 
 over the whole room, but it must be continued during all the school hours. 
 Our natural climate is sufficiently changeable to test all their powers of 
 endurance, without subjecting the bodies of our children to the vicissitudes 
 of two or three seasons, in as many hours, by artificial means. The utmost 
 care should be taken to avoid this, and keep up an even temperature. If 
 any change is permitted, it should be a slight increase of heat toward the 
 hour for dismissal, say from sixty-five to seventy degrees, but never to ex¬ 
 ceed the latter. When persons come into a warm room, from the open air 
 and active exercise, they at first generally feel incommoded by the heat; 
 but the longer they sit, the less they perceive it, and the more heat they 
 seem to require. Nor is there any danger of Pupils taking cold from the 
 effects of a slight increase of heat towards the hour of dismissal; inasmuch 
 as they then go at once from the School-room to a state of active exercise, 
 which at least keeps up, if it do not add to, the increased action of the 
 system. 
 
 The only sure test of this regularity, as well as of the sufficiency and 
 equality of the temperature, in a School-room, is the Thermometer, with 
 which no School should be permitted to be unprovided. On the contrary, 
 as these instruments now cost little, the safer plan would be to have two in 
 each School which is heated by means of a stove, — one at no great dis¬ 
 tance from the fire, and the other at the extreme end of the room, so as to 
 be able, at all times, to ascertain the temperature of every part. 
 
 In most treatises on the subject of heating Schools, it is usual to connect 
 with it that of ventilation, inasmuch as the large and highly improved fur¬ 
 naces now in use for heating, are found, necessarily as well as economically, 
 to include a ventilating apparatus. But the chief object of this Manual, is 
 the improvement of the small one-story School-houses of the rural Districts, 
 to which complicated appliances are not applicable, and in which the means 
 for heating and ventilating are very slightly, if at all, connected with each 
 other. Hence these subjects will be treated of separately, and the heating 
 of the School-room will be regarded as — that which it simply is, in most 
 small country School-houses — the generation and diffusion of a sufficient 
 degree of warmth to render the occupants of the room healthfully com¬ 
 fortable. 
 
 So much has been said and written on the topics of heating and ventila¬ 
 tion — such an amount of scientific phrase and knowledge has been thrown 
 around them — such pretensions have been advanced by inventors and 
 
HEATING SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 161 
 
 patentees —• and such high requirements have been made on all projectors 
 and builders of School-houses, — that most Directors in the rural Districts 
 are now puzzled how to apply the few simple principles really involved in 
 the case, or have become actually disgusted into disregard for the whole 
 subject, as being one of those modern and useless refinements, without 
 which “ the world got along well enough in the good old times.” 
 
 This excess of scientific terms on the one hand, and this disregard for 
 sound principles on the other, aye both unfortunate, and the result preju¬ 
 dicial to the health and best interests of the rising generation. Hence, it 
 will be the main object of the present and of the next chapter of this 
 Manual, to attempt the separation and simplification of the true principles 
 involved in the processes of healthfully and comfortably heating, lighting 
 and ventilating country {School-houses ; and, if possible, to present them in 
 such form as shall be readily intelligible and easily applicable by all. 
 
 The wants of the larger School buildings will not, however, be wholly 
 overlooked. To meet such cases, the nature and processes of ventilation 
 will be so far considered, in connection with those of heating and lighting, 
 as each may require. Still, less space will be devoted to this branch of the 
 subject than to the other, not only for the reasons already given, but be¬ 
 cause that in most of the plans for large houses given in this Manual, full 
 provision for connected heating and ventilation will be found to have been 
 made, and that such buildings are generally erected in large towns, where 
 there is a sufficient degree of scientific and mechanical skill and experience, 
 to ensure the adoption of proper measures to effect the object in view. 
 
 MODES OF HEATING SMALL SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
 
 The high open hearth, with its wide chimney and blazing wood-fire, is 
 now rarely seen in the School-room. Though it may serve in a dwelling- 
 house, where the Avhole family circle can cluster closely around it and be 
 comfortable, it is quite inadequate to the wants of a large School-room in 
 cold weather. There, all must retain their proper seats, and cannot be 
 permitted, even if it were practicable, to gather round the hearth. Hence 
 such arrangement as shall diffuse heat throughout the whole apartment, and 
 render each comfortable in his stationary seat, becomes indispensable. To 
 effect this object, the means now generally employed are: 1. The Stove 
 within the room; and 2. The Furnace beneath it. 
 
 I. THE STOVE. 
 
 In reference to Stoves, the kind, the position, and the additional means 
 to render them most effective, are to be considered, 
 
 21 
 
162 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 1 . The kind of stove : So many different descriptions and patterns ot 
 stove are nowin use and continually making their appearance, that it would 
 he impossible, were it even proper in a work of this character, to designate 
 the best. Several excellent kinds specially designed for use in Schools have 
 been prepared, and most of them are well adapted to the purpose. None, 
 however, but one of sufficient size to heat the room, and supplied with a 
 large basin for the evaporation of water, should be selected. 
 
 As between Avood and coal stoves, the latter are preferable, wherever the 
 proper kind of fuel for them can be readily procured. Coal is more easily 
 stored, requires less preparation for use, and a fire made of it needs less fre¬ 
 quent replenishing, than Avood. The objections to it are, that the fire is 
 not so easily kindled, nor the room so speedily rendered Avarm, as when 
 wood is employed. But its other advantages are so great as to render it 
 preferable, wherever it can be easily and cheaply obtained. 
 
 2. The position of the stove : The exact centre of the room, is the point 
 from which the rays of heat, proceeding directly from the stove, will be 
 most readily distributed, so as to afford the nearest possible approach to an 
 equality of benefit to all the inmates. This is, therefore, the best position 
 lor the stove, if its direct radiation of heat is depended on, to any great ex¬ 
 tent, for warming the apartment. It is true, however, that a large stove 
 placed at one side of a small room, may render the whole of it comfortably 
 warm. It is probably on this assumption, that, in the ground plans of the 
 first, fourth and fifth buildings of Class I, a space seems to be left opposite 
 the hearth, for the stoA r e. If not placed near the centre of the room, this, 
 with a close hearth-board and a proper ventilating flue on the opposite side, 
 is no doubt the next best position. But for a common coal or AA r ood stove, 
 without any additional arrangements, the central position is beyond all 
 question the most preferable, — as at the point marked b, on the ground 
 plan of building No. 2, Class I. If the middle passage, as shoAvn in that 
 plan, Avere made four instead of three feet Avide, which could easily be done 
 in arranging the desks, by taking three inches off each of the other pas¬ 
 sages, there Avould then be abundant room for the stove at the point indi¬ 
 cated. Placed there, it Avould not only send its heat equally into every 
 quarter of the apartment, but would not intercept the sight of the teacher 
 in any direction, and this is always an important consideration. 
 
 In the foregoing remarks as to position, reference is chiefly intended to 
 the buildings of Class I. Those of all the others, including Class II, should, 
 if practicable, be heated by furnaces. 
 
 3. Additional means to render the stove effective : To enable a s;ngle 
 stoA-e to heat every portion of a chamber, — say, twenty-five feet square 
 and twelve high, — a strong constant fire must be kept up in cold Aveather. 
 This, in ordinary cases, will either subject the Pupils near it to a too great 
 
HEATING SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 165 
 
 degree of heat, render the vacation of a large space around the stove una¬ 
 voidable, or require the use of movable screens. As a choice of difficulties, 
 the last named is the least, and the one usually resorted to. But though 
 the use of the screen saves space in the room, and partially protects the 
 nearer Pupils against extreme heat, it is not, by any means, a perfect reme¬ 
 dy. There is a different arrangement which not only more effectually an¬ 
 swers the same purposes, but secures others of equal, if not greater value. 
 
 When a stove stands unenclose'd in a room, and without any direct con¬ 
 nection with the outer atmosphere, there is a constant current of air towards 
 it from every side of the apartment, both to supply the draft of combustion 
 within the fire-chamber, and to seek contact with the outer surface of the 
 hot plates, and then pass upward in a heated and consequently more rare¬ 
 fied condition. This current, which is not at all impeded by the ordinary 
 movable screens, owing to their being open below and at the sides, enters 
 the apartment at the bottom of the doors and windows, and through the 
 chinks and openings in the floor and washboard, passes most strongly close 
 along the floor, where the air is coldest and densest, and thus comes in di¬ 
 rect contact with the feet and ankles of the occupants. This effect is ex¬ 
 tremely unpleasant, at the same time that it is most injurious to health. 
 Children, especially in the country, often enter school with damp feet, and 
 exposure to this cold current of air, in a state of inaction for hours together, 
 is the sure but unsuspected cause of many a severe cold and hard cough. 
 The object, therefore, should be to prevent this chilling and unwholesome 
 draft, and supersede it with an equal supply of pure warm air, so intro¬ 
 duced as to incommode no one, and cause the space in the immediate vi¬ 
 cinity of the stove, to be as comfortable and eligible as any other part of 
 the room. This can readily be effected in the following simple manner: 
 
 A circular hole is cut in the floor, under the stove, of from eight to 
 twelve inches in diameter. This aperture is then connected with the pure 
 outward air, by means of a trunk or flue in the cellar, of equal size, and ex¬ 
 tending from it to one of the openings in the cellar wall, in the manner 
 indicated in the plate on the next page. 
 
 The stove is then placed over the aperture, and a close circular tin case 
 or enclosure is put all around, and six or eight inches from the stove, and 
 firmly fastened to the floor. This case is to extend about six inches above 
 the top of the stove, but is to have no open space between it and the floor:—- 
 in effect it is to be an enlarged continuation of the trunk or flue in the 
 cellar. 
 
 The kind of stove most suitable for this purpose, is what is known as the 
 “ bar-room stovethat is, one of an upright conical form, — small in di¬ 
 ameter, so as to occupy the least practicable space on the floor, and high, so 
 as to keep the upward current of air as long as possible within the case, and 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 1G4 
 
 in contact with the stove. In the aperture beneath the stove a sliding grate 
 or register should be inserted, not only to prevent pieces of coal, dust, &c., 
 from falling into the flue, but to close off the draft entirely whenever de¬ 
 sirable. The tin case should have a hinged and latched door, at least 
 two feet wide, and extending from the floor to the top of the stove-door, to 
 
 admit fuel and afford ready access to 
 the ash-drawer; and it should be so 
 fastened to the floor as to be easily 
 removable, with the stove, in sum¬ 
 mer, at which time the sliding grate 
 or register ivill close the aperture, and 
 thus present no impediment to the 
 free use of the place where the stove 
 stood. 
 
 A. r Stove. 
 
 B. Case or screen fast to tbe floor. 
 
 C. Smoke pipe. 
 
 D. Cold air pipe. 
 
 E. Lower valv® in ventiduct. 
 
 The operation of this simple arrangement can be readily understood. 
 The pure, cold, outer air rushes into the chamber around the stove, through 
 the flue in the cellar, to fill the vacuum caused by the heating and rising 
 of the air previously there. This, in its turn, is heated, rarefied and rises, 
 and is in the same way succeeded by other portions of outer air. A con¬ 
 stant stream of heated air into the room is thus established and kept up. 
 This pure rarefied air, on entering the apartment, rises at once towards the 
 ceiling, and, as it is increased in quantity by continued supply, gradually 
 fills first the higher and then the lower portions of the room, until it en¬ 
 tirely expels, through the valve at the floor, and any other openings which 
 may exist, the dense cold air previously in the room. But the process does 
 not cease, when the whole volume of the air previously in the room is ex¬ 
 cluded. It still continues; — the newly arrived warmer and purer air al¬ 
 ways taking the highest position in the room, and forcing out, below, the 
 lower and colder portion of that already introduced, being also that which 
 it is most desirable to get rid of, for the reason that it has become the most 
 impure by passing through the lungs of the occupants of the room. 
 
 The advantages of this plan are : 1. The close and high case around the 
 stove, (which should always be of tin, as that bright white metal does not 
 radiate heat like sheet-iron,) effectually protects the Pupils seated near the 
 stove, from any undue degree of heat. 2 . It cuts off those chilling and 
 
HEATING SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 165 
 
 injurious currents of cold air, already spoken offi along the floor towards 
 the stove. 3. It supplies the draft of air for combustion from the cold . 
 outer air, and not from the warm air in the room, thus, to some extent, ■« 
 economizing heat. 4. It introduces a constant and full supply of pure air 
 from without, which becomes moderately heated as it enters, and soon 
 renders the whole room comfortably warm in every part. 
 
 To complete this arrangement, and render it perfectly effectual and ^ 
 healthful, there should always be a ventilating flue, of sufficient capacity, 
 placed at the furthest possible point from the stove, and capped with a pro- , 
 per ejecting apparatus. And this ventiduct should have two valves or open¬ 
 ings, one close to the floor, which need scarcely ever be closed, and the 
 other close to the ceiling, so arranged as to be opened and closed at plea¬ 
 sure. Through the lower valve, the cold, dense and often impure air near 
 the floor, will be forced out of the room by the downward pressure of the 
 lighter and more rarefied air above. The upper valve is to be used when 
 the room becomes too warm in winter, or for general ventilation in summer 
 and on other proper occasions. It should always, however, be kept closed 
 in the morning while the fire is kindling, and until the room shall have 
 become thoroughly warm. If kept open during this time, the escape of 
 the warm air out of the upper valve will be nearly equal to the entry of 
 warm air around the stove, and therefore little progress can be made in 
 heating the room. 
 
 An additional advantage of this plan consists in the fact, that the stove 
 may be placed at any desirable point in the room, so that it bo only distant 
 from the ventilating flue fc This arises from the circumstance, that no re¬ 
 liance whatever is placed on the direct radiation of heat from the stove, for 
 the heating of the room. The process being simply that of the diffusion 
 of warm air, one position for the stove, is almost as effective as another; —• 
 warm air as readily diffusing itself throughout an apartment from one point 
 as from any other. Hence no embarrassment need grow out of the ques¬ 
 tion of selecting a position for the stove. 
 
 The entire cost of the extra work and fixtures required for this arrange¬ 
 ment, and which the ordinary mechanics of any neighborhood can supply, 
 should not be more than fifteen dollars. This would include the cold air 
 shaft in the cellar, which may be of rough boards, so that it is tight and 
 smooth in the inside ; the register; and the tin case. Neither the stove nor 
 the ventilating flue are included: — a stove of some kind there must be in 
 every School; and no School-house, no matter how heated, should be with¬ 
 out the ventilating flue and valves. 
 
 II. THE FURNACE. 
 
 The Furnace proper for heating a one story School-house containing a 
 single large room, is, in fact, nothing but the apparatus just fully described, 
 
166 
 
 School architecture. 
 
 placed in the cellar instead of on the floor of the School-room, and with 
 certain modifications to suit the difference of position. It has several ad¬ 
 vantages over the encased stove, and these should decide in its favor, when¬ 
 ever a choice is to he made between them. I. It saves space on the floor 
 of the School-room ; 2, it does not present an unsightly object in the room, 
 nor impede the view in any direction; 3, it introduces the warm air lower 
 down in the room, and thus causes its more rapid diffusion; 4, it saves the 
 labor of carrying coal from the cellar to the stove in the School; and 5, it 
 preserves the School-room in a cleaner state, by excluding the dust, ashes 
 
 and cinders of the stove. The follow¬ 
 ing cut very fully shows the furnace 
 with all its material parts, and needs 
 little additional explanation: 
 
 d. Cold air duct. 
 
 B. tt'arm air pipe and register, 
 c. Warm air chamber. 
 
 D. Gas or smoke pipe. 
 
 e. Ventilating flue with a valve at the floor and ceiling. 
 F. Furnace and fire chamber. 
 g. Mouth of furnace. 
 
 The dotted lines indicate the smoke flue behind 
 the ventilating. This arrangement warms the venti- 
 lating flue and causes it to act. 
 
 The case around the heater or stove should be of brick. The heater may 
 be an ordinary stove, if of sufficient size and proper form; but one cast 
 specially for the purpose is better, and will not cost much more. 
 
 The cold air should be introduced from the outside, as shown in the plate, 
 and not from the cellar; and it should be made to enter as low as possible 
 into the warm air chamber. The interior of the chamber should be so ar¬ 
 ranged as to cause the air to come in contact, as much as possible, with the 
 surface of the heater, before passing into the School room. 
 
 A shallow basin, with not less than eighteen square inches of water sur¬ 
 face, should be inserted in the wall of the warm air chamber, so arranged 
 as to admit of being filled with water from the outside, but with the whole 
 surface exposed to the evaporating action of the warm air in the chamber. 
 
 The furnace should, if possible, be so placed in the cellar as to be directly 
 under the register discharging the warm air into the School-ioom; and this 
 register should be placed at a point opposite to and at the greatest conve¬ 
 nient distance from, the upper valve of the ventilating flue. 
 
 The heated air may either be discharged into the room through a regis¬ 
 ter set horizontally in the floor, or upright in the wall. Probably the former 
 is the more advisable. 
 
HEATING SCHOOL HOUSES, 
 
 16T 
 
 Iti heating the buildings of Class II, one large furnace may be set under 
 the centre of the building, with a register in each division or apartment; 
 or, if the house is of the largest size, two furnaces will be needed, one under 
 each main room, with side flues to throw warm air into the class-rooms, 
 when requisite. 
 
 The entire cost of a, furnace for a one-story building, including heater, 
 brick work, cold air shaft, ventilating flue, and register, would be from fifty 
 to one hundred and fifty dollars, according to size and completeness of ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 MODES OF HEATING LARGE SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
 
 The same variety exists in the means of heating large as in those of 
 small School buildings. In many two-story houses with several rooms on 
 the same floor, each apartment is still warmed by means of a common coal 
 or wood stove. 
 
 In some large buildings the encased stove is used in each 
 room. The accompanying cut shows the manner of intro¬ 
 ducing the cold air from without, to supply an improved 
 School stove, but does not exhibit the tin case, without which 
 the arrangement is incomplete though somewhat better 
 than an open stove. Both these plans of heating cause a 
 great waste of space, labor and comfort; though the second 
 is decidedly the best. The stove in both necessarily oc¬ 
 cupies the room of four or six pupils; the fuel has to be 
 all carried up one or more flights of stairs from the cellar, 
 and the rooms are never as clean as if a furnace were 
 
 used. 
 
 ♦ 
 
 Beyond all question a well constructed furnace or fur¬ 
 naces in the cellar of these buildings would be found better, 
 more satisfactory and more economical in all respects, than 
 even the best arranged stoves. But it is not necessary here 
 to enter into any details of the description of furnaces for 
 such buildings. Most of the plans in the preceding part 
 of this Manual are designed for this method of heating, 
 and the necessary flues, &c., will be found to have been 
 provided for in the descriptions and specifications. 
 
 To obtain the best kind of furnace and to have it properly set, however, 
 is a matter of no small difficulty. Directors and controllers, intending the 
 
 aa. Inlets for cold air- 
 66. Gas or smoke flues. 
 
163 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 introduction of this improvement, should carefully inquire on the subject, 
 and examine for themselves such public buildings within their reach, as are 
 thus heated. Having thus made their selection, the next step is to secure 
 the proper and scientific setting of the furnace. This should never be 
 entrusted to inexperienced hands. The only safe mode is to employ the 
 owner, or his authorized agent, of the kind decided on, and to contract with 
 him that its sufficiency shall be established' by actual and full trial, before 
 payment to him of the price. 
 
 In this way, alone, can completeness in those small and numerous details, 
 so necessary to success, be ordinarily secured. But there are certain gen¬ 
 eral principles or objects, with reference to all furnaces, which should always 
 be kept in view and insisted on. 
 
 1. The warm air chamber should be large, so as to guard against the 
 de-oxygenizing — burning — destroying the vital principle — of the air, by 
 subjecting it to an intense degree of heat, during its passage into the School¬ 
 room. No loss of fuel or of heat need be the result of increasing the size 
 of the air chamber: a given volume of air, raised to a certain degree of 
 heat, producing no greater effect on the temperature of a room, than dou¬ 
 ble the same volume only raised to one-half the same degree of heat. 
 
 2. The brick wall of the air chamber should be as high as possible, 
 though not so high as to come into contact with the joists of the floor. 
 They should be double, and so arranged as to have a current of cold air 
 passing through the inter-space, to prevent the outer wall from becoming 
 warm and thus wasting heat, as shown at g. on the second Plate under the 
 head of ventilation. And the chamber should be covered closely with at least 
 two layers of brick, well bedded in mortar and covered with mortar on the 
 top, and every means adopted to secure against fire. 
 
 3. The cold air shaft should always communicate with the outer air, at 
 the side of the building where the air is the purest. This will generally be 
 on the North, unless special circumstances exist to the reverse. 
 
 4. A close grate or wire screen should -be-attached to the outward open¬ 
 ing of the cold air shaft, to prevent the entrance of leaves, vermin, &c., the 
 decay of which must infect the air in its passage to the School-room. 
 
 5. The heater should be so set as to prevent all possibility of smoke es¬ 
 caping from the fire chamber, or of dust or ashes from the ash-hole, into 
 the air chamber. 
 
 6. A large shallow vessel to contain water for evaporation, should be in¬ 
 serted so as to have its whole surface exposed to the action of the air in the 
 air chamber. It should be high up in the chamber; and should be con¬ 
 stantly kept supplied with pure water, and also cleaned out at regular in¬ 
 tervals, to prevent the formation of scum on the surface, by which the 
 evaporation may be impeded. 
 
HEATING SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 169 
 
 7. The Teacher of every single School, and the Principal of every large 
 School, should visit and examine the furnace at least twice each day, in 
 order to know that every part is in good order, and the fire properly at¬ 
 tended to. It is a serious thing to be obliged to dismiss a whole School and 
 thus lose a day, or even the half of a day, for each Pupil, on account of 
 the failure of heat, which a little attention would have prevented. 
 
 8. The Directors or controllers should have their furnaces carefully ex¬ 
 amined every year, during the summer season, and every part put in com¬ 
 plete order by a competent mechanic. The smoke pipe, especially, should 
 be taken down and cleaned. The fact is generally overlooked, that a large 
 quantity of fuel is necessarily consumed in a large furnace, and that, con¬ 
 sequently, the smoke pipe, which is often little if any thing larger than that 
 of a common sized stove, must soon become choked with soot, ashes, &c. 
 Many of the complaints that furnaces “ do not draw,” are caused by neglect 
 of this necessary precaution. 
 
 As general conclusions from what has been said on the subject of Heat¬ 
 ing, it may be stated: 
 
 1. That the chief objects to be effected are, the generation of a sufficient 
 degree of heat, its equal diffusion throughout the whole room, and its uni¬ 
 form continuance during the hours of study. 
 
 2. That the introduction of a current of pure fresh air, heated in its pas¬ 
 sage into the room, is the best means of effecting those objects, and of pre¬ 
 venting chilling and unwholesome currents and affording a pure supply of 
 air. 
 
 3. That the encased stove is a cheap and effectual mode of accomplishing 
 these objects in small one story buildings, and is much preferable to the 
 common stove. 
 
 4. That the furnace in the cellar is still more desirable, as it saves space 
 and labor, and prevents dust. 
 
 5. That a furnace should never be set, except by a person of skill; and 
 that it should be put and kept under the care of the Teacher. 
 
 22 
 
ITU 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 VII. ON LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 ON THE LIGHTING AND VENTILATION OF SCHOOL ROOMS, WITH PLATES DESCRIPTIVE OF 
 
 VENTILATING APPARATUS. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 It is said that a whole generation — that is, a number of persons equal 
 to the total number in existence at any one time — pass from this world in 
 about twenty-eight years. The entire population of Pennsylvania is about 
 two millions five hundred thousand. Statistics prove that about one-half 
 of the whole number of deaths in a given time, are those of persons under 
 twenty years of age. Thus it would appear, if this proportion of mortality 
 continue, even without allowing any thing for increase of population, that 
 there will be, among persons under twenty years of age in this State, one 
 hundred and twenty-two deaths daily, forty-four thousand six hundred and 
 forty-two annually, and one million two hundred and fifty thousand during 
 the next generation of twenty-eight years. 
 
 Though it is neither expected nor believed that our social condition will 
 ever be so improved, as that death shall or should be wholly removed from 
 the young, or that all will live out their full “three score years and ten,'"’ 
 yet there does seem to be an undue proportion in this mortality of youth. 
 Its causes — if causes it have within the control or modification of those 
 entrusted with the care of the rising generation — should be investigated, 
 and so much of the remedy as may be found within their power, should be 
 applied. 
 
 Many contend that the large proportion of deaths amongst the young, 
 and especially during infancy, when the disparity is the greatest, is owing 
 to the fact that children of weak, sickly constitutions, drop off in the first 
 few years of existence; thus not only swelling the number of early deaths, 
 but decreasing the relative proportion of those in later periods, by increas¬ 
 ing: the average of strength and health amongst the survivors. But facts 
 do not seem to sustain this view of the case, to the extent claimed. Every 
 person’s observation must convince him, that as many healthy frames and 
 promising constitutions are carried off amongst children and youth as amongst 
 adults; and that it is not always the fat chubby infant and the stout boy 
 or blooming girl of the family, that survive to maturity. Some other cause — 
 or rather “ some cause for this cause” — must be discovered and recog- 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 171 
 
 nized; and if it be traced to the startling fact, that children are not capa¬ 
 ble of taking due care of themselves, while adults generally are, what a 
 weight of responsibility will be found resting on all charged with that care. 
 
 Independently of those sudden diseases and inscrutable dispensations, by 
 which the Deity sets at naught the theory of the physical perfectibility of 
 man, the food that we eat and the air that we breathe seem to be the 
 causes, and the stomach and the lungs with their connected organs, the 
 seats, of nearly all the disorders of the human frame. The intestines, the 
 liver and the kidneys are but subsidiary to the stomach, and the nerves 
 and the skin are dependent on it for their healthy action. The lungs are 
 of equal primary importance with the stomach. They furnish the whole 
 frame, from the almost callous heel to the sentient brain, with pure vital 
 blood. In respect to them and their great function, the veins are only chan¬ 
 nels of supply and the arteries of discharge; and the heart itself is but 
 their wonderful forcing apparatus. 
 
 A full supply of wholesome food and pure air, would therefore seem to be 
 the chief means of growth, strength and health; for, on this the ability of 
 the two great organs to perform their proper functions absolutely depends. 
 And it is a question impossible to be decided, which is the more speedily or 
 surely injured by improper food or treatment. Poison to the stomach is 
 not more fatal than noxious gases to the lungs; neither does unwholesome 
 food inflict more lasting damage on the one, than unwholesome air on the 
 other. 
 
 When, in this connection, it is further borne in mind, that, unlike the 
 brute creation, the young of the human race are not imbued with an instinc¬ 
 tive dread of that which is injurious to health, but are wholly dependent, 
 in this respect, on the guardian care of others, the responsibility of those en¬ 
 trusted with that care at once stands out in bold and startling relief. In a 
 word, when it is known that the child is as willing to eat poisonous food 
 and inhale poisonous air, as if they were nutritious and wholesome, the duty 
 of those whose duty it is to furnish nothing but what is nutritious and 
 wholesome, is equally plain, and cannot be disregarded with impunity. 
 
 It is not, however, within the scope of this Manual to describe, nor in the 
 power of Directors and Teachers to regulate the food of the rising gene¬ 
 ration. But it is not only as clearly within their power to secure and 
 regulate a full supply of pure air for the children of the State, in the Schools 
 of the State, as it is their imperative duty to do so. Let it not be replied, 
 that this is a matter of slight moment, or that it is one more immediately 
 incumbent on parents. It is neither. That it is of vital concern has al¬ 
 ready been shown ; that it is more within the control of the School than 
 of the home, is equally certain. When at home, children are rarely long in 
 one room or in the same position. They are constantly stirring about, and 
 
172 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 mostly in the pure open air; or, when in the house, it is nearly always in 
 company with a small number of persons, in proportion to the space occu¬ 
 pied. Their air privileges are, therefore, little, if any thing restricted. At 
 School, on the other hand, they are very differently situated. Confined for 
 three hours at a time, with short, and often with no intermissions, to the 
 same apartment; cramped for the most of that time to the same position j 
 cooped up, in company with four, five and even six times as many com¬ 
 panions, as would occupy the same space under the home roof; — it is in 
 the School emphatically, that the evil can be and is inflicted 5 it is under 
 School restraint that the child, even if he had sufficient discretion to be 
 aware of his danger, is without power to avoid it; and it is during School 
 age, when the vital organs are young and impressible, that effects are pro¬ 
 duced which last through life. 
 
 It is by no means contended, that all early deaths are caused by the 
 breathing of impure air. But it is asserted that very many diseases thus 
 originate, and very many deaths are thus caused. It is believed, further, 
 that proper attention to air, food and other matters, for the regulation of 
 which children are wholly dependent on those in authority over them, 
 ■would not only materially lessen the present proportion of sickness and 
 mortality among the young, but would send forth an adult generation with 
 bodily vigor in much nearer approach to the increased degree of intellec¬ 
 tual power designed for them by the State, than is now generally possessed. 
 
 In explanation of the manner in which pure air operates beneficially, 
 and foul air injuriously on the human frame, it may be proper to make 
 some remarks. 
 
 Pure respirable air is composed of nearly four-fifths nitrogen, one-fifth, 
 oxygen, and a small proportion of carbonic acid gas. This is or should 
 be its condition before being taken into the lungs. But a marked change 
 is found to have been effected when thrown out again. It is then dis¬ 
 covered that one-half of the oxygen has disappeared, being absorbed by 
 the blood in the lungs ; that the amount of nitrogen remains little changed 5 
 but that the carbonic acid gas has gained in volume what the oxygen had 
 lost. It would thus appear, even if we did not know the fact by other 
 means, that large quantifies of oxygen are indispensable to the support of 
 life; and that that which is ejected by the lungs in the process of keeping- 
 up the healthful condition of the blood by breathing, viz: carbonic acid 
 gas, is prejudicial when inspired in any but small quantities. Hence, also, 
 it becomes evident that the same volume of air, when breathed over and 
 over again frequently, must finally loose its oxygen or life sustaining, and 
 acquire an unsafe proportion of carbonic acid, or destructive, gas. Though 
 the latter, if free communication be allowed, does not become injurious, but 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 173 
 
 flies off into the atmosphere, in its turn to perform important functions not 
 here necessary to be specified. 
 
 It may be added, that the air in a School-room twenty-five feet square 
 and nine feet high, and occupied by fifty Pupils, will become vitiated in 
 about half an hour, if communication with the outer atmosphere be cut 
 off; and that if continued to be respired, its condition will every moment 
 become more noxious. These facts and considerations clothe the subject 
 of School ventilation with vast importance ; and, when taken in connection 
 with the circumstance that the pure air of Heaven is always courting our 
 free enjoyment, if we do not actually bar it out, they leave us without any 
 apology for its abuse. 
 
 Ventilation, to be reliable at all times and under all circumstances, is found 
 to be dependent on the application of heat to the air, or a portion of the 
 air, which is in communication with the room or the building to be venti¬ 
 lated. Hence modern science, in its applications to domestic economy, has 
 connected the processes of heating and ventilation very intimately to¬ 
 gether ; —so much so, that a complete apparatus for heating always includes 
 an arrangement for ventilation; and vice versa, ventilation is never con¬ 
 sidered or attempted, by a modern architect, except in conjunction with his 
 plans for the generation and transmission of heat. This is, beyond ques¬ 
 tion, philosophical and scientific; and, in its application to large buildings 
 with many chambers and much space to be supplied with warmth and pure 
 air, it is even eminently practical. 
 
 Still, there are means for ventilation, not so thoroughly artificial as those 
 employed by modern science, more dependent for their operation and 
 success upon natural causes, and equally valuable within the proper sphere 
 of their applicability. As this class of means is chiefly applicable to the 
 small Schools of the rural districts, the improvement of which is the first 
 object of this Manual, and as its nature and success depend very materially 
 on the arrangement for admitting light into those Schools, the processes of 
 lighting and ventilation are here treated of in connection. 
 
 The question to be discussed, in reference to rural Schools, is not, How 
 shall the best and most thorough ventilation be secured, irrespective of cost 
 and existing fixtures? — If that were the question, undoubtedly the answer 
 would be, By furnaces in the cellar, connected with flues and valves in the 
 walls for winter use; and by stoves, or jets of gas, or lamps, in those flues, 
 for ventilation at other seasons. Thus heating and ventilation would be 
 found to be, to a certain extent, inseparable. But the real question is : How 
 shall small country School-houses be most cheaply, effectively, and health¬ 
 fully ventilated ? And that question, it is the first business of this chapter 
 to answer, in connection also with lighting, with which it is most nearly 
 related. 
 
174 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 All who are well acquainted with the structure and condition of our 
 country School-houses, know, that their general want of proper air and 
 light proceeds from the same causes. Low windows, doors, and ceilings, 
 and other defects in plan and structure, are as incompatible with a full sup¬ 
 ply of air as of light; and whatever the higher applications of science may 
 establish to be necessary in reference to more extensive edifices, if we here 
 find we can cheaply and effectually remove one great evil by making its 
 remedy auxiliary to the relief of another great evil, it is certain that the 
 lower, yet no less useful or practical dictates of common sense, should teach 
 us not to disregard the favorable association. 
 
 In the latter part of this chapter, however, the ventilation of the larger 
 School buildings will be briefly discussed. Under that head the due rela¬ 
 tion of artificial heat, to what may be strictly termed artificial ventilation, 
 will be taken into view, and the best modes of making it effective described 
 or alluded to. 
 
 LIGHTING AND VENTILATING EUEAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 The admission of a full supply of light and air into a School-house, and 
 their admission in a proper manner, depend on the employment of one or 
 both of two classes of means or agents. 
 
 ° J.i 
 
 I. Those which may be called natural; and which, when properly pro¬ 
 vided for in the original plan of the house, will continue to act and produce 
 their results without artificial aids, so long as the natural causes influencing 
 them continue to act. These arise : First, from the proper Location of the 
 building; and Second , from its proper Construction. 
 
 II. Those which are strictly artificial in their nature, and depend for 
 their continued action and efficiency on the co-operation of other applied 
 agents. So far as lighting is concerned, this class of means is inapplicable 
 to most School-houses, inasmuch as a full supply of natural light is all they 
 require; but in relation to air, they often become applicable, as artificial 
 means to ensure a full supply of this ever necessary element frequently be¬ 
 come indispensable. Among the various expedients resorted to for this 
 purpose, the rarefaction of air by means of heat is the only one usually 
 adopted in School-houses, and will therefore be the only one treated of under 
 this head. 
 
 I. THE NATURAL AGENCIES. 
 
 1. Those arising from proper location: These, though the cheapest, the 
 most easily secured, the most reliable in their nature and the most salutary 
 in their results, are the most frequently overlooked. One School-house in 
 the country may be seated in a deep narrow valley, where the sunlight 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 175 
 
 cannot visit it with full effect, till late in the day, and where evening’s sha¬ 
 dows fall early during most of the days in winter; it may be in the vicinity 
 of a stagnant mill-pond, with its bath of poisonous vapor preserved from 
 disturbance by the surrounding hills; —in short it may be so located as to 
 secure all the deleterious and prevent all the benign influences of the ele¬ 
 ments; while the next School may be cheerfully and healthfully placed on 
 a pleasant eminence where it enjoys, by mere position, a full and constant 
 supply of clear light, pure air and every natural element of cheerfulness. 
 So in towns;—one building is stuck back in a low, dark, noisome alley, 
 merely for the sake of supposed centralness, while another, it may be a 
 square or two further off' from the dense part of the town, is high and dry, 
 on a full lot, with sunshine, free air, open space and heartsomeness all 
 around it. 
 
 No one can examine and contrast these two classes of locality, without 
 perceiving — nay involuntarily feeling — that in the one, full light and free 
 air are but the free gifts of nature, wisely accepted for the young, by their 
 thoughtful guardians; while in the other, the effort seems to have been 
 purposely made to stint them, without good or profit to any, of these cheap 
 but priceless blessings. In the one class of cases, when the subject of light 
 and ventilation come to be considered, they are found to pour in copiously 
 on every side, and only to require restriction in quantity and propriety of 
 direction; while in the other, no outlay of money, or of ingenuity, or of 
 labor, can ever remedy the original error. Yet, in all probability, the first 
 cost, both of ground and building, was the same; the only difference being 
 in the degree of original forethought and due regard for health and com¬ 
 fort. 
 
 So long as the sun continues to shine and the breezes to blow, there will 
 be little danger of the failure of light or air in Schools properly located in 
 the first instance; but if failure happen, it will only be such as may be 
 easily remedied. A due regard for these requisites in location will, there¬ 
 fore, be found as economical and convenient as they are healthful and 
 agreeable. 
 
 2. Natural agencies arising from proper construction: Lowness is the 
 great defect in the construction as well as the location of our country School- 
 houses, with reference both to light and ventilation. Low houses necessa¬ 
 rily cause low ceilings, admit only of low windows and low doors; and to 
 show that this lowness is not incidental but designed, the doors have neither 
 moveable transoms nor head-lights over them, and the windows are fre¬ 
 quently laid on their sides instead of being placed on their ends, in order, 
 apparently, to get them as low down in the walls as possible. The effect 
 of all this is to cause the room to contain the smallest practicable propor¬ 
 tion of air and to admit the dimmest degree possible of light, short of actually 
 
176 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 striking the head against the ceiling, or stumbling for want of light over 
 the benches. 
 
 The mere avoidance of these defects, in the original structure of the 
 building, would be a great advance in School Architecture; and a few ad¬ 
 ditional arrangements would effect an improvement in light and ventilation, 
 sufficient, in most cases, for all indispensable purposes. 
 
 There is no principle by which the proper height of a School-room from 
 floor to ceiling can be exactly determined; but there are certain indispen¬ 
 sable requisites, whose observance will determine certain limits between 
 which it should be found. 
 
 The window-sill of a School house should not be so near the floor as that 
 of a dwelling-house, for the reason that children seated at their studies need 
 not see what is passing without, whereas this is a desirable object in a 
 dwelling-room. It ought not to be lower than four feet from the floor, not 
 only to prevent looking out, but to escape cross drafts of air upon the per¬ 
 sons of the Pupils. Again, the higher the windows are made to extend 
 towards the ceiling, the greater and the more equal will be the degree of 
 light introduced, and the better the command, by their means, over the air 
 of the chamber; arid, as a window less than six feet in height is not to be 
 thought of, while those of seven or even eight feet would be better, — we 
 thus have a height of, say, twelve feet: that is, height to sill four feet; 
 medium height of window seven feet; and one foot above window, making 
 twelve feet. Less than this should, in no case be admitted; and more than 
 fourteen for the smaller and sixteen for the larger buildings, would seem to 
 be unnecessary. 
 
 The objections to rooms with very high ceilings consist in the difficulty 
 of heating them in time for use in the morning, and of keeping them warm 
 through the day. It is true, that where there are inadequate means of 
 ventilation, the height of the room is almost the only reliance in this re¬ 
 spect; but where ventilation is properly provided for, the ceiling need 
 never be so high as to add to the difficulty and cost of heating'. Good ven¬ 
 tilation can be effected in a room twelve feet high as well as in one fourteen 
 or sixteen; and as the former height is sufficient for light, the height of 
 the ceiling need not materially exceed twelve or fourteen feet in ordinary 
 cases. 
 
 The arrangement of the windows with reference to light, is a matter of 
 very great importance. The loss of sight is probably more inconvenient 
 to the subject of it, and to those upon whom he thus becomes dependent, 
 than that of any of the other senses to whose deprivation w r e are liable; 
 and consequently its impairment is proportionably a serious evil. The 
 abuse of the eye by subjecting it to over exertion in an imperfect light, or 
 to the dazzling effect of too much, or wrongly directed light, is known by 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 177 
 
 the sad experience of many, and can readily be conceived by all who con¬ 
 sider the extreme delicacy of the organ. Hence, as light is only admitted 
 by means of windows, its sufficiency and proper direction are both to be 
 considered in the arrangement. 
 
 The windows, as before stated, should not be less than six feet in height, 
 and placed at least four feet from the floor. Neither should they be less 
 than three feet in breadth, —both height and breadth being clear of the 
 casings. One such window to every eight feet of side-wall in the room to 
 be lighted, and placed at equal distances, will admit an abundance of light, 
 if the School-house be placed on an open lot, with no outside impediments 
 to its entrance. If such obstacles do exist, — such as a low, dark position, 
 closeness of neighboring buildings, &c., the windows should be more nu¬ 
 merous. 
 
 To regulate the quantity of light, there should always be Venetian blinds 
 with movable slats to the windows of a School-house, so that the direct rays 
 of the sun may be prevented from entering, from the east during the morn¬ 
 ing, and from the west in the afternoon. If these cannot be afforded, cur¬ 
 tains of cheap stuff, if properly hung, will answer nearly the same purpose. 
 A full supply of light having been insured, by the insertion of a sufficient 
 number of properly placed windows in the first instance, the quantity of it 
 can always be thus regulated. 
 
 The direction of the light falling on the Pupils is a matter of equal im¬ 
 portance, but one not often duly considered. Too much light, if it do not 
 fall improperly upon the eye, may be borne; for a sound eye, by the con¬ 
 traction of the pupil, will accommodate itself to the increase of the rays. 
 But when bright sunlight comes directly in front, blazing into and dazzling 
 the eye, or unimpeded and directly from either side, falling unequally upon 
 those delicate organs — in both cases rendering the page or the slate bright 
 and dazzling; — or when the rays fall from behind, throwing the shadow 
 of the person on the object of study and thus confusing and straining the 
 eye; —in all these cases, the direction is such as unnecessarily to strain the 
 sight, and the effect cannot but be injurious. 
 
 A shaded sky-light would probably be the most pleasant and desirable 
 arrangement; but this is out of the question in nearly all Schools. The 
 next best thing is so to regulate the side-lights, which are indispensable, 
 since they are necessary also for the purposes of ventilation, as to produce 
 the best possible effect by the proper direction and control of the rays. 
 
 If the School be a one story building, or even have two stories but with 
 only one School-room on each floor, and if it front, as it should, toward the 
 south, there will be no difficulty on this subject. In that case, the entrance, 
 clothes-room, &c., and the stairs if there be two stories, being on the front, 
 of course there will be no front windows opening directly into the School- 
 23 
 
178 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 room. The light must therefore come from the north, east, or west. But 
 as Pupils should never, under any circumstances, if it can be avoided, be 
 made to sit with an unshaded window in front of them, and as the north 
 end of the room will properly be devoted to the Teacher’s platform and the 
 black-board, this takes the north end or wall out of the question for win¬ 
 dows ; leaving only the east and west sides for the admission of light. 
 These will not only be found equal to the purpose, if furnished with a suffi¬ 
 cient number of properly placed, full sized windows, but can be made, as 
 before remarked, to admit a pleasant but subdued light by means of blinds 
 or curtains. 
 
 If the north, or any other wall toward which the Pupils are faced, have 
 a window or windows in it, and they are thought necessary for ventilation, 
 there should be a blind or curtain to each, which should always be kept 
 closed, so as to darken the window. 
 
 In buildings with more School-rooms than one on the same floor, Pupils 
 cannot always be faced toward the north. In such cases care should be 
 taken to seat them with their faces toward a wall with no window's in it; 
 and if vdndows be in either the south, east or west walls, they should be 
 carefully piovided With blinds or curtains; and green is the best color for 
 either, being most grateful and least straining to the eye. 
 
 By the observance of these principles in the construction and arrange¬ 
 ment of the School-house, a full supply of pleasant and safely directed light 
 may always be commanded, and many a bright young eye be retained in 
 clearness and strength, to enjoy the beauties of nature and add to its owmer’s 
 fund of knowledge, from year to year, till the end of life ; instead of being 
 early impaired, and of thus causing the mind to be starved by the loss or 
 the weakness of the sense most necessary to its improvement. 
 
 The window is also the most efficient agent, in what has been called 
 natural or ordinary ventilation. During summer and the mild weather in 
 spring and autumn, it is almost the sole means relied on for the purpose 
 not only of cooling the room, but of giving exit to impure air, by opening 
 opposite windows,, and thus creating a current. To render them as fully 
 effective as possible for this purpose, all School-room windows should be 
 double hung, — that is, so arranged with pulleys or otherwise, that the 
 upper sash may be lowered, as well as the lower one raised, at pleasure. In 
 large buildings with very high ceilings, three sashes are sometimes inserted 
 in the same window opening. In this case the middle sash may be station¬ 
 ary. But in either case, the lowering of the opposite upper sash of a School¬ 
 room, in mild weather, effects a kind of ventilation with which no strictly 
 artificial arrangement can compare; and therefore the omission to provide 
 for it, in the erection of the building, is inexcusable. In winter, also, when 
 the room becomes too warm, or the air has been rendered foul from the failure 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 179 
 
 of other means relied on for its ventilation, the same lowering of the upper 
 sash will set all right in two or three minutes. 
 
 An opening in the ceiling is another provision which should always be 
 made for natural ventilation, in a one-story School-house. This aperture 
 should not be less than three feet square, in a room twenty-five by thirty 
 feet; and it should have a cover or valve j:o it, so arranged, by means of 
 hinges and a pulley, as to admit of being opened and closed at pleasure, 
 from the floor of the room. To render its operation complete, there should 
 also be a slat window in each gable end of the loft, so as to permit a free 
 escape of the air passing out of the School-room into the loft. This aper¬ 
 ture in the ceiling ought always to be kept open in summer and mild 
 weather, and will be found an efficient means of rapidly cooling the room 
 in winter, when it may be unadvisable to open the windows. 
 
 The last fixed agent of ventilation, solely dependent on natural or ordi¬ 
 nary causes for its operation, that will be mentioned, is the Ventilating Flue. 
 The mode of constructing this flue, will be found described in several of 
 the specifications in the foregoing part of this Manual; and in the latter 
 part of this chapter a table will be given, showing the proper dimensions of 
 it, in proportion to the size of the room. It needs here be only remarked, 
 that whether composed of boards, or of stone or brick, it should be made as 
 smooth and even as possible on the inside, so as to present no unnecessary 
 opposition or friction to the upward current of air through it; and that, 
 whenever practicable, it is advisable to place it along side or in front of the 
 smoke flue, the heat of which rarefying the air within it, will aid in the 
 process of ventilation. 
 
 The parts of the flue are: The tube, the lower opening or valve, the up¬ 
 per opening or valve, and the cap. The tube extends from the floor of the 
 room to be ventilated, to a point two or three feet above the highest part 
 of the roof, and has been already described. The lower valve is an open¬ 
 ing the full size of a horizontal section of the tube itself, placed close to 
 floor of the room; it usually has a hinged shutter, though as it is seldom ne¬ 
 cessary to use it, a grate or wire screen will be sufficient. The upper valve 
 is an opening of similar size, with a door to it, placed close to the ceiling, 
 and so arranged by means of a pulley, as to be opened or closed at pleasure 
 from the floor of the room. The cap is a covering on top of the flue, so 
 constructed as to permit the ascending current of air to escape freely, yet 
 to exclude the rain and snow, and protect it from downward currents or 
 blasts. 
 
 The operation of this flue is exceedingly simple, and depends altogether 
 on natural causes. Having been incidentally described in the preceding 
 chapter, in connection with the Encased Stove, it requires only a brief no¬ 
 tice here. When the upper valve is closed, the higher strata of air in the 
 
ISO 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE, 
 
 room are successively displaced by the warmer air from the stove or fur¬ 
 nace, rising above them, and causing them to descend and displace an equal 
 volume of cold air below, which is necessarily forced out of the room 
 through the lower opening or valve. This process goes on till the whole 
 air in the room becomes too hot for comfort, or requires change for health 
 sake; when, the upper valve being opened, the hottest air near the ceiling 
 rushes out through the flue till the air in the room is again reduced to a 
 proper temperature, or restored to the required state of purity. 
 
 But this process is not wholly dependent on the rarefying agency of the 
 stove or furnace. In many states of the atmosphere, it proceeds with more 
 or less activity, when no fire is required. For instance, during most of the 
 days in spring and autumn, and those chilly spells which sometimes occur 
 in summer, the outer air is cool enough to require the closing of the win¬ 
 dows and doors of the School-room. Under these circumstances, the body 
 of air within the room soon becomes somewhat heated, by contact with the 
 warmer bodies of the Pupils and also by being passed through their lungs. 
 It thus becomes rarefied and gradually rises toward the ceiling, whence it 
 escapes through the upper valve which should be left open for this purpose, 
 and is succeeded by cooler and fresher air pouring from the outside into the 
 room, through all the lower openings, to supply its place. This, though not 
 so rapid a process as when the current is assisted by the heat of a stove 
 or furnace, is no less purifying. Carbonic acid gas, though comparatively 
 heavy in its cool state, yet when heated and rarefied, will ascend; hence, 
 in the conditions of the air just described, the difference of density or tem¬ 
 perature between the exterior air and that of the School-room not being 
 very great, the degree of heat imparted to the air expired by the lungs is 
 often sufficient to cause it to ascend to the ceiling and thus pass out of the 
 room, carrying with it the noxious gas. 
 
 In relation to the management of the flue, it need only be added, that the 
 upper valve should invariably be opened before closing the School-room for 
 the night, in order thoroughly to clear it of every portion of the air which 
 was in it during the day, and to insure its being filled with a full supply of 
 fresh pure air for next morning; and that in most cases the same thing 
 should be done at noon. The upper valve should be closed, however, an 
 hour or half an hour before the assembling of the School, according to the 
 size of the room and the state of the weather, in order to have it comforta¬ 
 bly warm for the Pupils. 
 
 The annexed plate represents a simple yet very efficient mode of assist¬ 
 ing the ventilating powers of the flue, in a room heated by means of a com¬ 
 mon stove, placed at the opposite side of the room from the flue. The stove 
 pipe is inserted in the flue and carried up inside of it — the upper part of 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 181 
 
 the flue being widened for that purpose. Near or around the entrance of the 
 pipe into the flue, the upper valve of 
 the latter is placed. Thus the heat 
 of the stove pipe warms the flue and the 
 air in it, and very greatly increases the 
 upward current, acting also powerfully 
 on the lower valve, when the upper one 
 is closed. 
 
 c. Opening at the floor, to let the heavier strata of im¬ 
 
 pure air escape. 
 
 d. Opening around the pipe, to let the over heated or 
 
 impure air pass off. 
 
 e. Flue for gas and ventiduct. 
 
 /. Stove pipe. 
 
 g. An ejector to counteract the effecTof down blasts of 
 
 wind and exclude the rain. 
 
 These arrangements for ventilation thus far contemplate mainly the dis¬ 
 charge of impure or too hot air from the School-room ; but it is also as ne¬ 
 cessary to provide for a supply from without of pure fresh air, to take its 
 place. In houses heated by means of furnaces or encased stoves, this is 
 effected by the admission of pure outward air through the furnace, or the 
 case of the stove. But where a stove unconnected with the outward air is 
 depended on, some reliable means for a constant supply of fresh air should be 
 adopted. In many buildings the openings in the floor and about the doors 
 and windows are sufficient for this purpose ; but the better way is to stop 
 these up, and open a hole under the stove, with a movable cover to it, so 
 as to admit air when needed, and to be closed when not required. This po¬ 
 sition for such opening will be the most advisable, inasmuch as the fresh 
 air will become somewhat heated the instant it enters the room, from con¬ 
 tact with the stove, and will not chill the inmates in its passage toward the 
 fire, as if it entered at a distance from it. 
 
 II. ARTIFICIAL AGENCIES. 
 
 Thus far the process is simple and wholly dependent on the operation of 
 natural causes; but there are certain sluggish states of the atmosphere 
 during which no ascending current takes place within the flues, — a state of 
 immovable equilibrium appearing to exist between the outward air and that 
 within the School-room. The flue then loses its self-acting efficiency as a 
 ventilator. Under such circumstances, which however are not of very fre¬ 
 quent occurrence or long duration, the application of artificial means to 
 create a current becomes indispensable, if the flue be solely relied on for 
 ventilation. But, as such means do not come under this division of the sub-, 
 ject and are not readily applicable to small School-houses, their description 
 
182 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 will be more appropriate in connection with the larger buildings, in the 
 latter part of this chapter. 
 
 Costly arrangements even for the important objects of lighting and heating 
 country School-houses, are generally neither within the means of the Dis¬ 
 trict, nor easily applicable to the circumstances of the case. Fortunately 
 they are not absolutely necessary. A knowledge of the few simple and 
 natural principles involved, and their due observance in the construction 
 and arrangement of these buildings, will, in nearly every case, effect all 
 that is to be desired. A country School, with its isolated building standing 
 out in the free air, arid its forty or fifty scholars, is an entirely different 
 thing from the close town School-house, with its hundreds of inmates, and, 
 in many instances, its limited ground and confined if not impure atmos¬ 
 phere. The careful, elaborate means for ventilation indispensable to the one 
 may not be so necessary to the other ; still, a sufficient supply of pure air is 
 equally requisite to both ; and hence, as the rural School-house is, to a great 
 extent, necessarily dependent in this respect on the simpler and cheaper 
 self-acting agencies which have been described, a greater degree of caution 
 and knowledge becomes indispensable in its original location and proper con¬ 
 struction, and in the due arrangement of its parts. An error, in any of these 
 particulars, may possibly be remedied by artificial means in the large town 
 School building, where the numbers interested and the value of the property 
 at stake, will cause every effort to be made for that purpose. But in the 
 small country School it is not so. There, the powers of nature are the sole 
 reliance in most cases ; and they cannot be tampered with. They will only 
 act in accordance with their own laws, and cannot be forced. If duly un¬ 
 derstood, however, and properly taken advantage of, they may be relied on 
 to their full extent. 
 
 ON LIGHTING AND VENTILATING LARGE SCHOOLS. 
 
 These subjects were necessarily discussed together, in relation to the 
 smaller and lower School-buildings in the rural districts of the State; but 
 in reference to the larger and higher edifices of the towns and cities, they 
 have less, though still considerable, relation to each other. Under the pre¬ 
 sent head they will, therefore, be treated of separately; though so much 
 has already been said on both points in other connections, that little re¬ 
 mains to be added. 
 
 LIGHTING LARGE SCHOOLS. 
 
 There is rarely any deficiency in the number of windows found in our 
 larger School edifices; the defect, if any in this respect, being that they 
 are too numerous. Sometimes this extreme is so great, that the outside 
 wall seems to be a mere frame-work to keep the windows from all run- 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 183 
 
 ning into one, like the stiles in a glass sash ; — the windows being the prin¬ 
 cipal part, and the walls merely the filling in. Whether the building gains 
 in architectural beauty, or in strength and solidity, by these numerous open¬ 
 ings, need not here be discussed; but certain it is, that the interior effect is 
 neither useful nor ornamental. 
 
 To say nothing of the serious objection, that little space is left for a map or 
 a black-board on the side walls of such buildings, though most frequently 
 the faces of the Pupils are in that direction, the cross-lights from these 
 numerous windows are often very unpleasant and trying to the eyes. The 
 rays of light thus admitted, whether, direct or reflected from some outward 
 object, traverse the room in every conceivable direction, and cross each 
 other at almost every possible angle. If they afforded a sufficiency of 
 light, this might be borne; but even that is not always the case, for win¬ 
 dows may be numerous without being large. On the contrary, number can 
 only be indulged in at the expense of size; and as the dimensions of the 
 wall to be pierced are limited, these apertures necessarily frequently almost 
 take the character of loop-holes. 
 
 To secure a full supply of light in a School room, as well as to command 
 ventilation by this means, the windows should be high, — that is, long from 
 top to bottom, —• and comparatively narrow. In dwelling-houses, owing to 
 the ordinary height of the ceilings (from eight to ten feet) the window can¬ 
 not be over six feet in height; and as it is usually made three feet wide, 
 the principle seems to be settled in domestic architecture, that the height of 
 a window can only be twice its breadth. Hence, to get enough of these 
 three by six windows into a School-house to admit the supposed necessary 
 quantity of light, they must be packed as closely together as the stability 
 of the building will allow : forgetful of the fact that a room whose height 
 is or should be fourteen or sixteen feet, would be better and more pleasantly 
 lighted by means of two-thirds or even one-half the number, with a corres¬ 
 ponding increase of size. Windows three feet wide by nine feet high, or 
 four by ten, would effect this desirable object. 
 
 The use of these high windows would effect other valuable purposes, be¬ 
 side that of admitting a full supply of light More of them than of the 
 shorter or lower form could be inserted, in the sides or walls of the room 
 through which it might be most desirable to introduce the light, and less in 
 the others : thus in a great measure controlling the direction of the light. 
 Such openings also have a more lofty^ appearance, and therefore impress the 
 feelings more favorably. In addition to this, as before remarked, they leave 
 greater space of intervening wall for maps, black-boards, &c., and they per¬ 
 form a much more efficient agency in ventilation. 
 
 The position of the windows of a room in a large School-building, where 
 there may be several chambers on the same floor, cannot be so absolutely 
 
184 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 commanded, as where there is only one. When there are only two rooms 
 on a floor; of course there may be three side-walls at the disposal of the 
 Architect for this purpose; and in that case, the largest number should, if 
 possible, be placed in the east and west walls, and the smallest in that on 
 the south. When a story is divided into four rooms, each will probably be 
 a corner room, and only two walls will be left for the admission of light. 
 
 When the light comes from an unpleasant direction, the only remedy is 
 the blind or curtain. If the former is used, that with movable slats is pre¬ 
 ferable, as affording an opportunity for controlling the quantity of light 
 admitted, without opposing an undue obstacle to the passage of air. 
 
 The outside shutters to the lower windows, without which no School 
 should be considered as completed, and the outside blinds, are very often 
 seen to be shattered by the wind and not mifrequently hanging by one 
 hinge or entirely displaced. This is caused by the careless practice of 
 janitors and even Teachers, who open the shutters without fastening them 
 back to the wall. Every principal Teacher should be made responsible for 
 damage caused by this kind of negligence. Shutters and blinds on the out¬ 
 side are no doubt safer and better than those hung inside, as they afford 
 a protection to the glass in time of storm, and from malicious injury when 
 the School-house is unoccupied. But if the persons who are to have charge 
 of the School, cannot be relied on to cause them to be carefully opened and 
 shut, perhaps it would be better to have them hung on the inside. 
 
 VENTILATION OF LARGE SCHOOLS. 
 
 The natural agencies of ventilation, described in the first part of this 
 chapter, are as applicable, when available, to large as to small School-houses. 
 On this account, every effort should be made by the Directors, controllers 
 and builders, to secure as many of them as practicable in the original loca¬ 
 tion and construction of those edifices, which are now springing up to orna¬ 
 ment and improve so many of our towns. To effect this radical and essen¬ 
 tial purpose, a slight difference in distance, or in the cost of the lot or the 
 house, should never be regarded. The School-house is to last for ages; and 
 there, generation after generation of the youth of the place, are not only to 
 imbibe the stream of knowledge, but physically to imbibe draughts of health 
 or its reverse with the air they inhale. 
 
 The artificial means resorted to for the purpose of procuring and keeping 
 up a full supply of pure air in large public-buildings, are various. Into 
 some it is forced by what may be called air pumps driven by steam. In 
 others, pipes filled and heated with steam are so distributed, as to get up and 
 keep up the required circulation. But the direct application of the heat 
 of fire in winter, and of gas or a lamp or a stove in summer, to the air, is 
 the method most commonly employed, when artificial means are required 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 185 
 
 in addition to natural causes. Probably no arrangement of this kind will 
 be found more complete or more intelligibly described, than that in use in 
 the Philadelphia High School, an account of which may be seen on page 
 139, of this Manual. It is not supposed that the enlarged and complete 
 arrangement there so fully explained, will be copied in all its parts in many 
 buildings; but the facts and principles detailed, cannot but be useful to 
 every person charged with the erection of a large School building. 
 
 Complete, safe, al¬ 
 ways - reliable venti¬ 
 lation by artificial 
 means, can be most 
 readily and economi¬ 
 cally effected by the 
 adoption of all the 
 necessary details of 
 preparation in the first 
 structure of the build¬ 
 ing. Errors in this 
 respect then commit¬ 
 ted may subsequently 
 be measurably remo¬ 
 ved, but can hardly 
 ever be entirely rem¬ 
 edied. For this rea¬ 
 son, and as this is a 
 matter of scientific 
 and mechanical ar¬ 
 rangement, wholly 
 within the province 
 of the professional 
 builder, little fur¬ 
 ther need here be pre¬ 
 sented On the Subject, aa. Main air flue and opening for the first story. 
 
 bb. Main air flue and opening for the second story. 
 cc. Main air flue and opening for the third story. 
 
 and explanations pre- <id. Gas or smoke flue. 
 
 ■pared for the purpose e ' ®P enin § from warm air chamber into a flue. 
 
 . /. Cold air shaft. 
 
 by the experienced g. Cavity around the warm air chamber for the circulation of a portion of 
 Architects to whom C0 ^ a ' r ^ rom t0 equalize the temperature of the wall; which 
 
 . . air becomes warm and passes into the chambers, and circulates again 
 
 that branch of the sub- With the main current. 
 
 ject of this Manual has been committed. 
 
 24 
 
 than the drawings 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 1 St3 
 
 The larger of the two figures in the foregoing plate shows a side section of 
 an improved furnace, with its heater and gas or smoke pipe, together with the 
 warm air chamber and the registers for emitting the heated air into the differ¬ 
 ent stories. The smaller exhibits a front view or section of the smoke flue, 
 with the warm air flues side by side, leading to and opening into each story. 
 As has been before remarked, under the head of heating, the construction 
 and arrangement of the flues will be found to be provided for in the speci¬ 
 fications of the several classes of buildings in this Manual; and it needs here 
 only be added, that a flue depended on to heat several successive stories, 
 should diminish about one-fourth in size for each story above the first. 
 
 The most important portion of the appa¬ 
 ratus in connection with artificial ventila¬ 
 tion, is the ventiduct or ventilating flue. 
 The furnace with its flues for warm air, 
 only acts on the temperature of the room to 
 be ventilated as well as heated ; but without 
 proper means to give vent to the current or 
 circulation of air thus created, it would be 
 injurious instead of beneficial. The oppo¬ 
 site plate shows plainly to the eye a set of 
 ventiducts, side by side, for the ventilation 
 of the different stories of the same building, 
 with the upper and lower valves or open¬ 
 ings so often alluded to in this Manual. It 
 also exhibits a cross section of an improved 
 ejecting cap, without some apparatus of 
 which kind the whole would be incomplete. 
 
 At seasons when the sluggishness of the 
 air is such as to prevent the natural opera¬ 
 tion of the ventilating flues, and when no 
 fire is needed in the stove or furnace, it is 
 often, as before remarked, necessary to use 
 a jet of gas or an Argand lamp to rarefy the 
 air in the flue, and thus produce an upward 
 lower openings. current. No further explanation is needed 
 
 b. Ventiduct for second story with upper on this head, except to say that the jet or 
 
 «. Ventiduct for third story with upper end lanl P should be P Iaoed m the a PPOr Or Com- 
 lower openings. bined part of the shaft, if designed to act on 
 
 d. Ejecting cap, crowning the combined a „ the fl ues cntering into j t . J n very l arge 
 shaft which passes through the loft to ° ° 
 
 a point above the roof. buildings a small close coal stove is often 
 
 used for the same purpose; a lamp or a flame of gas being insufficient to 
 produce the whole desired effect. 
 
 a. Ventiduct for first story with upper and 
 
LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. 
 
 187 
 
 The size of the ventiduct should be regulated to suit the size of the open¬ 
 ing for the hot air; and both should be made sufficiently large to supply 
 and exhaust an amount of air in proportion to the number of Pupils who 
 are to occupy the room ventilated. The following table will show the proper 
 sizes: 
 
 A ventilating duct for a room to be occupied by 
 
 25 Pupils, should be 
 50 “ “ 
 
 100 “ “ 
 
 200 “ “ 
 
 300 “ “ 
 
 6 by 12 
 10 by 18 
 14 by 24 
 18 by 30 
 24 by 36 
 
 inches ; when two are used in one room, 
 
 a u u (t 
 
 u u a u 
 
 a a (4 44 
 
 4 4 44 44 44 
 
 6 by 8 inches. 
 
 8 by 12 “ 
 
 9 by 18 “ 
 
 12 by 24 “ 
 
 16 by 28 “ 
 
 The following general principles may be educed from the foregoing re¬ 
 marks on lighting and ventilation : 
 
 That proper location and construction are the best and surest reliances 
 both for a full supply of light and pure air. 
 
 That high windows and high ceilings are the points most to be regarded 
 in the building of School-houses, to effect these objects. 
 
 That the position of the Pupil with reference to light is a matter of 
 great importance, and should be carefully arranged. 
 
 That where encased stoves in the School, or furnaces in the cellar are 
 relied on for heating, the ventilating flue is indispensable for ventilation. 
 
 That in a tight stove-room, some means to furnish a supply of pure 
 fresh air from without should never be omitted. 
 
 That in large School-houses, where artificial means to command full ven¬ 
 tilation at all times, are requisite, no plan for that purpose should be adopted, 
 without the advice of an experienced architect. 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 188 
 
 VIII. SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 OR SCHOOL ROOM FURNITURE, WITH PLATES AND DIRECTIONS FOR ITS CONSTRUCTION 
 
 AND ARRANGEMENT, 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. ' 
 
 A very few years ago a paragraph or two on the furniture — which 
 would have included merely the benches and desks — of a School-house, 
 would have been thought sufficient in a work on this subject. Now, so great 
 has been the advance and the improvement, that a long chapter will scarcely 
 contain all that ought to be said. 
 
 So much has been stated in every educational work and so much is heard 
 at every meeting for the advancement of teaching, on the discomforts and 
 insufficiency of School-room furniture, that the reader’s time needs not be 
 here occupied on that branch of the subject. It is now pretty generally 
 admitted that a School-desk is not another name for a steep inclined plane 
 on which a slate or a copy book must be.held from sliding with one hand, 
 while it is written on with the other; and that the seat is not necessarily 
 a narrow board, so high as to exercise the Pupil’s vaulting powers to mount 
 it, yet so equi-distant between the floor and the desk, that while the Pupil’s 
 feet are dangling in the air, his chin is little more than on a level with the 
 top of the desk. The opinion is fast gaining ground that the School should 
 be made as commodious and attractive as the home ; and that to become so 
 it must have all the necessary appliances for comfort as well as for study. 
 
 This is not only a humane but an economical and wise conclusion on the 
 part of the public. Say what we will —■ theorize as we may —■ about the 
 value of learning, .the happiness of the school portion of life, and the possi¬ 
 ble attractiveness of the School, — going to School, day after day for years, 
 being confined there away from sport and out of the free air, and compelled 
 to study lessons and subjects, either beyond the present grasp of the mind, 
 or uninteresting from their want of connection with present feelings and 
 pursuits; — all this, which is but a matter of fact list of the school grievances 
 of the great majority, forms a burthen hard enough to be borne, without 
 having added to it the tortures of painful bodily position or the disgust of 
 unsightly objects. Common humanity, therefore, would seem to dictate 
 that all necessary and proper conveniences should be placed in the School, 
 in order that the trials and difficulties of childhood may not be needlessly 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 189 
 
 increased, and that health and the proper form and functions of the body, 
 may not be impaired or distorted. 
 
 In selecting School-furniture, the cheapest and plainest articles, though 
 of a requisite size and form,'will not always or even often be found the most 
 economical. That which is cheap and common will be apt to receive rough 
 usage; while furniture of a neat and ornamental description is not often 
 purposely abused or injured.—A School had been supplied with desks and 
 seats of a sufficiently appropriate form, but composed of roughly put together 
 and unpainted pine boards. The tops of the desks and seats were so cut 
 with knives, furrowed with slate pencils, and discolored with ink, that it 
 was found necessary to have them planed off every year, and to renew the 
 tops at the end of about four years, in order to keep them in any thing like 
 a decent state. Improved furniture, properly constructed and handsomely 
 painted and varnished, was placed in the same School; and now, at the end 
 of five years, there is not a scratch or mark on any part of it, except such 
 as are owing to the unavoidable wear of daily usage. This furniture in the 
 first instance, cost about twice as much as that which it superseded; but 
 the saving, already, in the item of repairs has nearly paid the difference. 
 
 But the good effect on the taste and habits of the Pupils is the great 
 benefit. The constant contemplation of agreeable and appropriate objects, 
 cannot but have a powerful tendency towards the formation of a correct 
 taste. A love for the beautiful — and things which are perfectly adapted to 
 some useful end are always more or less beautiful — is a most desirable and 
 happy feature in the character, and should be studiously cultivated in youth. 
 This should be a part of education, and may be materially promoted by 
 neatness and adaptedness in the School and all its furniture and appliances. 
 Besides, no one will deny that the habit of destructiveness should be con¬ 
 trolled, and those of preservation and care implanted and encouraged in 
 childhood. If fully impressed then, they will rarely disappear in after life, 
 when discretion shall come to their aid, and reason approve that which was 
 previously the mere result of surrounding circumstances. 
 
 For these reasons, the list of School furniture about to be described will 
 not only be full and varied but substantial and neat, rather than cheap and 
 plain. Cheapness is not often in the end economy; nor is plainness always 
 productive of durability. 
 
 In reference to the selection of plans for and the construction of School 
 furniture, it is recommended that Directors and Controllers shall consult 
 some experienced practical Teacher on the subject, and visit Schools which 
 contain articles of an appropriate kind. Having thus made their selection, 
 the furniture should either be constructed by some person engaged in the 
 business, or according to the plan and form of a model article of each kind, 
 procured for that especial purpose. 
 
190 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 For the arrangement of furniture no specific directions can be given 
 which will meet all cases. Most houses and Schools will require certain 
 modifications to suit local or peculiar circumstances. Here again, the expe¬ 
 rienced judicious Teacher will be found to be the safest adviser. 
 
 There are, however, certain general principles both of construction and 
 arrangement, governing this subject, which should never be violated. 
 These will be indicated in their proper connections in this chapter; leaving 
 details to the circumstances of each case. 
 
 The accommodations for a School-house, embraced under the head of fur¬ 
 niture, may be divided into three classes. 1. Those relating to the general 
 care of the building, which chiefly have their place in the entry and clothes- 
 rooms ; 2. Those connected with the purposes of the main or study-room; 
 and 3. Those of the class-rooms. 
 
 Each of these will be described separately, without going into minute de¬ 
 tails as to the several grades of School; when necessary, however, the arti¬ 
 cles proper for the respective grades will be specified. 
 
 I. ENTRY AND CLOTHES-ROOM FURNITURE. 
 
 The Scraper : The space immediately in front of every School-house 
 should be paved with brick or stone, covered with plank, or the surface, by 
 some other appropriate means, rendered smooth and so hard as to resist the 
 action of the rain and frost. On this space the steps or platform leading 
 to the door will be placed, and either will be incomplete without a strong 
 convenient shoe-scraper at each side. Two will be required, for the reason, 
 that the Pupils enter the School, morning and afternoon, about the same 
 time, and if there be only one scraper, it will either cause delay or compel 
 some to enter the building with soiled shoes. Cleanliness and neatness 
 are amougst the cardinal virtues of the School-room; and every means of 
 inculcating and promoting them should receive the earliest and most con¬ 
 stant attention. 
 
 The Mat : After the rougher and heavier portion of the mud has been 
 scraped from the feet, a good rubbing on a coarse mat will not only remove 
 the balance, but aid in drying the shoes, so that there will be less danger 
 from wet and damp feet, than would be experienced without this precau¬ 
 tion. In addition to this, there will thus be less of that annoying dust in 
 the School-room, which, when present in large quantities, is constantly kept 
 afloat in the air, to the great discomfort of the inmates and to the injury of 
 clothes, books and lungs. A pair of mats, or two pair in a large School, to 
 be used alternately — one to be dried and beaten free of dust, while the 
 other is in use — may be made of corn-husks or straw. If the Teacher 
 manage properly, mats, quite sufficient tor the purpose, will be readily made 
 or provided by the larger Pupils in turn, if they can be had in no other 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 191 
 
 way. These rough mats should be placed just inside the main entrance 
 door; and if the female Pupils were to prepare a rag mat to be laid inside 
 of or near the door leading from the entry or vestibule into the School-room, 
 for a second wiping of the feet, the precautions against dust in the room 
 would be complete. The use of the scraper and mat should, in all cases, 
 be rigidly insisted on, and every Pupil entering with soiled feet be sent back 
 and made to clean them. 
 
 The Wash-basin : Children often soil their hands in play, and some even 
 come to School with unwashed hands and faces and uncombed hair. Such 
 should never be permitted to enter the School-room, till all the requirements 
 of outward decency are complied with. In the country it will generally be 
 too far to send them home again for the purpose ; and therefore preparation 
 for it should be found in the School. Hence, a tin basin on a shelf in the 
 corner of the entry of a small School, a wash-stand in a larger building, or 
 a regular wash-closet in one of the highest class, becomes proper. Soap 
 and towels will also be indispensable; and if not provided by the District, 
 they should be by the Pupils, for whose use and benefit they are alone 
 needed. 
 
 Buckets: Every School should have two buckets — one for drinking 
 water with cup near it, and one for washing and scrubbing purposes. 
 
 Broom and Brushes : No School however small or plain, should be without 
 a broom for sweeping the floor at least twice a week, and if daily, the better. 
 Large buildings should also have a hair sweeping or floor brush, and a cob¬ 
 web brush or ceiling duster with a long handle. To this list should also 
 be added a scrubbing brush for the floor and a white-wash brush for the 
 walls; and the more they are all used, the better for the health and habits 
 of the Pupils. 
 
 Umbrella Stand : In wet weather the entry, or the corners of the School¬ 
 room, are often flooded with the drippings of umbrellas. The one-half of 
 a water-tight barrel placed in one corner of the entry, would receive the 
 umbrellas of the whole School, and prevent this annoyance. In the larger 
 Schools something more complete should be found. A water-tight trough 
 one foot wide and one foot deep, and two, three or four feet long, according 
 to circumstances, painted inside and out, with four legs a foot high, and a 
 guard or slat around it about one foot above the top edge for the umbrellas 
 to lean against, would be a neat article of furniture, cost but little and con¬ 
 tain a large number of umbrellas. There should also be a hole in the bot¬ 
 tom of it, with a cork, to run off the collected water into a bucket. 
 
 Fire-irons: If the School is heated by means of a wood stove, a pair of 
 tongs and a fire-shovel, with an ash-bucket or pan, will be indispensable. 
 If coal is used, a pair of tongs will also be necessary, with a small shovel 
 
192 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 and a poker, a coal scuttle and a sieve for the cinders. In both cases an 
 axe and a saw to cut the wood or the kindling, will also be needed. 
 
 Clothes-Hooks : In all new School-houses enough of these to allow one 
 for each pupil, should be embraced in the contract for building. In old 
 houses they should be at once put up. One should be assigned to each 
 Pupil and each should be induced or compelled to use his or her own. 
 There is a very cheap kind of cast iron hooks which are rarely worth the 
 trouble of fastening to the wall. They break off with the slightest degree 
 of strain. The better kind should be procured, or wooden pins, well slanted 
 upwards, should be used. 
 
 Dinner Closet : In the country many Pupils, living at a distance, neces¬ 
 sarily bring their dinners with them, and require a safe and fit place for it, 
 during the forenoon. A closet, with a lock and key should be placed in 
 
 the entry or clot lies-room for this purpose. When 
 this is done, the closet should be locked by one of the 
 Pupils, appointed for that purpose, after all are in. 
 Thus the baskets will be properly and safely kept, 
 and the untidy practice of having them standing un¬ 
 der the desks or along the walls in the School-room, 
 avoided. This will also prevent those liberties being 
 taken with the dinner baskets, by mischievous Pu¬ 
 pils while passing out and in during School hours, 
 which often create disturbance, when the baskets 
 are left in the clothes-room without being locked up. The above plate 
 represents a closet, the lower part of which with tv r o shelves, would serve 
 to hold the dinner baskets, and the upper part be very convenient and 
 suitable for a small library or for apparatus. 
 
 Mode of obtaining these articles : Several of the articles just named are 
 indispensable and will not be refused by any Board of Directors. Others 
 may be. In that case, it will be in the power of the Teacher, by showing 
 a disposition to keep the School-house in good order and condition, and by 
 a respectful representation of the utility and necessity of additional articles, 
 to induce a reasonable Board to allow them. If not, he has the Pupils to 
 appeal to. By proper explanation of the uses and value of the desired 
 conveniences, and of the habits dependent on them, he will rarely fail in 
 creating such a feeling in the School, as will supply all that is requisite, 
 till the Directors shall discover their own duty in the matter. 
 
 Mode of using these articles : Most of them, such as scrapers, mats, ba¬ 
 sins, buckets} fire-irons, clothes-hooks and dinner closets, are in daily use, 
 and only require a little constant attention on the part of the Teacher, to 
 render them greatly promotive of the neatness and good condition of the 
 School, and of the formation of right habits. But others, such as brooms, 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 193 
 
 siveeping brashes, scrubbing aid cob-web brushes, an<3 above all white¬ 
 wash brushes, only come into use occasionally, and will require an effort 
 on the part of the Teacher to develop their full use and value. But this 
 effort, if properly made, will be its own reward. If the larger Pupils be 
 requested to meet the Teacher in the School-house during a Saturday fore¬ 
 noon once a month, or even every six weeks, for a general sweeping, scrub¬ 
 bing, and, if necessary, white-washing, the effect on the School — both per¬ 
 sonal and material — will be found most salutary, and the object will be 
 accomplished. Children like to feel themselves of use to those whom they 
 respect, and, if properly governed, the} 7 delight in improving their own 
 things. The Teacher is their best friend and the School is their own. 
 Their nature will incline them, if it be properly guided, to oblige the one 
 and beautify the other. 
 
 In addition to this thorough cleansing, there should be a general arrange¬ 
 ment of the books, apparatus, furniture, &c., of the School-room every Fri¬ 
 day afternoon, before dismissal for the week. 
 
 II. STUDY-ROOM FURNITURE. 
 
 Seats and Desks : These constitute the main portion of the furniture of 
 the room, and upon their form, construction and arrangement, will depend 
 much of the comfort of the Pupils and the order of the School. 
 
 Certain conclusions have been arrived at with reference to seats and 
 desks, by the experience of well conducted Schools, which may now be ad¬ 
 mitted as settled principles applicable to all Schools. These are : 1. That 
 every Pupil whether old or young, should have a desk as well as a seat; 
 2. That both should be made as comfortable and as well adapted to their 
 object as possible; 3. That the seats and desks should be so arranged as to 
 permit each Pupil to pass to and from his own, without disturbing any other 
 in so doing. To these may be added, 4. That the more neatly and sub¬ 
 stantially the seats and desks are made at first, the longer they will last, 
 and the greater will be the saving to the District in the end. 
 
 The desk is as necessary for young as for older Pupils, for several rea¬ 
 sons. Children should not be long confined to one attitude, — frequent 
 change of position seeming to be a want of their nature. After sitting upright 
 in their seats for some time, they soon lean on the back of the chair or 
 bench ; but this posture before long also becomes irksome, and they will be 
 observed to lean sideways upon each other. At this time, it is, that rest¬ 
 lessness and disorder begin to manifest themselves amongst the younger 
 Pupils, and at this time the forward support afforded by the desk, both for 
 the person and the book, would form a relief to the Scholars, and tend to 
 the quiet of the School. Moreover, it is now admitted by all good Teach- 
 25 
 
194 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 ers that the slate and pencil should be put into the hands of every Pupil 
 the very first day of his entrance into School; and this renders a desk in¬ 
 dispensable, if there were no other reason. 
 
 To render the seat and desk comfortable and convenient, both should 
 bear a proper proportion in height and form, to the size of the Pupil; so 
 that when seated, his feet should rest firmly on the floor, and his arms 
 should have easy action on the desk, without either raising them above the 
 proper level for free use, or compelling him to stoop so as improperly to 
 bend the body and contract the chest. The seat should in all cases have a 
 comfortable back, and be slightly higher before than behind, so as to give 
 a firm position to the person upon it. The desk, being designed to retain 
 the books or slate without the necessity of holding them upon it with the 
 hand to prevent them from sliding off, should be very slightly inclined from 
 front to rear, with a level space at the extreme rear for pencils, pens, &c. 
 Some intelligent Teachers prefer perfectly horizontal desks; but though it 
 is true, that in after life most writing is done on a horizontal surface, }'et 
 the practice of ages and that of professional writers at the present time, 
 seem to be in favor of the slanting desk. 
 
 It needs no argument to- show that every Pupil should have free access 
 to his own seat. This is generally admitted with regard to the older 
 Scholars; but it is equally if not more requisite, in the case of the younger, 
 who are more uneasy and require to leave their places more frequently. 
 This object can only be effected by the use of single or at most double 
 desks— that is desks at which no more than two Pupils sit. The former 
 would be the more desirable in all cases; but as they occupy too much 
 floor space, when arranged with a passage at each end, the double desk is 
 now in use in all, except the highest grade of Schools. 
 
 The good effects of neat substantial furniture have been already ex¬ 
 plained, and need not be further insisted on. 
 
 Seats and Desks for Primary Pupils: Various kinds are now in use for 
 this class of Pupils; all seeking to unite comfort with neatness and dura¬ 
 bility. The combined seat and desk represented 
 by the cut in the margin, seems to comprise all 
 these requisites. The legs or stanchions are of. 
 cast iron and the remainder of wood. The seat 
 of one pair of Pupils is connected with the desk 
 of the pair behind them, but the whole being 
 firmly secured to the floor, will not be liable to 
 shake, so as to cause disturbance to either. Properly constructed and hand¬ 
 somely painted, this would form a neat as well as comfortable article of fur¬ 
 niture. 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 195 
 
 Another kind composed wholly of wood is now much in use; and when 
 
 neatly made and painted, serves the pur¬ 
 pose and looks well. The seat as shown 
 in the cut is movable, but it may be united 
 with the desk behind, which is fast to the 
 floor, somewhat like that in the preceding 
 cut. Connected in this manner, this seat 
 and desk are more in use in the interior of 
 
 the State than any other. 
 
 The next form shows not only a double 
 desk, but a double seat; the stanchion of 
 the seat being of iron, and those of the 
 desk wood, and both fast to the floor. The 
 double seat will probably be found not so 
 desirable~as single ones, as it will not sepa¬ 
 rate the two Pupils. Either of the suc¬ 
 ceeding forms of chair would, probably, be 
 preferable to the settee or double seat. 
 
 They will both present easier supports to the back, and that on the right has 
 the additional quality of revolving, so as to admit of 
 greater variety of posture, and of readier egress and 
 regress. If, instead of wooden 
 supports, the desk were made with 
 plain cast-iron stanchions, as in 
 some of the succeeding cuts, either 
 of these seats with such a desk, 
 would be plain and substantial, yet attractive in appearance and comforta¬ 
 ble. 
 
 Grammar School Seats and Desks : Though the double seat in connec¬ 
 tion with the double desk, is yet used in 
 some Schools of the second grade, yet 
 the inclination is general in favor of the 
 single seat. The one now presented 
 seems to be desirable in every respect, 
 except that the chair does not revolve; 
 some teachers preferring the stationary 
 or unrevolving seat. The next cut 
 shows a seat and desk differing much in form, yet the same in principle as 
 the last, except that the desk has an enclosed box covered with a hinged 
 lid, for each Pupil. Some teachers prefer this arrangement, but the ma¬ 
 jority do not favor it, as the raising of the lid interposes a screen between 
 
19G 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 the Teacher and Pupil, behind which 
 acts may be performed which would 
 not be openly attempted; while the 
 opening and shutting of the lids cannot 
 but create noise. The desk with a sta¬ 
 tionary lid, a shelf beneath, and a slit 
 in the back for a slate, seems to meet 
 the views of the greater number of 
 teachers. 
 
 In connection with either of these Grammar School desks, a revolving 
 chair, one of which is shown among the High School seats, may be used; 
 and if properly constructed, it will be found easy and pleasant. 
 
 High School Seats and Desks : The furniture for the High School will 
 necessarily be larger, and generally of a more elaborate style and better 
 finish than that of the lower grades. Whenever floor space will allow, 
 none but single seats 
 and desks should be 
 used; but if the dou¬ 
 ble kind is to be 
 adopted, the oppo¬ 
 site cut represents a 
 beautiful and appro¬ 
 priate form. The 
 desk is large and 
 capacious, and its 
 stanchions are so 
 well thrown back as not to interfere with the knee in passing to and from 
 the seat. 
 
 The single seat and desk shown 
 by the opposite cut, is of similar 
 style, and intended for the same 
 grade of School as the last. It has 
 a lid or fall to the desk, a stationary 
 seat, and seems to afford ample room 
 to the occupant, and great con¬ 
 venience for study and the other 
 duties of the School. It is strong 
 and durable, as well as beautiful in 
 appearance. 
 
 The last that will be presented is one which has been in use in the Lan¬ 
 caster city High School for the last four years, and given satisfaction. The 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 197 
 
 desk has no lid, but an open shelf below for books, with a slit in the back part 
 for the slate. Both the stanchions of 
 the desk and the base of the chair are 
 of cast iron, screwed to the floor. The 
 box forming the desk is attached to the 
 stanchions bj the four light bolts, 
 passing from the top of the box through 
 the heads of the stanchions, and se¬ 
 cured by a nut and screw beneath; 
 the head of the bolt being let into the 
 desktop and covered with putty before 
 painting. The seat and back of the chair are precisely those of the com¬ 
 mon Windsor chair, which the Pupil uses at home. On the bottom of the 
 seat, a pivot of wrought iron three quarters of an inch in diameter byjdiree 
 inches in length, inserted in a cast iron 
 plate four inches square and three-eights 
 of an inch thick, is fastened by means of 
 four one inch screws. This pivot plays 
 into a corresponding socket in the head 
 of the cast iron base; the top of the base 
 being slightly rounded, or convex, to al¬ 
 low a small degree of rocking motion and make the chair revolve easily. A 
 piece of leather is put on the pivot to prevent noise in revolving. The chair 
 is not fastened to the base, but may be lifted off when the room is to be 
 swept or scrubbed. Desk stanchions and chair bases of four different 
 heights, each in succession one inch higher than the other, are made to 
 suit the different sizes of the Pupils. 
 
 This seat and desk have been somewhat fully described, because they are 
 not generally known, neither are they subject to any patent right. A claim 
 of this kind is made with regard to the most of the other improved articles 
 of School furniture, and whether it exists in reality or not, Directors are 
 often made to pay patent right price when they purchase. 
 
 Relative sizes of Seats and Desks: The following table is said to show 
 pretty accurately the proportion which should exist between the heights of 
 seats and desks for the various sizes of Pupils; the corresponding width and 
 length of the desks; and the proper distances between desks of the same 
 size in the same row, so as to admit the chair between them. 
 
 Height of seat. Height of front of desk. Width of desk. 
 
 10 inches. 21 inches. 12 inches. 
 
 12 “ 23 “ 13 “ 
 
 14 « 25 “ 14 “ 
 
 16 “ 27 « 15 “ 
 
 Length of desk per 
 Pupil. 
 
 17 inches. 
 19 “ 
 
 21 « 
 
 22 « 
 
 Chair space be¬ 
 tween desks. 
 
 20 inches. 
 22 “ 
 
 24 “ 
 
 26 “ 
 
198 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 The Ink well : The ink-stand or well is an indispensable accompaniment 
 of the desk and, if not of a proper form or properly secured, often gives 
 much trouble. A loose ink-stand or bottle on a small desk, the greater 
 | part of whose lid is considerably inclined, is liable to 
 | be upset or thrown off. A wide mouthed glass cup with 
 p> a rim to it, and let into the corner of the desk, is se¬ 
 cured from falling or upsetting, but receives the dust of 
 the room to the injury of the ink. Hence, one let into 
 the desk, with a hinged lid or cover, so arranged as to 
 exclude the dust and yet not to be in the way of books, 
 slates, &c., when closed, seems to be the best and cheapest 
 expedient that can be adopted. Many wells have been 
 prepared for these purposes. The figure in the margin will serve to con¬ 
 vey the idea, without further explanation. 
 
 Arrangement of Seats and Desks: It has already been frequently sug¬ 
 gested, that, in arranging the furniture of a School-room, the Pupils should 
 be faced towards a wall containing no windows, or, if any, that they should 
 have close blinds or curtains; and that if possible this should be the north 
 wall. It is also believed that the Teacher’s platform and desk should be 
 across the end and not the side of the room; thus throwing the whole of 
 the Pupils more in front of him. 
 
 If the entrance door be in the middle of the partition opposite the 
 Teacher’s desk, then there should be one passage from that door to his desk, 
 along the middle of the room, considerably wider than the other ones, as 
 on the ground plan on page 30. If there be two entrance doors into 
 the School-room, there should be two such wider passages, as in the 
 plan on page 32; or, the two wider passages may be next the walls, as 
 in pages 42 and 62. If black-board or maps are on the side-walls, this 
 last arrangement will have the additional advantage of giving better ac¬ 
 cess to them. 
 
 The main passages should not be less than three feet wide, if floor space 
 permit ; and if they can be four, it will be all the better. The other pas¬ 
 sages may vary from eighteen inches to two and a-half feet. 
 
 The distances between the desks in the same row tor the seats have al¬ 
 ready been given, in the table on page 197; but if space will at all admit 
 of it, there should be one or two cross passages, (that is from east to west, 
 if the Pupils face to the north,) in order to permit the Teacher to pass from 
 one row of desks to another, without being compelled to walk to either end 
 of the room. 
 
 In all Schools, but especially in those of mixed studies and ages, there 
 should be seats and desks of different heights to suit the respective sizes of 
 the Pupils. In such cases the smaller seats for the younger Pupils should 
 
school Furniture, 
 
 199 
 
 be placed in front, — that is nearest the Teacher’s desk, — in order to have 
 them more under his eye and control. 
 
 Seats and desks should never be allowed to touch the wall. If the size 
 of the room will not allow a full passage next the wall, the desk should be 
 kept at least six inches from it, both to allow the Pupil near it the free use 
 of his arm, and to keep him from contact with the damp cold wall. 
 
 The following plate represents a new mode of arranging seats and desks, 
 intended to save floor space without the use of the double desk. If found 
 satisfactory in other respects, it will have the additional advantage of al¬ 
 lowing more room for passages, and particularly for a wide middle passage, 
 and for outside passages along the walls. The dividing or partition board 
 seems liable to the objection of somewhat interfering with the arm in 
 writing, unless the top of the desk be very large. * 
 
 “ The engraving represents the plan so plainly, that very little more is 
 required to be said respecting it. 
 
 “ By this new arrangement two rows of desks are combined together, 
 
 * This is the invention of Virgil Woodcock, of Swanzey, New Hampshire, to whom a patent has 
 heen recently granted. The Editor has never seen in use, and only inserts it here to add to the 
 interest and variety of the work. The descriptive part, marked as quotation, is from Mr. Woodcock’s 
 circular. 
 
200 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 with a separating partition between them ; or, with a standard at each end, 
 the partition may be dispensed with. Two rows of desks, A A and C C, 
 are shown, connected to each partition board, D. The Teacher’s desk is 
 represented at E ; B are the seats of the scholars at the desks; a a are 
 the desk standards. Each Scholar’s desk is arranged opposite the seat space 
 ot the opposite Scholar, thus separating them, and preventing playing and 
 whispering. 
 
 “By this arrangement as many Scholars can be seated at single as at 
 double desks, and they will only occupy the same floor room. There is also 
 a gain over single desks as arranged in the common way in Schools, by 
 seating forty-eight Scholars, with these desks, in the same space as thirty- 
 six are commonly seated. The desks and chairs are arranged diagonally 
 on the floor, so that no one Scholar can see the face of another without one 
 of the two being at right or left half face. When the School is called to 
 procession, all can rise at once, and step into files in the aisles, without 
 coming in contact with one another. Scholars are more directly under 
 view of the Teacher, and can therefore be kept in better order.” 
 
 Class-space: In a School-house without recitation rooms, or with but one 
 Teacher, a sufficient space in front of the platform, for classes during reci¬ 
 tation, will be indispensable. It should be as large as possible, after making 
 full allowance for the necessary passages. The full breadth of the room 
 should be allowed for this purpose if practicable; if not, the side rows of 
 seats may be extended forward, as on page 32, leaving the middle space, at 
 least, open. 
 
 This brings up the question of class seats. If any be used, they should 
 be movable settees with backs, so as to afford a support to the Pupils, and 
 be removable to one side when not required. But probably it would be 
 better to dispense with recitation seats entirely, except in recitation rooms. 
 To stand during a half hour’s recitation, is but a healthful and pleasant re¬ 
 lief from the tedious and tiresome sittings of the School-room. Besides 
 this, reading and all kinds of recitation are better and more spiritedly per¬ 
 formed in a standing than in a sitting position. A more dull and lifeless 
 scene can scarcely be presented, than that of a sitting or rather lolling class, 
 making believe to recite to a sitting book teacher. 
 
 Platform : In all contracts for the erection of School-houses, the platform 
 should be included, and it should be ample and substantial. The north end 
 of the main room has frequently been pointed out as the most desirable 
 situation ; but this will depend on the position of the house and of the win¬ 
 dows. The platform should extend across the whole end or side of the 
 room where it is placed, if not curtailed by doors; and it should be one full 
 etep higher than the floor, but probably two steps will be found equally 
 useful for ordinary purposes, and more so in times of declamation, exhibi- 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 201 
 
 tion, &c. Across each end of, and upon the platform, will be an appropriate 
 place for two standing closets, one for apparatus, and the other for a library, 
 if no room he specially provided for those purposes. This part of the wall, 
 as it does not face the School, will not be so desirable for a black-board as 
 the cross wah, and c^pi be more readily dispensed with for closets, than any 
 other. No platform should be narrower than four feet, but five would be 
 better, and six ample for all purposes. 
 
 Teacher’s Desk : The old fashioned “ Master’s desk,” — without drawer, 
 but with a deep box, covered with a lid and filled with every supposable 
 article, from old pens, old rods and forfeited marbles, apples, tops and cakes, 
 taken up for being handled in School time, to keys of arithmetic and gram¬ 
 mar, for the master’s own use and comfort, never openly handled but often 
 consulted under cover of the friendly desk lid — is now rarely seen. In 
 its place, convenient and handsome desks often grace the platforms. These 
 not only ornament the School-room and add dignity to the Teacher’s posi¬ 
 tion, but conduce to his efficiency and comfort, by enabling him to have a 
 place for all the necessary aids to his calling, and to find each of them with¬ 
 out confusion or delay when required. 
 
 Many forms of Teacher’s desks 
 are in use. Any of them will do, 
 if it have the following qualities: 
 1. A large level table-like surface 
 on the top, not less than two and a 
 half wide by five feet long, with a 
 ledge not higher than two or three 
 inches at each end and the back, 
 and a movable inclined surface for writing on, if desired. If the ledge is 
 higher, it will interfere with the Teacher’s view of a class in front of him, 
 and may impede the Pupils’ view of articles or experiments when exhibited 
 on the desk; and the 
 inclined writing surface 
 should be movable, to 
 leave the whole desk-top 
 free for similar occasions. 
 
 2. It should have no deep 
 box,covered with a lid,but 
 side drawers or shelves 
 with doors, or both, al¬ 
 ways accessible without 
 disturbingthe articles ne¬ 
 cessarily placed on the top. The first here shown is a neat desk, but has 
 2G 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 202 
 
 no shelves. The next excels it in having shelves on one side and drawers 
 on the other, and at the top; but fails in having the whole top inclined, 
 which interferes much with its usefulness as a table or stand, for the ex¬ 
 hibition of experiments, specimens, &c. 
 
 The large desk now shown seems to combine all t^e desirable qualities, 
 
 except the ledge at the ends and back. 
 
 The first cut exhibits the front view, 
 with a fiat table surface; a long shal¬ 
 low drawer at the top for School-reg¬ 
 ister and class-rolls; six side drawers 
 for pens, books, instruments and arti¬ 
 cles prepared for use, &c. ; and suffi¬ 
 cient space for the Teacher’s feet. The next cut shows the movable wri¬ 
 ting desk or surface, to be set aside when not in use. The last exhibits 
 the back view — that is the one tow¬ 
 ard the School—of the same desk, with 
 
 a longshallow 
 drawer on the 
 
 top for maps, 
 and shelved closets below, for apparatus 
 and other matters necessary to be with¬ 
 in reach of the Teacher. 
 
 These large and capacious, but somewhat cumbrous articles, should only 
 be placed in Schools where there is not a good provision of closets and 
 
 cases for apparatus; and, when adop¬ 
 ted, should have castors to them, to 
 enable them to be wheeled to one 
 side at times of exhibition, &c. In 
 Schools having plenty of closets for 
 apparatus, collections, &c., a lighter 
 article, such as that opposite, will be 
 found to answer all the daily occa¬ 
 sions of the School, and to be more readily movable and less costly. Even 
 a common ledged table, with one large drawer, may be sufficient in such 
 cases. 
 
 Teacher’s Chair : The platform should have at least one large comfort¬ 
 able and sedate looking chair; not that the chair, or the desk, or any other 
 part of the School-room furniture or apparatus, will supply any defect in 
 the Teacher; but every proper means should be adopted to add to the de¬ 
 cencies of his position, and the dignity of his office. Two chairs are here 
 shown; the only difference being, that one has a cushion, and the other 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 203 
 
 has not. The cushion will do no harm, if not too much used. The stand¬ 
 ing, moving instructor, as a general rule, is the best instructor. The plat¬ 
 form should also have a half dozen other chairs for visitors, and particu¬ 
 larly for the Board of Directors, who, when 
 they visit the School,jshould always, during 
 at least a portion of their stay, appear on 
 the platform, and be seen and known in 
 their official character. Children are natu¬ 
 rally inclined to be much influenced by the 
 presence of those in authority; and it is 
 a great error in any system for the education of a people, whose laws and 
 the agents of whose laws depend wholly on voluntary obedience, to wea¬ 
 ken — or rather, not to strengthen — this right feeling. Slavish maii- 
 worship is as despicable, as rude disregard for legitimate authority is dan¬ 
 gerous. The salutary habit of respect for the law and its officers, will not 
 only be strengthend by the official reception and presence of School Direc¬ 
 tors, but the Teacher will find his heart cheered and his hands strengthened 
 by their frequency. When it is known that this is a matter of periodical 
 recurrence, it will be expected and prepared for; and when the rules of the 
 School are understood to emanate from other authority, and their results to 
 be reported to another tribunal, parents will have an additional motive for 
 conformity, and Pupils one more strong stimulant to progress. 
 
 Black-board : By all competent Teachers the black-board is now known 
 to be the most useful, and, next to seats and desks, the most indispensable 
 article of School furniture. With a sufficiency of black-board, the well 
 qualified, experienced Teacher can do almost any thing in the way of in¬ 
 struction; without it, he feels himself at a loss in every branch. 
 
 As to the quantity requisite, it may be said that it can readily be too 
 little, but cannot well be too great. The whole wall behind the Teacher’s 
 seat, and all the spaces between the windows and doors on the other walls, 
 if covered with good black surface, extending five feet upward, from a point 
 two feet above the floor or platform, would not be too much; but a black¬ 
 board of the height specified, and extending the whole length of the plat¬ 
 form, is indispensable. This position faces the whole School, and is there¬ 
 fore the most suitable for the instruction of the whole at once; while it is 
 as proper as any other for the use of individual Pupils. 
 
 A number of expedients have been tried to supersede the painted and 
 varnished board, first and still most generally used for this purpose. The 
 objections to the wooden surface are, that it is liable to warp and crack, is 
 costly, and requires to be painted very frequently. Several of the black 
 surfaces now in use will be described; the wooden board requiring no other 
 
204 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 directions than that it should be composed of the widest, soundest and 
 clearest boards that can be procured, perfectly seasoned, exactly jointed and 
 well glued together; and that it should be firmly fastened to the wall, so 
 as to prevent, as much as possible, the noise made by the chalk in writing 
 upon it. 
 
 Paper Surface : Let the surface be cleared of all roughness or inequality 
 with sand paper. Take common wall paper, let it be pasted smoothly and 
 firmly on the required spaces, and covered according to the following re¬ 
 cipe : 
 
 “ Lamp-black and flour of emery mixed with spirit varnish. No more 
 lamp-black and flour of emery should be used, than are sufficient to give the 
 required black and abrading surface; and the varnish should contain only 
 sufficient gum to hold the ingredients together, and confine the composition 
 to the wall. The thinner the mixture the better. The lamp-black should 
 first be ground with a small quantity of alcohol, to free it from lumps. The 
 composition should be applied to the smooth surface with a common pain¬ 
 ter’s brush. Let it become thoroughly dry and hard before it is used.”* This 
 kind of surface, if properly made and used, will last for several years. 
 
 Another paper surface, may be speedily and cheaply prepared, by pasting 
 strong wall paper smoothly on the wall, then sizing it so as to prevent the 
 paint from sinking into the paper, and afterwards giving it a couple of coats 
 of black oil paint, with a small mixture of emery to give it a grit, or hold 
 on the crayon, and enough varnish to cause it to dry rapidly. 
 
 Composition Black-board: For twenty square yards of wall, take three 
 pecks of Mason’s putty, (white finish) three pecks of clean fine sand, three 
 pecks of ground plaster, and three pounds of lampblack mixed with three 
 gallons of alcohol. Lay the mixture evenly and smoothly on the surface 
 to be covered. Note — The alcohol arid the lampblack must be well mixed 
 together, before they are put to the other ingredients.! 
 
 A kind of composition black-boards is now in use in the Philadelphia 
 High School, which, after five years’ trial in some of the other Schools of 
 that city, has given great satisfaction. It is said not to crack, or scratch 
 with the chalk, and to require no re-painting,-—the whole substance of the 
 composition being the same throughout, and continually presenting the 
 same kind of surface as it wears, like the slate. It costs from a dollar and 
 a quarter to a dollar and a half the square yard/according to the quantity 
 taken 4 
 
 The Slate would, no doubt, be the best and most durable substance for 
 this purpose, if it could be procured in sufficiently large pieces and set up 
 at reasonable rates; but the price puts it out of the question for most 
 
 * Barnaul’s School Architecture, page 387. f Canada Journal of Education. 
 
 I Manufactured by C. F. Linton, of Philadelphia, Patentee. 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 205 
 
 Schools. The fact that slates create no dust, renders them more pleasant in 
 use than any other surface. 
 
 All stationary black-boards should have a neat frame or moulding at the 
 top and each end, and a ledge or narrow trough at the bottom, to lioid tue 
 chalk or crayons and the wipers, and to catch the dust from above. This 
 should be so made as to prevent the crayons from rolling off and breaking 
 on the floor. 
 
 Movable Black-boards : These have the advantage of 
 presenting both sides for use. One kind is set in a frame 
 and turns on pivots, as shown in the chapter on School 
 Apparatus. Another and cheaper kind rests on a stand, 
 something like a painter’s easel. It is supported by pins, 
 which can be raised or lowered at pleasure; both sides 
 being also prepared for use. 
 
 Chalk and Crayons : Chalk is the substance most generally used for wri¬ 
 ting with on the black-board; but it is so often gritty and liable to scratch 
 the board, that prepared crayons, when obtainable, are much better. The 
 following recipe is said to produce excellent articles at a small cost; and 
 if one person were to make them for a whole District, the cost and the labor 
 would both be further reduced. Crayons thus made, will not cut or scratch 
 the board; but they are easily broken and require more care than chalk. 
 
 To Make Crayons : Take five pounds Paris White and one pound of 
 Wheat flour, w r et with water, knead it well, make it so stiff that it will not 
 stick to the table, but not so stiff as to crumble and fall to pieces when it is 
 rolled under the hand. 
 
 To roll out the Crayons to the proper size, two boards are needed, one to 
 roll them on ; the other to roll them with. The first should be a smooth pine 
 board, three feet long and nine inches wide. The other also should be pine, 
 a foot long and nine inches wide, having nailed on the under side, near each 
 end, a slip of wood one-third of an inch thick, in order to raise it so much 
 above the under board, as that the Crayon, when brought to its proper size, 
 may lie between the boards without being flattened. 
 
 The mass is rolled into a ball, and slices are cut from one side of it about 
 one-third of an inch thick; these slices are again cut into strips about four 
 inches long, and one-third of an inch wide, and rolled separately between 
 these boards until smooth and round. 
 
 Near at hand should be another board, three feet long and four inches 
 wide, across which each Crayon, as it is made, should be laid, so that the 
 ends may project on each side; — the Crayons should be laid in close con¬ 
 tact and straight. When the board is filled, the ends should be trimmed 
 off, so as to make the Crayons as long as the width of the board. It is then 
 laid in the sun, if in hot weather, or if in winter, near a stove or fire place 
 
206 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 where the Crayons may dry gradually, which will require twelve hours. 
 When thoroughly dry they are fit for use. 
 
 Black-board Brush or Wiper : To save time and promote cleanliness, 
 
 every Pupil should, when at the board, be pro¬ 
 vided with a wiper, to clean the board and pre¬ 
 vent, as much as possible, the dust from flying 
 through the room. A common sized sheep’s 
 pelt would afford a sufficient number of the kind represented in the cut, for 
 an ordinary School. The skin should be cut in pieces eight inches long and 
 five wide, and be carefully tacked, woolly side out, on a block a little smaller 
 in size. If the block is two or two and a half inches thick, it can be 
 trimmed up so as to form a handle out of the same piece. These Wipers 
 will last a long time, and if properly made and used, will not cut or scratch 
 the boards or wall. 
 
 The Conical Brush or Wiper is a very superior article, and is sufficiently 
 
 explained by the engraving A Wiper 
 of some kind should be provided, and 
 its use insisted on in every School. The 
 filthy practice of using the edge of the hand, or the cuff of the coat for this 
 purpose, should never be tolerated. 
 
 hi. class-room furniture. 
 
 Grammar Class-room: In a recitation room for reading, grammar, geo¬ 
 graphy and similar classes, no desks will be needed, and the seats may be 
 arranged in the manner represented in the plate, which shows a room of 
 about eighteen feet square. 
 
 - .- 
 
 I 
 
 A. Teacher’s desk and platform. 
 
 B Seats for class. 
 
 C. Windows. 
 
 D. Door from School-room. 
 
 E. Passages and spaces for Pupils at maps^nnd black-boards. 
 
 In this room the seats, which should have 
 backs like settees, have wide spaces between 
 them to admit of easy access, and are slightly 
 curved to enable the members of the class 
 u c more fully to face the Teacher. In these and 
 all other classes, the Pupil should rise while reading or reciting. 
 
 Mathematical Class-room : As slates will be frequently used in this room, 
 desks for their support will be necessary. 
 
 The desks in this room should be about twelve feet long, (the room 
 being eighteen feet square) and about eighteen inches wide, with a slight 
 rise towards the back. The seats may be plain circular stools, without 
 
SCHOOL FURNITURE. 
 
 207 
 
 backs, as while using them the Pupils will be mostly engaged writing on the 
 desks and will require no back support. This 
 form of seat will also admit of readier access 
 to the seat without disturbance of others. 
 
 For the same reason, the spaces between the 
 rows of seats and the backs of the next desks 
 should be as wide as can be afforded. 
 
 A. Teacher’s desk and platform. 
 
 D. Door to School-room. 
 
 E. Windows. 
 
 P. Passages and spaces for Pupils at black-board. 
 
 Class-room Black-boards : These will be of course, similar in material 
 and height to those in the study room, and should extend completely 
 around both rooms. The passages or spaces in front of them, should, if 
 possible be three feet wide, so as to allow the Pupils to stand before them 
 and still leave room for the Teacher to pass from one to another, without 
 interrupting their operations. The black-board behind the Teacher’s stand 
 should commence higher from the floor and extend at least two feet higher 
 toward the ceiling, than the others. It will be chiefly used for illustration 
 and should be visible, over the Teacher’s desk, to the whole class when 
 seated. 
 
 Teacher’s Platform and Desk : The platform should be about six feet 
 long and five wide, and raised one step above the level of the floor, and 
 may be of the same form in both rooms. 
 
 The desk should be about two feet wide 
 and four long, with a movable writing 
 board, and a set of drawers on one side, 
 to contain rolls, books, &c. The side 
 ledge ought not to be higher than two 
 inches. If the class-room have a closet 
 for apparatus, as it should, then a plain 
 table with a low ledge, a movable writing desk, and a couple of shallow 
 
 drawers in the frame of the table to hold 
 rolls, &c., will be sufficient. 
 
 The Teacher’s platform in the class¬ 
 room, must, of course, have its Chair. 
 If the room be large enough, it may con¬ 
 tain half dozen more, for visitors; the 
 understanding always being, that visitors 
 are to take their seats at once, and that their entrance is not for a moment 
 to interrupt the recitation in progress. 
 
 Map Rails : Every class-room should have slats or rails, about four inches 
 
HU8 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 wide, secured to the walls before plastering, if in a new house, and extend¬ 
 ing all round the room, for the insertion of hooks or pins, on which to hang 
 maps, charts, physiological plates, diagrams, &c. If placed a few inches — 
 say six or eight — above the frame of the black-board, the maps, &c., need 
 not be taken down when the board is in use, but may be rolled and tied 
 up, so as to rest on the top of the board. 
 
 The same kind of rail should extend all round the study-room also. It 
 will be often found convenient, and will avoid the injury to the wall, 
 caused by driving nails into it for occasional use. In some Schools map 
 stands or racks, are in use; but they are cumbrous articles and more in the 
 way than the wall-rail. The latter has the additional advantage of pro¬ 
 viding a safe hanging place for a very large number of maps, &c., while 
 not in use, at the same time that they may be moved from one part of the 
 building to another, with as little trouble and delay as will be caused by 
 changing the maps on the map rack. 
 
 The noise made by classes moving fiom and to their seats is very un¬ 
 pleasant. A strip of rag or other carpet, along the passages, and at the 
 recitation stand, is the best preventive. Various other expedients have 
 been proposed to obviate this annoyance; but the same which is in use at 
 home, is probably the best that can be employed in the School. No dwel¬ 
 ling, however rough or scant its furniture, is now without its strips of car¬ 
 pet along the passages most in use, both to prevent noise and to add to 
 comfort. In two or three story School-houses, the noise and shaking of 
 the building, caused by the changing of large classes, are very great, and, 
 for the time, disturb the exercises in all the other rooms. The arrange¬ 
 ment called “ deafening” and described at page 109 of this Manual, is a 
 very effective precaution against this disturbance of Schools in the lower 
 part of the same building, and should always be adopted in the construc¬ 
 tion of new large School-houses; but it is no protection against the annoy¬ 
 ance, to persons on the same floor with the stamping class. There, the 
 surest remedy is the carpet. 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 20k 
 
 IX. SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 ON SCHOOL APPARATUS, WITH PLATES AND DIRECTIONS, FOR ITS SELECTION, USE AND 
 
 PRESERVATION. * 
 
 The utility and importance of the use of apparatus in the School-room, 
 have not, it appears, been generally appreciated, as there are so many 
 School Districts in which nothing of the kind can be found. It will not, 
 therefore, be inappropriate to enumerate some of the reasons which may be 
 assigned for this oversight or neglect. 
 
 The unsubstantial and inelegant School-houses throughout the greater part 
 of the State, do not generally admit of any space for the accommodation of 
 apparatus. Had it been provided, there was no place in which it could be 
 properly and securely kept, as those who erected the buildings, inattentive 
 alike to the laws of health and comfort, supposed economy in the expen¬ 
 diture of funds demanded the utmost contraction of space. A large 
 portion of the people and many of the School authorities, supposed, when 
 a house affording a shelter was finished, they had done all that was ne¬ 
 cessary for the use of the Teacher and the wants of the School. The 
 Teachers too, in most instances, owing to deficiency in that proper profes¬ 
 sional preparation, which would have enabled them to understand and em¬ 
 ploy apparatus,—owing also to the neglect of every branch of study save 
 Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, which only were considered essential, 
 and might be taught, though imperfectly, without such aids, — and especi¬ 
 ally because the short and uncertain terms of the Schools did not render 
 
 * This chapter was prepared, by request of the Editor, by A. M. Gow, A. M., Principal of the Union 
 School of the borough of Washington, Washington county, Pennsylvania. 
 
 27 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 210 
 
 teaching permanent or profitable, — felt little or no interest in preparing, 
 purchasing or preserving such instruments. 
 
 Hence it is proper, in such a work as this on the improvement of the ma¬ 
 terial aids to complete instruction, that the subject of “ School Apparatus” 
 should have a prominent place. This is more eminently proper, as the 
 causes which, heretofore, have operated to so great an extent to prevent 
 the introduct ion of the machinery of the School-room, it is confidently hoped, 
 will ere long be greatly obviated. 
 
 A new and better order of professional Teachers, trained in the duties of 
 their profession, whose whole time and talents will be devoted to the cause 
 of education, are coming on the stage, and will demand their appropriate 
 tools to carry on the work. Better School-houses will now be erected, 
 suited to the purpose for which they are designed. The more extended 
 course of study now required by the law, will render necessary more sys¬ 
 tematic teaching. Public interest will demand, and it is hoped that public 
 sentiment will sanction, longer terms of teaching, and afford better facili¬ 
 ties for imparting instruction. 
 
 It is a fact, which will be readily comprehended by every one, that we 
 can best understand those things which we can see and handle, as well as, 
 talk about. It is the habit of mankind to be better satisfied with a know¬ 
 ledge of those things the eye has witnessed, than with the knowledge of 
 the same things of which they have only heard. “ We have seen, and there¬ 
 fore we know,” is the general sentiment. It is true, that much of our 
 knowledge of material things, of facts, and of principles, is not the result 
 of our own observation or experiment; much that we know is received and 
 appropriated upon the faith we have in others, in connection with our own 
 knowledge of facts and principles ; — but he is not well educated who relies 
 implicitly upon the statements of others, without some corroboration of his 
 own judgment and experience. Scholars should think welt and reason cor¬ 
 rectly — should form conclusions from established facts; and to do this, as 
 much of their education as possible should be demonstrated or illustrated 
 by practical appeals to their reason, through the media of the eye and the 
 touch, as well as the sense of hearing. 
 
 Nor are the senses always able to convey the truth to the mind, although 
 generally so reliable. We may deceive ourselves by relying too much on 
 the appearances things may assume. Optical illusions or deceptions are 
 not unfrequent, and hence the necessity of understanding things not only 
 as they appear, but as they are. 
 
 The most enlightened and gifted Teacher will frequently find that words 
 are not sufficient to give a clear and distinct idea of subjects, which are 
 material and objects of sense. He must bring his subject, not abstractly, 
 but really and practically, to the mind of the Pupil, in order that it may 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 211 
 
 be fully understood; and if he be not prepared to make his illustrations or 
 experiments from the best sources and models, his ingenuity should be 
 excited to present the best his means and opportunities will allow. The 
 more that all the senses can be employed, the more information can be 
 gained of any sub¬ 
 ject. The wisest 
 philosopher, endea¬ 
 voring to explain 
 the construction 
 and operation of a 
 steam engine,to one 
 not well versed in 
 mechanical science, 
 would fail to con¬ 
 vey any correct idea 
 
 of the machine, unless assisted by diagrams, pictures and models. Lan¬ 
 guage alone would not be sufficient to present to the mind a clear conception 
 of the complicated structure. Its various parts so nicely adjusted and well 
 adapted to each other — its tremendous power and extreme velocity, could 
 never be understood or appreciated unless* it was thus seen and studied. 
 
 It is thus a question of great moment, how far can material objects be 
 brought to assist in the improvement of the District Schools ? Or, in other 
 words, What tools can be put into the Teacher’s hands, to enable him to do 
 the most and best service, in the least time, and with the most economical 
 expenditure of funds ? 
 
 School apparatus may be enumerated under two classes: The first em¬ 
 braces those things which should be considered indispensable, and which no 
 District School should be without. The second contains such articles as 
 may' be considered exceedingly useful though not absolutely essential, and 
 also such as are most highly finished and expensive. 
 
 As the School law requires certain branches of science to be pursued in 
 every District, we would distinguish that apparatus as belonging to the first 
 dass which is necessary to demonstrate, illustrate or teach those branches, 
 viz: geography, grammar, arithmetic, reading, writing and spelling, and 
 also to assist in the management of the School. The large majority of 
 District Schools would require a complete set of apparatus adapted to this 
 end, and some might even go further, and secure some of the instruments 
 enumerated in the second class. 
 
 Those embraced in the second class would consist of such materiel as would 
 be used in the teaching of any particular branch of science, other than those 
 named in the School law, as natural philosophy, chemistry, physiology, &c. 
 
212 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 In the first place, the first class apparatus will be treated of, because 
 much that it includes would be applicable to Schools of the highest grade, 
 
 FIRST CLASS APPARATUS. 
 
 THE CLOCK. 
 
 ,e The bell strikes one. We take no note of time 
 “ But from its loss. To give it then a tongue 
 “ Is wise in man.” 
 
 The habit of correct observation cannot be cultivated in a better way 
 than by a constant reference to time. In School this is particularly the 
 case. Every day has its appointed duties, and every hour its special exer¬ 
 cise. To secure punctuality, regularity, harmony and good order, a clock, 
 which may now be obtained for a small sum, should be placed in some con¬ 
 spicuous position in the School-room. 
 
 “ Time is dealt out by particles - 
 
 •‘To give it then a tongue is wise in man.” 
 
 THE BELL. 
 
 A little hand bell should accompany the clock as a conservator of order, 
 and will, if judiciously managed, save for the Teacher many an effort of 
 the lungs. For opening the School, in changing classes, and at dismis¬ 
 sion, it is a sovereign remedy for noise and confusion. Sometimes a single 
 click of the clapper, accompanied by a glance of the Teacher’s eye, will 
 speak a language “ louder than words.” For ordinary purposes, a simple 
 twenty-five cent bell will be amply sufficient, and much preferable to the 
 spring bell which is sometimes used. 
 
 THE ROLL. 
 
 The School law requires a record of the attendance of the Scholars to be 
 kept by the Teacher, and presented monthly to the Directors, by whom it 
 is to be carefully preserved for future reference. To carry out the law in 
 its letter and spirit, a roll-book or permanent register should be provided by 
 the Board, ruled according to the prescribed form, and sufficiently large to 
 extend through a number of years. They should require it to be kept 
 neatly and accurately by the Teacher, and presented regularly for inspec¬ 
 tion. A book of record of this kind, kept as contemplated, would exert a 
 beneficial influence upon all connected with the School. To the Directors 
 it would afford at a glance, the comparative merits of one School with an¬ 
 other, and of the present, with the Schools of the past. To the parent it 
 would exhibit the attendance of the child, and its character. The Pupil, 
 knowing the permanence of the record, would strive to appear to the best 
 advantage upon its pages. And lastly, the Teacher could refer to it as one 
 evidence of his neatness, regularity and faithfulness. 
 
 THE THERMOMETER. 
 
 To ascertain the degree of temperature in the School-room, (always a 
 consideration of importance) there should be, at least, one thermometer. 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 213 
 
 By means of the ventilators the Teacher may regulate the tempera¬ 
 ture, and prevent those extremes of heat and cold so injurious to 
 health and prejudicial to comfort. The temperature should if possi¬ 
 ble range between sixty and seventy degrees. Thermometers in tin 
 cases range in price from fifty cents, to one dollar and fifty cents. 
 
 Thus far we have treated of those things which are important to pre¬ 
 serve order, punctuality and comfort. We will now refer to the apparatus 
 necessary for teaching the required elementary branches. 
 
 APPARATUS FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 
 
 It would lie an easier task to select and use the apparatus of a college, 
 than to make choice of those things, suitable for the ee little ones” of the 
 School. 
 
 “ The earth was made so various, that the mind 
 “ Of desultory man, studious of change 
 “ And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.” 
 
 The School-house should also be “ made so various.” If children be well 
 taught in School, efforts must be made to satisfy their desire after novelty 
 and variety. They must be interested; and to interest them, they must 
 have constant employment. 
 
 THE SLATE. 
 
 Every child old enough to attend School should be furnished with a small, 
 neat, well bound slate. 
 
 All children love to draw 
 figures and make marks 
 with the chalk or pencil. 
 
 If the propensity which 
 affords them so much 
 amusement, be properly 
 directed, it will save them 
 many a weary hour at 
 School. If parents were 
 confined six hours a day, 
 with but little intermis¬ 
 sion, listening to their 
 Teacher of sacred things, in the church; or if the father were obliged to sit 
 for several days constantly as a juror, — a slate and pencil, a picture, even 
 a pine stick to whittle, would afford great relief. Letters, words, and figures 
 may be written and pictures may be copied during the time which, without 
 these amusements and employments, would be spent in idleness, restlessness 
 or mischief. Several kinds of slates are now in use. The lighter, stronger, 
 and more beautiful the article, the more it will be prized and used. 
 
214 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CARDS AND PICTURES. 
 
 To the great comfort of Teachers and saving of primers, the most of the 
 authors of the reading books in use have prepared cards or charts on paste¬ 
 board, which contain the alphabet and single words. A class may recite 
 from these with pleasure and profit. When not in use, the children may 
 copy the words and letters on their slates. Cards called “ chalk drawings,” 
 to be used by children as copies at the black-board, are very useful and 
 beautiful. They represent the object, (a horse or a flower as the case may 
 be,) on a black ground with white lines, so that they appear as if drawn 
 with chalk on the black-board. If nothing better can be secured, the cuts 
 and illustrations from one or other of the “ Pictorials,” now so common, 
 hung around the School-room, would give cheering evidence that it is a 
 work shop where mind is cultivated and taste improved. The primary 
 and secondary colors should be painted on cards, to teach children to distin¬ 
 guish colors and to cultivate their taste for the beautiful. 
 
 BUILDING BLOCKS. 
 
 For the purpose of illustrating the principle of gravitation, about one 
 
 hundred blocks, each one inch thick, one 
 inch wide and two inches long, should be 
 provided. Many jwactical arithmetical 
 difficulties might be explained by reference 
 to a construction by the blocks, but the 
 chief excellence of such a set would consist 
 in the amusement and employment it would 
 afford the “little ones.” While the Teacher 
 
 — . was busy teaching a class, they would be 
 
 no less busy in quietly building those little houses. A pile of corn-cobs for 
 miniature house building, (and where is the philosopher who has never 
 built corn-cob castles?) would be contemptible compared with such materials. 
 
 OBJECT LESSONS. 
 
 To complete the list of those things deemed indispensable, for the use of 
 the Teacher and the benefit of the “ little ones,” there should be provided 
 a strong box to contain a cabinet or omnium gatherum or liotch patch , se¬ 
 lected from every where; picked up in any place. Common-place things 
 should there have a place. Whole volumes might be written on the sim¬ 
 ple texts, there contained, which could be gathered in an hour. 
 
 “ Truths, * * * 
 
 “ That ’tis our shame and mis’ry not to learn, 
 
 “ Shine by the side of every path we tread 
 “ With such a lustre, lie that runs may read.” 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 215 
 
 This box should contain silk, muslin, flannel, linen, oil-cloth, felt, drug¬ 
 get, brick, pottery, china, glass, iron, steel, copper, lead, tin, brass, pewter, 
 a type, a ring, a needle, a pin, a button, steel pen, paper, parchment, leather, 
 morocco, kid, buckskin, cocoon, hair, wool, hemp, flax, wax, gum, bean, pea, 
 clove, coffee, cinnamon, wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, sponge, shells, &c. 
 Such a box would contain a mine of truth to be had for the taking. 
 
 Much philosophy can be gathered from boys’ toys. A top, a kite, a bat 
 and ball, a marble, a bow and arrow — all illustrate some principle or prin¬ 
 ciples of mechanical law. An ingenious, thinking Teacher will, if many of 
 these things are not provided to his hand by those who ought to furnish 
 them, make them himself rather than be without them. And besides these, 
 any Teacher can afford a syphon, a magnet, a prism, a lens, &c. 
 
 THE BLACK-BOARD. 
 
 The black-board is the greatest time and labor saving invention, that can 
 be introduced into the School. It may be put to an almost infinite degree 
 of service, from the simple teaching of the alphabet, to the most abstruse 
 problems in mathematics. Writing, spelling, punctuation, geographic dia¬ 
 grams, algebra, geometry, arithmetic, philosophical figures and drawing, 
 may all be taught with this invaluable auxiliary. If the blacked surface be 
 sufficiently large, a dozen, or twenty, or forty Pupils if necessary, may be ex¬ 
 ercised at once, and the rapidity and accuracy with which such exercises 
 may be performed, would perfectly astonish those who are not familiar with 
 this mode of illustration and practice. No School-house should be without 
 black-board accommodation for at least a dozen Pupils. Twenty-four feet 
 in length will accommodate that number, but more room would be better. 
 A board should also be prepared for the special use of the Teacher. The 
 permanent black-board on the wall, with descriptions for preparing the 
 various kinds of surface used for this purpose, and for crayons or chalk, 
 wipers, &c., comes under the head of School Furniture. These have been 
 fully treated of in the preceding chapter. The mova¬ 
 ble or frame black-board, however would seem to 
 come within the list of apparatus. The size should 
 be about three and a half by six feet, and to facilitate 
 moving, it should be set on large castors. When not 
 in use it will occupy but little space at the side of 
 the room. Upon the top cross-rail, neat hooks should 
 be inserted, to hang maps, cards, &c., necessary for little Pupils. 
 
 POINTERS OR WANDS. 
 
 Several pointers should be furnished for use in the demonstration of prob¬ 
 lems on the board, and for pointing out places on the outline maps. They 
 should be four or five feet long, neatly tapering to a point, and light. 
 
216 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 CARDINAL POINTS. 
 
 To familiarize Scholars with the principal points of the compass, North, 
 South, East and West should be neatly painted or printed, and put up on 
 the corresponding walls of the School-house. 
 
 GLOBES. 
 
 It is a difficult thing for a 
 Scholar to appreciate the fact 
 that the earth, on which we 
 live, is globular; and that 
 though it has a motion which 
 tends to throw us from its 
 surface, yet we cannot fall 
 from it. Maps may, to some 
 extent, be used for this purpose, but to convey 
 the complete idea, a model is indispensable. 
 
 That model is the terrestrial globe. Not un- 
 frequently, the Pupil, attempting to learn geog¬ 
 raphy without this aid, has and will always 
 continue to have, a confused idea of equator, 
 
 meridians, parallels and poles; of latitudes, longitudes, 
 axis and zones. The whole is to him without system 
 and with little sense. On the contrary, these terms are 
 easily taught, if suitable subjects for illustration be 
 provided. 
 
 The celestial globe, will also much facilitate the 
 conveyance of information as to the position and mo¬ 
 tions of the heavenly bodies, and will enable the 
 Teacher to impart some knowledge of astro¬ 
 nomy. Globes are generally constructed in 
 pairs, and though the terrestrial is more useful 
 and better calculated to impress the true idea 
 of the thing represented, than the celestial, yet 
 both will be found highly advantageous. A 
 neat terrestrial globe, such as is represented by 
 the first plate, can be had for about six dollars, 
 with a neat case; and larger ones for various prices, in projiortion to 
 the size. 
 
 “ A hemisphere globe supplies a want long felt, viz : an illustration, which 
 any child can understand, of the reason of the curved lines on a map, and 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS* 
 
 217 
 
 shows how the flat surface is a proper representation of a globe, 
 ispheres are united by a hinge, 
 and when closed, a neat little 
 globe is presented; when opened, 
 two maps are seen, showing the 
 continents, as if through trans¬ 
 parent hemispheres.” 
 
 Two hem- 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 A map is a picture of a part, or 
 of the whole of the earth’s sur¬ 
 face. From a study of such pic- Hemisphere Globe. 
 
 tures the mind is enabled, by the principle of association, to transfer and se¬ 
 cure a mental copy or impression from the canvas or plate. 
 
 Amongst the best maps for the School-room are those called outline maps, 
 or such as have no names on them, but merely an outline of the general 
 characteristics of the country represented. When properly instructed by 
 means of these, children have no difficulty in carrying in the mind’s eye 
 the forms and features of the various countries, and the relative positions 
 they occupy to each other and to their own. 
 
 The best size of maps for use in the country Schools where the houses 
 are generally small, is from thirty to thirty-six inches square. If they are 
 larger than this, they occupy more room than can be spared, and are in- 
 covenient to handle. There should not be less than ten maps in the set; com¬ 
 prising Eastern and Western hemispheres, North and South America, Eu¬ 
 rope, Asia, Africa, United States, State of Pennsylvania, and if possible a 
 
 map of the county and township 
 containing the School. These maps 
 should also be highly colored, and 
 hung as objects of beauty and taste 
 around the room. Whenever they 
 are used in recitation, they should 
 be removed to the north side of the 
 
 Ttiis pn, house, or hung on the movable 
 
 black-board, so that the points of the compass on the map may correspond 
 with their true position on the earth. Such a set would be very durable, 
 and can be bought at from five to fifteen dollars, according to their finish. 
 
 THE TELLURION OR SEASON MACHINE. 
 
 As a useful accompaniment to the globe and maps in the study of geog¬ 
 raphy, we notice the tellurion or season machine. Among the most difficult 
 phenomena presented to the minds of children, are the changes of the sea- 
 28 
 
218 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 sons — the revolutions of the moon around the earth and the earth around 
 the sun — and the subject of tides. These and several others may be illus¬ 
 trated and explained by the aid of 
 this machine. The science of geog¬ 
 raphy, in its common acceptation, 
 includes, with “ a description of the 
 surface of the earth,” some account 
 of its physical phenomena — of peo¬ 
 ple, manners, custom, religion and 
 laws ; and of its relations to the other 
 parts of the solar system. In this view the study of the earth’s motions 
 and changes, although belonging to the science of astronomy, might properly 
 he classed among those subjects to be taught in the District School. 
 
 MUSICAL MULTIPLICATION TABLE. 
 
 In order to acquire facility in using numbers, the multiplication table 
 must be committed to memory. To facilitate the memorizing of abstract 
 numbers, musical association may be used. Cards large enough to be seen 
 across the School-room should be hung around. They will serve as orna^ 
 ments to the room and answer the double purpose of assisting the memory, 
 and training the vocal organs. It is an immense labor to learn these tables. 
 If any one doubt this, let the attempt be made to commit the numbers from 
 twelve times twelve to twenty-tour times twenty-four, and the doubt will 
 be dispelled. Every thing should be done to assist children and make 
 pleasing such hard labor, in which the thinking powers take little part. A 
 dozen cards will cost one dollar. 
 
 THE ABACUS OR NUMERAL FRAME. 
 
 The cut shows a frame support¬ 
 ing twelve rows of little wooden 
 balls, strung on wires along which 
 they move readily. The simple 
 rules of arithmetic are difficult to 
 acquire abstractly. Children count 
 by means of their fingers until they 
 acquire proficiency. This instru¬ 
 ment is better, as the Teacher can 
 instruct a whole class or School at 
 the same time. Involution and 
 Evolution may be illustrated by 
 means of the instrument to those 
 further advanced in mathemati¬ 
 
 cal study. They can be had for from one to two dollars. 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 219 
 
 GEOMETRICAL SOLIDS. 
 
 A portion of practical arithmetic, in most or all the text books now in 
 use, is devoted to the men¬ 
 suration of solids. Such sol¬ 
 ids should be put into the 
 Pupils’ hands. Cubes, cones, 
 prisms, pyramids, spheres, 
 hemispheres, spheroids, cyl¬ 
 inders, and sections of each, 
 should comprise a portion at 
 least of the set. If measures 
 of length, as the foot, divided 
 into inches and nails; yard 
 and rod ; and measures of capacity, as pint, quart, gallon and half-bushel were 
 added, the assortment would be more useful and complete. Solids represent¬ 
 ing timber and boards of different measurements should also be secured. 
 
 CUBE ROOT BLOCK. 
 
 To make apparent the reason of the rules for the extraction of cube and 
 
 square roots, the sectional cube 
 
 block should be used. This block, 
 or rather number of blocks united, 
 forms a cube as is seen in the figure. 
 The parts may be separated from 
 each other, being held together by 
 wire pins. In connection with the 
 Abacus heretofore mentioned, the 
 whole subject may be rendered per¬ 
 fectly plain by its use. The cost 
 of the above articles depends upon 
 
 their size and the finish put on them. 
 
 MECHANICAL POWERS. 
 
 Inclined Plane. 
 
 Wedge. 
 
 Screw. 
 
 Levers. 
 
 The principles of natural philosophy in their practical application should 
 be seen and understood in School. Many arithmetical operations are based 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE'. 
 
 220 
 
 upon them. An apparatus, such as is seen in the cuts, would give a betteU 
 practical knowledge, in a few weeks, of the principles of mechanics, than 
 
 w r ould be learned by experience 
 in years. Such knowledge is in¬ 
 valuable to its possessor, as every 
 day some principle is used in 
 practice. The set should em¬ 
 brace the lever, simple and com¬ 
 pound ; the wheel and axle, erect 
 and inverted; the pulley, fixed 
 and movable; the inclined plane; 
 the wedge and the screw. To 
 these might be added a set of il¬ 
 lustrations for the centre of gra¬ 
 vity, both amusing and instruc¬ 
 tive. Sets of mechanical powers may be had at from five to one hundred 
 dollars, according to their finish, 
 
 SECOND CLASS APPARATUS, 
 
 ELECTRICITY. 
 
 The science of electricity affords perhaps as great and as interesting a 
 variety of exper¬ 
 iments as any 
 other. The prin- 
 of the sci¬ 
 ence may be pre¬ 
 sented in so ma¬ 
 ny applications, 
 as to keep the 
 student in con¬ 
 stant wonder and 
 delight. By aid 
 of apparatus the 
 
 the operator seems invested with magical or supernatural power. He calls 
 
 this invisible agent into active life, directs its energy, 
 and controls its force. Now, it appears darting and 
 flaming, sparkling and crackling like the lightning’s 
 flash; and now subdued and tame, it rings a chime 
 of bells. Now, like an engine of death the birds fall 
 before the mimic gun, charged to destroy; and again, 
 it causes light footed figures to dance a merry reel. 
 
 Electric Bells, 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 221 
 
 We fear its force, we wonder at its greatness, and we laugh at the 
 freaks it plays. The shattered model of the miniature 
 house, the head of hair in wild disorder, the miser’s plate, 
 the magic picture, all, are full of interest and instruction. 
 There are various kinds of electrical machines. The fig¬ 
 ure exhibits the plate machine. Instead of the plate, 
 many machines are furnished with a glass cylinder, as 
 a generator. The plate machines are deemed the best. 
 Machines may be purchased at from five to one hundred and fifty 
 exclusive cf jars, discharging rod, chains, &c. 
 
 dollars. 
 
 THE MAGIC LANTERN. 
 
 There is no instrument of which we know, that embraces a wider range 
 of application than the magic lantern. Ingenuity and invention seem to 
 have been almost exhausted in providing it subjects for exhibition. It 
 seems to throw light on every subject. By it the glories of celestial scenery 
 are made apparent to our astonished vision. Systems and suns, constella¬ 
 tions and comets, are made beautiful subjects for illustration. An Adam 
 and Eve driven from Paradise; Abraham offering his son; Joseph sold 
 into Egypt; David and 
 Goliah ; the flight of the 
 holy family into Egypt; 
 the Prodigal son, —carry 
 us back to patriarchal days; 
 while the pictures of Ve¬ 
 nice, Naples, Niagara falls,. 
 and New York, bring us to 
 our own times and places. 
 
 Botany,with its innumera¬ 
 ble specimens of floral 
 beauty; Natural history, 
 with its various orders of 
 animal creation—all afford 
 instruction and amuse¬ 
 ment. The drunkard’s progress; the progress of intemperance, and the bad 
 boy’s progress, illustrated by some thirty different representations, convey 
 moral truths and virtuous lessons. While the lover of the ridiculous finds 
 infinite fun in the comic characters and humorous scenes. 
 
 The prices of these instruments vary from five to one hundred dollars 
 without the slides, which are variously estimated according to finish. 
 
222 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 THE DIOPTRIC MAGIC LANTERN". 
 
 “ This dissolving apparatus, possesses within as small a compass as the 
 
 lantern of the ordinary 
 description, all the pow¬ 
 er of two lanterns, with 
 only one small lamp of 
 intense brightness, free 
 from the objectionable 
 smell and great heat of 
 ordinary lamps, whereby 
 a disc of twenty feet for 
 eacli tube may be obtain¬ 
 ed. Each disc is capa¬ 
 ble of being darkened 
 to any required extent* 
 without the least shadow 
 on any portion of the pic¬ 
 ture ; and from the superiority in the optical arrangements of the appara¬ 
 tus, each picture is perfectly flat and well defined to the extreme edge. As 
 the discs may be thrown either together on one circle or united at various 
 distances in length upon the screen, the number of effects which may be 
 produced may be easily imagined; they present, first — a succession of dis¬ 
 solving views, so accurately and gradually dissolving, that the most expe¬ 
 rienced eye cannot perceive the operation going on. Secondly — various 
 effects, as falling snow, &c., succeeded by sunshine and rainbow ; volcanoes 
 in eruption, &c. Thirdly — double discs, as the two hemispheres of the 
 globe on the screen at once, full size; or two separate portions of one dia¬ 
 gram of extended length, without crowding, as at present, all the objects 
 into one disc. Fourthly — combinations of two moving or revolving slides 
 on one circle, as all the planetary systems in motion, &c., &c., or all the 
 vagaries of two chromatropes taken in combination, and permutations of 
 one or two together. The portability of the apparatus is also of importance ; 
 the' whole can be packed, viz: the lantern, gas bag, retort, purifier, &c., 
 with several dozen slides, in a case two feet square, and about eighteen 
 inches deep, — a decided advantage over every other description of dissolv¬ 
 ing view apparatus.” 
 
 It is not expected that these instruments shall be found in every School, 
 even of the higher grades; but if they were, the interest which they could 
 be made to add to the instruction imparted, would be worth to each Pupil, 
 far more than their whole cost. 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 223 
 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 The apparatus to which we 
 refer, for the study of the sci¬ 
 ence of astronomy, consists of 
 the Orrery, or model of the 
 planets, revolving in their va¬ 
 rious orbits and surrounded by 
 their satelites and put in mo¬ 
 tion by a crank or spring : — 
 The Telescope, without which 
 
 we cannot see very far into this sci¬ 
 ence: — The Tellurian of which mention 
 was made in first class apparatus; — and 
 the celestial Globe. An Orrery might 
 be purchased at from five to fifty dollars; 
 a Telescope from ten dollars upwards, 
 and a pair of Globes for from ten to one 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 Telescope. 
 
 PNEUMATICS. 
 
 Many beautiful and interesting experiments may be performed with the 
 air pump. The elasticity, expansiveness, and compressibility of air may be 
 
 illustrated by this ma¬ 
 chine. Four of our 
 cuts represent exper¬ 
 iments which are 
 made by the air pump 
 These experiments 
 demonstrate, clearly 
 and practically, some 
 facts which, to the 
 uneducated would 
 seem paradoxical.— 
 Thus, to prove that 
 air is the means by 
 which sound is trans¬ 
 mitted, it is only ne¬ 
 cessary to place a bell 
 under the glass receiver of the machine and to exhaust the air, or in other 
 words, to pump it out, and then by a contrivance, as seen in cut No. 1, to 
 ring the bell and no sound will be heard. If the air is returned to the re¬ 
 ceiver and the bell struck, its presence is discovered by the ringing. Again, 
 
224 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 to ascertain the weight of air, if a hollow sphere of copper, and air tight, 
 
 is placed, as seen in cut 
 No. 4, at one end of a del¬ 
 icate balance under the 
 exhausted receiver after 
 been weighed in air, the 
 difference of weight will 
 indicate the weight of the 
 air. Cut No. 5 shows 
 that the air offers resist¬ 
 ance to falling bodies, and 
 that if the long glass tube 
 have the air removed from 
 within it, on being invert¬ 
 ed suddenly, the piece of 
 coin and the feather which 
 it contains, will fall to the 
 other end, at the same instant. Figure 6, exhibits a glass receiver sup¬ 
 ported by three legs; to the under part of 
 the glass is attached an air¬ 
 tight india rubber bag, to 
 which a heavy weight is hung. 
 
 The air exerts a pressure of fif¬ 
 teen pounds to the square inch 
 in all directions, up as well as 
 down, so that when the air is 
 exhausted from the glass, it. Weighing air No 4. 
 presses upward externally on the rubber cloth to fill the vacuum and car- 
 f ries with it the suspended weight. These and a great variety 
 of others may be subject of illustration in this interesting de¬ 
 partment. Apparatus illustrating the principles of Pneumatics 
 is exceedingly useful, as it teaches that 
 which has a constant application to the 
 business of every day life. The cuts, 1, 
 
 2 and 3 exhibit air pumps of different 
 patterns. No. 1, has one cylinder. No. 2, 
 has two cylinders, and exhausts each al¬ 
 ternately. No. 3, sufficiently large for 
 ordinary use, is a single barrel, and the 
 A piston is worked by the hand without 
 the assistance of the lever. The cylin- 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 Weight Lifter No. 6. 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 225 
 
 cler of No. 3 may be taken off the machine, and being inverted, will serve 
 as a condenser, and is therefore for ordinary use to be preferred. 
 
 Air pumps may be purchased at from eight to one hundred dollars each ; 
 but the apparatus for the various experiments connected with them, will be 
 an additional expense. 
 
 HYDROSTATICS AND HYDRAULICS. 
 
 Pump, No. 2. 
 
 This department of science may be illustrated by many interesting and 
 
 instructive experi¬ 
 ments. The cuts 
 represent a few of 
 Water Level, No. 1 . the more COmmOll 
 and practically useful. No. 1, exhibits a va¬ 
 riety of vessels of different forms and capa- 
 c ities, united at the bottom by an aperture 
 common to all. If water or any other liquid 
 be poured into the funnel-shaped vessel at the 
 end, it will run into each of the others and 
 rise as high in them as in the one into which 
 it was poured; thus demonstrating that a li¬ 
 quid will rise to a common level, without regard to 
 size or shape of the united vessels whiclTcontain it. 
 Figure 2, represents models of two pumps; the com¬ 
 mon well-pump and force-pump. The former is 
 made of a glass stock or cylinder, in which the 
 valves are enclosed, and through which they may 
 be viewed. If the vessel under the stand is filled 
 with water, it may be pumped dry, and the whole 
 philosophy of Atmospheric and Hydrostatic pres¬ 
 sure be rendered plain. The latter is a brass cyl¬ 
 inder, enclosing valves, which when set in operation, 
 force the water from the vessel below into the glass 
 globe, whence, on account of the elasticity of the 
 air contained in the globe, the liquid is ejected from 
 the pipe, in imitation of the fire engine, the philoso¬ 
 phy of which it illustrates. 
 
 Figure 3, represents a mo¬ 
 del of Archimedes’ screw, 
 a paradoxical contrivance 
 formed by a tube wound 
 
 Hydrostatic Bellows, No. 4. around a Cylinder and Set Screw Pump, No. 3. 
 
 29 
 
226 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 at such an angle that water in the vessel appears, when the machine is 
 turned, to run up hill. The hydrostatic bellows, figure 4, illustrates the 
 pressure and power of liquids ; — thus, if water be turned into the funnel at 
 the top of the column or tube, it will cause the bellows to rise with a con¬ 
 siderable weight resting upon them. No. 5, is a model called Hero’s foun¬ 
 tain, and is a beautiful illustration of hydrostatic pressure and the elasticity 
 of air by which water is ejected, as a miniature fountain, to a considerable 
 height. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 In the sciences of Anatomy and Physiology which are taught in all good 
 
 Schools at the 
 present time, 
 anatomical 
 charts and mod¬ 
 els illustrating 
 the functions of 
 
 the several parts ofthe body, or their 
 philosophy in the system,are found 
 necessary. The cuts, 1, 2 and 3, 
 exhibit something of the anatomi¬ 
 cal structure of the eye, together 
 with the illustration of optical phi¬ 
 losophy as seen in that organ. No. 4 represents the' “ spectacle instru¬ 
 ment.” The object of this instrument is to show the reason why the con¬ 
 cave glass is suitable for one eye, under certain conditions, and the convex 
 glass, in different circumstances, is better suited to the necessities of another; 
 or in other words, to show why the boy cannot see with his grandfather’s 
 specs. Every School in which these studies are pursued, should be provided 
 with such facilities. 
 
 A Maniken or model of the human figure, with the muscles and other 
 parts removable at pleasure, and of the form and color of life, will be found 
 of great use and value in this study. A set of physiological plates, at least, 
 should be in every good School. 
 
 It was not the design of this chapter, nor is it compatible with the space 
 allotted to it in this work, to attempt to notice all the different articles of 
 apparatus, which might properly be placed in the cases of a liberally fur¬ 
 nished School. The object of the chapter is only to designate those arti¬ 
 cles under the first class, which are considered indispensable to a well ap- 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 227 
 
 pointed District School; and then to notice, in a general way, those instru¬ 
 ments which would be of greatest interest and utility in the more liberally 
 furnished institutions. We have only written of certain individual appa¬ 
 ratus belonging to the various general orders, and what has been written 
 is intended to be only suggestive of the general subject. We cannot speak 
 of the different classes of the apparatus, much less the various parts and 
 characteristics of each. Very many instruments are made to illustrate the 
 same principle, each differing somewhat from the others, and yet all may be 
 good. The differences in construction arise from the demand, some pur¬ 
 chasers requiring highly finished, expensive articles, while others prefer 
 those of lower cost. 
 
 An apparatus, if well constructed, will last a life-time; and purchasers 
 would do well to remember that the best articles are in the end the cheapest. 
 
 There are many manufactories where school apparatus is constructed* 
 and it would be invidious, in a work of this character, to designate any 
 particular place where such may be procured. Those who are interested in 
 the manufacture or sale of such articles, give sufficient advertisement of the 
 fact in the School Journals and other papers. On application being made, 
 there would be, doubtless, catalogues sent, descriptive of the stock with 
 prices annexed, so that purchasers might suit themselves. 
 
 Purchasers may also be provided with pamphlets by the manufacturers* 
 which give special information as to the use of each instrument or set. No 
 fears need then be entertained of the efficacy of the apparatus, if used ac¬ 
 cording to the directions prescribed. 
 
 The editor is under an obligation to several apparatus manufacturers and 
 dealers, for the use of such cuts as have been taken from their catalogues 
 to illustrate this chapter. The names of the publishers of the catalogues 
 from which they have been taken, would have been attached to the plates, 
 had it been consistent with the nature of this work. 
 
 CASE OR CLOSET FOR APPARATUS. 
 
 It will be seen by reference to the chapters on the construction of School- 
 houses, that some provision has been made, in every instance, for the keep¬ 
 ing and preserving of such apparatus as would receive injury by constant 
 exposure in the School-room. Instead of wooden closet doors, sash doors 
 with glass, where deemed advisable, might be substituted. The glass should 
 be of good quality. The panes should be of large size, in order to give the 
 most light and to exclude all particles of dust. The door should be fur¬ 
 nished with a good lock, that it might be closed against all intruders. 
 Within, the shelves should be so arranged as to be easily raised or lowered, 
 so as to suit the height of different instruments, and that'all the apparatus 
 may be exposed to view, thus adding much to the appearance of the room. 
 
228 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 Every article should be so placed that it might be easily taken out, and at 
 the same time show to the best advantage. The light, small articles 
 might be hung at the back of the closet, on small hooks, while the larger 
 and heavier ones should occupy the shelves. There should be a place for 
 every thing, and special care should be taken to keep every thing in the 
 place allotted to it. Neatness, order and convenience will thus be secured. 
 
 In those Schools where the ordinary closet would not be sufficiently large 
 to accommodate the apparatus, a neat case should be prepared of the required 
 length and height, made of thoroughly seasoned stuff and closely joined to¬ 
 gether. The doors should be made like large sash and filled with large, 
 strong panes of glass, well put in. Instead of being hung on hinges, the 
 doors should be double and made to slide like sash, only horizontally instead 
 of vertically. Dust can thus be more effectually prevented from entering 
 and injuring the apparatus. The shelves should be constructed to move 
 up and down at pleasure, like those of a book case, in order to accommo¬ 
 date large articles and facilitate their removal at pleasure. One apartment 
 of this case might accommodate the library of the School. 
 
 THE USE AND CARE OF APPARATUS. 
 
 Some general remarks in relation to the handling of apparatus, may not 
 be inappropriate at the close of this chapter. The Teacher should under¬ 
 stand liis subject thoroughly before he attempts to illustrate it. The object 
 of such illustration is, to teach, to convince and to impress the subject on 
 the mind; if the illustration is not as complete and satisfactory as the ap¬ 
 paratus is capable of making it, failure and mortification is the result. Com¬ 
 prehending the subject as clearly as possible, the Teacher should practice 
 all the experiments in private, that he may be well prepared when he comes 
 before his School or class. He should try them repeatedly, in order to be 
 perfectly familiar with their operation, and in order to acquire accurate, 
 delicate and successful manipulation. When about to use the apparatus, it 
 should be thoroughly examined and freed from dust or specks, which it may 
 have contracted since it was last used. When in use, it should be carefully 
 treated and not entrusted to the indiscreet working of thoughtless, careless 
 children. Children should not be permitted to handle, or even to touch 
 any article, except by the express permission of the Teacher. Not even a 
 black-board,; to say nothing of anything else more liable to accident, injury 
 and abuse, should be used by the scholars, unless under the eye of the 
 Teacher. 
 
 Sometimes a Teacher may find a portion of his apparatus not in complete 
 working order. Something in the complicated machinery, very trifling, 
 perhaps, is wrong. A little care, a little management and study, and a 
 little patience (always a cardinal virtue in a Teacher,) will, in most cases, 
 
SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 229 
 
 make all right; if not, no bungling, careless hand should be permitted to 
 attempt its repair, but it should be put carefully by, that a proper person 
 may be employed to investigate the mischief and apply the remedy. 
 
 For the greater security of the property of the School, the article of agree¬ 
 ment between the Teacher and the Board should be so written, as to make 
 the Teacher individually responsible for all damage to School furniture, 
 windows, apparatus, &c., caused by his own misuse, carelessness or neglect. 
 Such a specification would insure interest and attention in those matters, 
 which are so often neglected, because the Teacher would have a pecuniary 
 interest in their preservation. No teacher should be employed who would 
 not willingly assume such an obligation. 
 
 After the apparatus has been used, it should be carefully examined and 
 immediately put in the case. Every particle of dust, dirt, soot, oil or water 
 which may disfigure, corrode or injure the instrument should be removed. 
 Every thing should be put by in complete order; and if thus treated, and 
 occasionally examined when not in use, a case of apparatus will last a long 
 time, and preserve all its excellence and much of its original lustre and 
 beauty. 
 
SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 23C? 
 
 X. IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
 
 ON THE REPAIRING, ENLARGEMENT AND REMODELING OF OLD SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
 
 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 
 
 At first view, it may seem strange to the enthusiastic educationist and 
 to the progressive Teacher, that a work of this kind should countenance the 
 use, much less favor the improvement of the “ Old School-hcuse.” But a 
 moment’s reflection will probably lead to the conclusion, that, in certain cir¬ 
 cumstances, this is not only expedient but proper and desirable. The feel¬ 
 ing that rejects every thing old solely because it is old, and embraces every 
 new idea merely on account of its novelty, few will either avow or even 
 justify. Yet such in practice, if not in creed, must be the principle of those 
 who object to the use of any but new and modern buildings for School 
 purposes. 
 
 It is here freely admitted, that a pleasantly located, properly constructed 
 and commodiously furnished School-house, is of primaay importance to the 
 successful training of the youth of a community; and that, without these 
 essential qualities, no building should continue to be used. Still, the old 
 house, if carefully examined, may be found to embrace the elements of 
 most of these requisites, or it may even be found to possess them all, with 
 jiroper modifications. In neither case, therefore, is there any valid reason 
 for a change. In both cases, economy of feeling, equally with economy of 
 money, should decide against its abandonment. The fathers and mothers — 
 the whole adult population — of the neighborhood, may have received their 
 education, such as it is, in the old School-house-. That it was not better 
 is not the fault of the building, but of the system of instruction then preva¬ 
 lent ; and if a better system can .be successfully administered within its 
 venerable walls, why demolish them, and with them so many mementoes 
 of the past ? — The fond memories of the aged, the fast mellowing as¬ 
 sociations of middle-life, the still coveted sports of the youth and the 
 maiden just withdrawn from School, —all cluster and cling around the old 
 School-house, and find there a common starting point in life —a common 
 meeting-place of feeling. Every shady lane which leads to it, every tree 
 that lends it shade, every nook and corner in the play-ground, almost every 
 stone or timber in its wall, tell the same story to father and son — to mother 
 
IMPROVEMENT OP OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 231 
 
 and daughter, and bring the old and the young within the kindly influence 
 of the same common feelings. These feelings are as humanizing and as de¬ 
 sirable as they are natural. As a people we are too unregardful of them. 
 It is not the province of this work to discuss the question, whether those 
 frequent changes of residence, of pursuits and of association, which charac¬ 
 terize our country, are cither promotive of its true progress or of individual 
 prosperity and happiness; but the assertion may be hazarded, that our edu¬ 
 cational system should not unnecessarily be made the subject, in any of its 
 parts, of this national peculiarity. Let it be always borne in mind, that 
 that system, when properly understood and administered, has committed to 
 it the culture of the sympathies as much as that of the intellect — the 
 feelings of the heart as well as the powers of the head. 
 
 It is no more the purpose of the Common School system to shock the 
 feelings and the good sense of the community by abandoning old School- 
 houses, without sufficient reason, than it is to disturb our relations with the 
 past, by utterly ignoring all old systems of teaching. Its great objects are 
 improvement, substitution, extension ; but each in its order. Improvement 
 first, where safely practicable, of old buildings, old arrangements and old 
 modes; substitution, next, when unavoidable, of new buildings for old, new 
 arrangements for old, and new modes for old; lastly, extension of the full 
 benefit of this general change, be it by improvement or substitution, to 
 every member of the community without stint or exception; — in a word 
 the object is to “ prove all things and hold fast that which is good.” 
 
 It is not the design of these remarks to advocate the retention of every 
 old School-house, merely because it is of long standing and venerable. On 
 the contrary, it is both admitted and asserted that the age of a bad School¬ 
 building, like that of any other ancient enormity, should only constitute an 
 additional reason for its speedy removal. The design merely is, to bespeak 
 caution in tearing down or changing. It is a serious thing, unnecessarily 
 to tax the means of a district by the erection of a new School-house, when, 
 at slight cost, the old one might have been made to answer all reasonable 
 purposes. It is a no less serious thing, to tax the growing and often small 
 popularity of the system itself, with such a load of uncalled for expense. It 
 will also frequently be found, in the end, a very unpleasant and disturbing 
 thing, to change old habits and ways to School, by the selection of a new 
 site, as w r ell as the erection of a new house; — thus generating discontents 
 and contentions about comparative accommodations and distances, which 
 were never thought of in reference to the old School-house. If all these 
 facts and considerations are fairly and fully taken into view, it may pos¬ 
 sibly be discovered that those radical defects, which should alone condemn, 
 are absent, while enough good qualities to save, are present in the old School- 
 house ; and that its actual defects are only such as prudent skill and a small 
 
232 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 outlay of money might remedy. If so, economy, policy and right feeling 
 should decide against a change. 
 
 On the other hand, should the old building, or its location, be found so 
 utterly deficient in those qualities which are essential to health, comfort, 
 convenience and progress in study, as to be not merely injurious to the 
 youth of the vicinity, but incapable of affording them full justice in all these 
 particulars, no secondary considerations should prevent its immediate aban¬ 
 donment. The question then ceases to be one of expediency or feeling, and 
 becomes one of duty. 
 
 In the investigation necessary to decide this question properly, certain 
 principles are to be regarded, the correct application of which will usually 
 lead to the right conclusion. These relate, 1, To the position; 2, To the 
 construction, or size and form; and 3, to the furniture, of the old house. In 
 considering these points separately, it will be found that some amount to 
 radical defects which admit of no change; while others are only incidental 
 and may be removed. 
 
 I. DEFECTS IN POSITION OF OLD HOUSES. 
 
 The wrong location of a School-house is one of those defects which does 
 not often admit of remedy; and if radically defective, the sooner a proper 
 site is secured and the old one abandoned, the better it will be in most cases. 
 Still, as there are some defects connected with location which do admit of 
 improvement, so as to render the position sufficiently proper and safe to be 
 retained, the subject demands careful consideration. The whole question 
 of location having been treated of, in the second chapter of this Manual, the 
 general principles involved in it need not here be repeated. Certain de¬ 
 fects and mainly those which admit of remedy, with the nature of that 
 remedy, will now only be discussed. These relate to the situation of the 
 School-lot, 1, as to health; 2, as to size; 3, as to retirement; and 4, as to 
 accessibility. Each of these points, for greater clearness, will be considered, 
 in the first place, in relation to country Schools ; and secondly, in relation 
 to those in towns. 
 
 1. DEFECTS IN POSITION OF RURAL SCHOOLS. 
 
 1. Want of Healthfulness : This is one of those defects which are most 
 frequently irremediable; and if the injurious cause be inherent in the po¬ 
 sition, a change of location should at once be made, without reference to 
 cost or other consequences. 
 
 A low damp situation, which constantly subjects the Pupils to the noxious 
 influence of unwholesome, or deprives them of a full and free supply of pure 
 air, should immediately be abandoned. For the same reason, those high 
 bleak sites which expose them to the effects of every storm, both in School 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 233 
 
 and on the play-ground, will be found injurious to the health of body and 
 mind, and proper to be dispensed with. 
 
 There are, however, certain defects in situation, which, though detri¬ 
 mental to present health and comfort, may admit of remedy, so as to 
 justify the retention of the site for School purposes. Bleakness in winter, 
 and exposure to the rays of the sun in summer, are not always necessarily 
 caused by an improper local position. The protection of a closefence and 
 of a grove, or even a row, of trees on the north side of the lot, would, in 
 many cases, obviate this bleakness; and a sufficiency of properly placed 
 shade-trees, could easily be made to guard against the summer’s sun. For 
 these purposes, the most rapidly growing trees, and those of as large size 
 as can be successfully transplanted, should be selected. Buttonwoods, lo¬ 
 custs, elms, maples, and willows, of sufficient size to afford almost imme¬ 
 diate shelter and shade, can be removed with success, if taken up at the 
 right season, and with a sufficient ball of earth to their roots. To ensure 
 their growth, each should have the support of a stake for the first year, and 
 a considerable portion of the top should be lopped off. These precautions, 
 with the frequent watering of their roots in summer, which the Pupils 
 could easily be so interested in them as to attend to, would ensure the 
 growth of a sufficient number to effect the object in view. 
 
 The care of trees planted on School-grounds, should always be commit¬ 
 ted to the Pupils. Not only will this ensure the necessary supply of water 
 to them, but prove the best mode of guarding them from injury. When 
 thus given over to their care, they become their own property, and there 
 will be little danger of damage, which is, after all, more frequently com¬ 
 mitted through want of thought, than from a mischievous or evil disposi¬ 
 tion. 
 
 But even trees are sometimes a nuisance to the School, and the “ wood¬ 
 man’s axe” becomes necessary. Some houses, placed “ in the woods,” are 
 so surrounded and smothered up by trees, as to suffer both from want of 
 light and from continued dampness. This is frequently the case in the 
 pine and beech woods of the northern part of the State; and there the danger 
 from falling branches, or even trees, is added to the inconvenience. In 
 such cases the use of the axe becomes indispensable ; but it should always 
 be employed subject to the rules of prudence and good taste. Danger may¬ 
 be removed, sunshine let in, and a free circulation of air secured, without 
 felling allot those fine old denizens of the forest, whose presence is so beau¬ 
 tiful, whose shade is so refreshing, whose shelter is so protective, and whose 
 restoration, when once removed, is impossible in the life-time of the un¬ 
 thinking destroyer. 
 
 Dampness of situation may sometimes be obviated by drainage. A few 
 dollars expended in digging a ditch or sewer, to carry to the neighboring 
 30 
 
234 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 brook or ravine the stagnant contents of the frog-pond near the School- 
 house, or to draw away the surplus water of the spring, which, for want of 
 such outlet, converts the surrounding parts into a marsh or quagmire, may 
 often relieve the site of all unwholesoineness proceeding from these causes, 
 and save the necessity of a change of location. This cheap and simple 
 expedient will also restore the spring to its freshness and purity, and en¬ 
 large the bounds of the play-ground. 
 
 The very lots attached to some Schools are often deformed and rendered 
 unwholesome and inconvenient, by mud-puddles and pools of impure water. 
 A day’s work of the township plough and scraper, and of a team of horses 
 with a few willing hands set in motion by right hearts, would remove this 
 disgrace, and restore the free and safe use of the ground to its rightful owners. 
 
 Some Boards of Directors and many Teachers seem, by their disregard 
 of these things, to think that they are beyond their sphere of duty. But 
 this is a very erroneous view of their responsibility in the matter. It is as 
 clearly the duty of the Board to adopt all necessary means for health and 
 comfort in the surroundings of the School-house, as in its construction and 
 interior arrangements. And the Teacher who will, without all proper effort 
 to remove it, daily permit his Pupils to inhale the noxious miasma of a stag¬ 
 nant pool, is as guilty of neglect of duty, as he who fails to attend to the 
 healthful ventilation of the School-room. If there be any difference be¬ 
 tween the degree of his culpability in this matter and that of the Directors, 
 his is probably the greater; for he cannot possibly plead ignorance of the 
 fact, while they probably may. 
 
 2. Want of Size : As already remarked, in the second chapter of this 
 Manual, no new rural School-house should be placed on less than half an 
 acre of ground, but if obtainable, a full acre will be preferable on every ac¬ 
 count. Still, where a good, or an improvable house belongs to the District, 
 standing on even the quarter of an acre, it should not be abandoned, and 
 another site procured, solely on that account. If the position be otherwise 
 good, embracing the desirable qualities of healthfulness, centralness, acces¬ 
 sibility and beauty, it should be retained, and every effort made to enlarge 
 the lot by purchase from a neighboring proprietor. In most cases this can 
 be effected; particularly if his refusal to sell would cause the removal of 
 the School to an inconvenient distance from him. In some instances, how¬ 
 ever, it will occur that adjoining land owners consider the close neighbor¬ 
 hood of the School an inconvenience rather than a benefit, and may be wil¬ 
 ling to pay a good price for the house and lot, in order to effect its removal 
 to a greater distance. When the lot cannot possibly be enlarged in any 
 other direction, and when the price thus offered is sufficient to justify the 
 change, there is no reason why a sufficient extent of ground should not be 
 procured, in this way, at some other equally eligible point. 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 235 
 
 Little more may be said on this subject. The School-lot is either large 
 enough, or it is not. If large enough and proper in other respects, it should 
 be retained; if not, but otherwise eligible, it should by all means be spee¬ 
 dily increased to a reasonable size ; if this cannot be done, Directors should 
 be extremely cautious in expending any money, not absolutely indispen¬ 
 sable, on the lot or the building. The time will come, and that speedily, 
 when public opinion, if not the law of the land, will require an ample space 
 of ground to each Common School-house in the State; and if this quantity 
 be not procurable at one point, it will at some other; and the permanent 
 arrangements of the School should not be made till this is secured. 
 
 Should a general law ever be passed, authorizing the appropriation of 
 ground for School purposes, on paying the full value, it ought, by all means, 
 to contain a provision that not less than a certain specified quantity — say, 
 half an acre in rural districts, and eighty or a hundred feet in front by 
 twice that extent in depth, in towns — should constitute a School-lot. 
 
 3. Want of Retirement : The close vicinity to the tavern, the canal 
 lock, the busy, noisy and dusty cross-road, and such other annoyances, has 
 been already designated as undesirable, if not positively injurious, to the 
 School. When these neighbors are felt to be really detrimental, either to 
 morals or study, the only remedy is a change in the location of the School, 
 regardless of all other considerations to the contrary. When only parti¬ 
 ally annoying and unpleasant, the effect may sometimes be modified or en¬ 
 tirely remedied by the enlargement of the School-lot, the enclosure of it 
 with a high fence on the side toward the annoyance, and by its proper ar¬ 
 rangement and preparation as a play-ground. 
 
 If Scholars have an ample and well arranged space of their own for their 
 sports and games, they will not be likely to leave it for the grosser attrac¬ 
 tions of adult excess. But if all precautions of this kind fail, a sale of the 
 old and the purchase of a new site should take place; for the protection of 
 their morals should be the first care of the guardians of youth. Fortunately, 
 too, in these cases, a change of site can generally be effected without pe¬ 
 cuniary loss; the very reasons which render a lot improper for a School, 
 causing it to be desirable and valuable for other purposes; while the retired 
 spot chosen for the new School-house, will be obtained, in most instances, 
 for a less price than that realized for the one sold. 
 
 4. Want of Accessibility : This is here nearly synonymous with want 
 of centralness; and when a School-house is so placed as not to be reasona¬ 
 bly accessible to any considerable number of the youth for whose benefit 
 it was erected, it has failed in its object, as to them, and the injustice should 
 at once be corrected. In some cases this can only be effected by a change 
 in location; but frequently it is within the reach of other means. The 
 opening of a cross road from one leading thorough-fare to another, or the 
 
236 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 erection of a bridge over a stream or two, may remove this objection, and 
 cause the retention of a site, in every other respect desirable. 
 
 It is time that the interests and convenience of the rising generation 
 should be consulted and promoted in all public arrangements, relating to or 
 bearing upon them ; and, if proper representations be made, the Courts and 
 their Road Viewers will, no doubt, be found willing to grant all proper and 
 necessary facilities for reaching the School. When requisite. School Direc¬ 
 tors should demand these, in their official capacity. 
 
 2. DEFECTS IN POSITION OF TOWN SCHOOLS. 
 
 1. Want of Healthfulness: When this arises from natural causes, such 
 as lowness and dampness of situation, the only remedy is removal. But 
 sometimes it is caused by the improper structure or arrangement of the 
 building. In that case, if the lot be otherwise eligible, either a new build¬ 
 ing or the remodeling of the old, will remove the evil. Not unfrequently 
 a town School-house is rendered insalubrious by the vicinity of a chandlery, 
 butcher shop, or factory of a kind injurious to health. Such establishments 
 are generally nuisances at common law, and their abatement, in protection 
 of the School, is an act of justice which no court and jury should hesitate 
 to enforce, and which it is the imperative duty of the proper Directors to 
 demand. 
 
 Very often, the healthfulness of the town School may be greatly pro¬ 
 moted by the filling up, grading and leveling of the lot, and the planting 
 of it with trees, shrubbery and flowers. This pleasant duty should never 
 be neglected ; and if proper measures be adopted by Directors and Teachers, 
 the Pupils may be made to effect a great portion of it, and to keep the 
 grounds in good order, after the first labor has been performed. 
 
 2. Want of Size : In towns this defect cannot, ordinarily, be as readily 
 obviated by the purchase of adjoining ground, as in the country. But when 
 this is impossible, and when a removal becomes expedient, the small lot in 
 the crowded part of the town, with its old and incommodious School-house, 
 will generally sell for a good price, and the Directors be thus enabled to ac¬ 
 quire an ample lot and erect an improved School-building, within reasona¬ 
 ble distance of all the Pupils. To secure a full sized lot, in a high, airy and 
 accessible position, the difference of two or three squares in distance should 
 never be regarded. 
 
 3. Want of Retirement : In towns the neighborhood of demoralizing 
 causes cannot lie so easily evaded, as in the country; for the tavern-yard, 
 the street-corner, or the crowded thoroughfare is always at hand. All that 
 can be done, to counteract these influences, is to provide ample play-ground, 
 and render it as attractive as possible, during those intervals when the Pu- 
 
IMPROVEMENT CF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 237 
 
 pils should rightfully be there; and to require them to proceed directly to 
 and from School, at the proper hours. 
 
 But there are physical causes of disturbance which should always be 
 avoided, if practicable, in the location of town Schools. The rattling of 
 carts and wagons on the rough pavement of the main street, is a disturbance 
 to the School, of a serious nature. So is the noise of most kinds of fac¬ 
 tories, mills and machine shops, driven by steam. The rail-way with its 
 whistles, bells, puffing of steam and rattling of cars, forms another almost 
 intolerable annoyance. Ail these had better be avoided in original selec¬ 
 tions of School sites, and gotten rid of in the case of old Schcol-houses, by 
 a speedy sale and removal to some more quiet part of the town; these evils 
 being irremediable. 
 
 4. Want of Accessibility : This is a defect to which town Schools are not 
 often liable. It is sometimes urged that the distance to the School is too 
 great; but this is, most frequently, a captious objection. The whole breadth 
 of most of our towns would not be more than a healthy walk, even for small 
 children; and when compared with the distance which the youngest Pupils 
 in the country, have to walk, whose health certainly does not sutler from 
 this cause, it seems perfectly unfounded. 
 
 In some few cases, however, danger becomes an element in the ease. — 
 Where a rail-way traverses a town on a level with the surface of the streets, 
 or a canal or river divides it, rendering the crossing of these impediments 
 perilous to young children, means should be adopted to avoid the risk, by 
 preventing the necessity of passing them on the way to and from School: 
 This may, in most cases, be effected, by adopting those impediments as the 
 dividing lines between the bounds of the different Schools. But if this is 
 not practicable, the existence of danger arising from these sources should 
 form an influential reason for changing the location of the School. 
 
 In seeking a new site for a town School, a corner lot at the intersection 
 of two streets will be preferable, as affording greater accessibility from every 
 direction. Such a position will also secure more open space and a freer cir¬ 
 culation of air, inasmuch as the house can never have a very close neigh¬ 
 bor on more than one side. A lot at the corner of a main street and a pub¬ 
 lic alley is the next best position, as affording, to some extent, the same 
 advantages. A narrow lot in the middle of a block or square, with houses 
 likely to come into contact with the School on both sides, should never be 
 purchased, while a more eligible situation can be obtained, within any rea¬ 
 sonable distance. 
 
 II. DEFECTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OLD SCHOOL-HOUSES. 
 
 A School-house may be insufficient for the due accommodation of the 
 mixed or primary School, for which it was erected, on account of deficiency: 
 1. In size or area; 2. In height, or distance from floor to ceiling; 3. In 
 
238 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 windows, for the admission of light and air; and 4. In special means of 
 ventilation. Or, though not unadapted to its original purpose, a School- 
 house may require enlargement and alteration to fit it for a higher grade 
 of School. 
 
 Each of these classes of cases will be briefi}'' considered with reference 
 to the appropriate remedies; but in regard to both, it may be remarked, in 
 the first place, that money for extensive repairs or alterations should never 
 be expended on a building whose location is liable to serious objections j 
 and, secondly, that the best remedy for an old, small, illconstructed building, 
 without a cellar, even if properly situated, is a new one. Be such houses 
 repaired and altered as they may, they will always be old, insufficient and 
 inconvenient. 
 
 1. HOUSES INSUFFICIENT FOR THEIR ORIGINAL PURPOSE. 
 
 1 . Deficiency in Size : It may be safely asserted that more than fifty Pu¬ 
 pils should not be assigned to one Teacher; and that any less quantity of 
 floor space, in the School-room, than six hundred square feet, is an insuffi¬ 
 cient provision for that number. This space may be twenty by thirty 
 feet, about twenty-two by twenty-eight, or near twenty-five feet square; 
 but anything less than this, which is only an area of three by four feet for 
 each, will be found inadequate to the comfort and health of the Pupils, and 
 to the order and progress of the School; while a full third more, being 
 an area of four by four feet for each Pupil, will be advantageous in every 
 respect. 
 
 But as there are hundreds of School-houses in the State, of inadequate 
 size, yet of proper position and good material, it becomes a matter of im¬ 
 portance to enlarge and improve them, in accordance with correct princi¬ 
 ples. 
 
 Let the case of a comparatively new School-house, substantially built, 
 high in the story, well located and lighted, and with a good cellar, but only 
 twenty feet square in the inside, be supposed. It is now designed for fifty 
 Pupils, and the Directors wish to increase its size, so as really to accommo¬ 
 date that number; for they do not feel at liberty to tear it down and erect 
 another. How shall they proceed ? Probably the following plan will be 
 the most advisable. 
 
 Before commencing the alteration, they will probably come to the con¬ 
 clusion, that it shall not merely consist of eight or ten feet of an addition 
 to the study room; but that they may as well render the house complete at 
 once, by including also an entry or clothes room, and a closet for books and 
 apparatus. They may perhaps also decide that the cellar under the old part 
 is sufficient for all purposes, and that that expense may be saved, in refer¬ 
 ence to the addition. 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLI) SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 239 
 
 These points being settled, the end wall, which includes the entrance 
 door (marked A on the opposite plan) is taken down, and an 
 addition of not less than fifteen feet is put to the building; 
 but if eighteen or even twenty feet, it will be all the better. 
 
 At least ten feet of this addition are thrown into the main 
 School-room, enlarging it to twenty by thirty feet, and the remaining five 
 or more feet, are petitioned off into a vestibule for hats, &c.,and a closet for 
 books and apparatus. The enlarged building now takes the form represented 
 by the following plan; — A representing the main School-room; B the en¬ 
 try or clothes-room; and C the book-closet. Two addi¬ 
 tional doors, viz: One from the entry into the School-room, 
 and the other from the School-room to the book-closet, will 
 be rendered necessary by this change; and probably four 
 windows. If this enlarged study-room be properly spaced 
 off and provided with seats, desks, platform and black-board, 
 after some of the plans in Class II, in the forepart of this 
 Manual, it will be found a commodious and pleasant house, 
 either for an ungraded or for a Primary School. 
 
 This plan of enlargement may be applied to houses of almost any dimen¬ 
 sions ; and the effect will be better if the addition be so made that there 
 shall be less difference between the length and breadth, than in the case 
 just .described. 
 
 With the addition of a neat porch or a portico in front, and thus im¬ 
 proved, many a School-house in the State, now too small, and inconvenient 
 in every respect, would become a roomy, pleasant and commodious build¬ 
 ing, at comparatively small cost. It may be added, that whenever a por¬ 
 tico is added to or constructed originally with a School-house, the gable end 
 or wall above the columns, should always be faced with weather-boarding, 
 and not with plaster. The latter scarcely ever stands the united effects of 
 the weather and of the mischievous boys who are found in every School. 
 
 2. Deficiency in Height: It has been suggested, in another part of this 
 Manual, that the height of the School-room from floor to ceiling, should not 
 be less than twelve feet in small primary or ungraded Schools; and that thir¬ 
 teen or fourteen would be still better. But, inasmuch as eight feet is pro¬ 
 bably above the average height of ceiling in such houses throughout the 
 State, the question of improving them in this almost vital particular, be¬ 
 comes one of great interest and importance. 
 
 When the house is of the proper size, the walls substantial and the roof 
 good, the obvious remedy is to raise the latter and add as many feet to the 
 walls as will give the required height. In this case, a few more hundred 
 of brick, perch of stone, or feet of lumber, will not cost much, and the addi- 
 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 *3 
 
 C >n 
 
 B ,n 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
240 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 tion should be enough to give fourteen feet in the clear. Less than twelve 
 ought never to be thought of. 
 
 In some cases the level of the floor is several feet above the surface of 
 the ground. Here the floor may be lowered a couple of feet, and the object 
 be thus partly effected in a very economical manner. It is true that the 
 Height of the windows from the floor will be materially increased by this 
 change, but this will be an advantage rather than a detriment to the Schools 
 as it will also save the expense of altering and raising the windows, which 
 will be indispensable, if the height of the walls is increased and the roof 
 raised. 
 
 In some low School-houses, greater air space over-head has been secured 
 by taking away the horizontal ceiling, and lathing and plastering the rafters 
 in the form of an arch, as high as the collar-beam. 
 
 The lowering of the floor two feet, and the raising of the roof three or 
 four feet by arching, in a house originally 'eight feet in story, would give a 
 height of thirteen, which would be amply sufficient. This is, probably, the 
 cheapest and readiest expedient where the circumstances are suitable. But 
 be the circumstances what they may, it is the height of injustice, both to 
 the bodies and minds of fifty healthy children, whose first physical func¬ 
 tions are to breathe and to grow, to pack them away in a close den of poi¬ 
 sonous air, twenty feet square and seven or eight feet high. 
 
 3. Deficiencies in Windows: The worst kind of School-house windows, 
 is that which seems to have been copied from a blacksmith shop; being a 
 window of less than the usual size, and composed of two sash laid on their 
 sides, so as to slide past each other horizontally and not vertically. Perhaps 
 this similarity between the windows of the smith-shop and the School-house 
 originated from the fact that very many School-houses are nothing but 
 abandoned smitheries. Be this as it may, the sooner the resemblance in 
 this respect disappears the better, at least, for the School. 
 
 The other great defect in School windows, is, that they are not often 
 double hung; that is, so arranged, by means of pulleys and cords, or some 
 other equivalent mode, as that the upper sash can be lowered at pleasure, 
 as well as the knver one raised. They are generally, also, too small, espe¬ 
 cially in height; though it often happens that what they want in size, is 
 made up, or attempted to be made up, in number. 
 
 Where a low building is raised, by additions to the height of the walls, 
 the windows can be properly arranged, not only as to height, hanging and 
 position, but as to number. Advantage should always be taken of such a 
 change, to insert new frames of a proper height, with proper pulleys and 
 cords for double hanging; and to dispense with such as are unnecessary or 
 wrongly placed. When no such alteration in the height of the side-wall 
 takes place, the upper sash may be made to lower, by the application of some 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 241 
 
 one or other of those patented inventions, which are designed to supersede 
 the cord and pulley, and are readily inserted. But, whether by cord or 
 patent stop, down the upper sash should be made to come, at pleasure; and, 
 if the Teacher can effect this indispensable and invaluable change in no 
 other way, he can always borrow a chisel and mallet, and cut away two or 
 three inches of the support of the upper sash, from at least one window on 
 each side of the room, so that he may lower them at will and give vent to 
 the foul air. A gimlet-hole entirely through the upper cross-piece of the 
 lower sash, and nearly through the lower cross-piece of the upper, where 
 they meet, will receive a stout common nail. This will retain the upper 
 sash at its full height when not required to be lowered, and will also secure 
 both against being opened from the outside. 
 
 4. Deficiencies in special means for Ventilation : As remarked under the 
 head of Lighting and Ventilation, these means are, the ventilating Hue and the 
 opening in the ceiling. Neither need be here further described. They are 
 both applicable to all one story School-houses, and can be inserted at small 
 cost, with little trouble, and to the great benefit of the School. No good 
 building should be without them; and the smaller, the lower, and the worse 
 the School-house, the greater is their necessity and the more beneficial will 
 be their operation and effect. 
 
 In small houses with low ceilings and low windows, Teachers, not unfre- 
 quently, inflict serious injury on themselves and their Pupils from the very 
 best and kindest motives. Such buildings being generally old and open at 
 the joints of the walls and the floor and around the windows, they, for the 
 purpose of “ keeping out the cold,” carefully stop up all these crevices ; for¬ 
 getful that thereby they also keep out the pure air, and injure their own 
 health and that of their Pupils. A building of this kind should never be 
 thus made “air tight,” without having an opening also made under or near 
 the stove for the admission of fresh, and one in the ceiling for the discharge 
 of foul, air. 
 
 2. enlargement of houses to accommodate higher schools. 
 
 The grading of the Schools, which is now contemplated in many, and 
 commenced in not a few, of the rural Districts, brings up the question, 
 Whether it is better to erect entirely new buildings for the higher Schools, 
 or to enlarge some of those heretofore in use under the ungraded system ? 
 It will probably be found, in most cases, that the construction of new build¬ 
 ings for the higher Schools will be the more advisable course. The grading 
 of the Schools of a District, by systematizing the studies and introducing 
 the more advanced branches, always increases the aggregate number, as 
 well as the average attendance of Pupils, in its Schools. This, with the 
 constant increase of population, will render all the former ungraded School- 
 31 
 
2-12 
 
 SCflOOL ARCIIITECTURE. 
 
 houses necessary for the accommodation of the Primary Schools of the Dis¬ 
 trict. In addition to this, the old ungraded houses will generally be found 
 unsuitable, both in size and location, for the more advanced Schools, which 
 ought to be of a different construction, and placed with reference to a wider 
 extent of territory than the primary or ungraded Schools. But even when 
 the latter are found suitable, in other respects, for a higher grade, it will 
 mostly be inexpedient to make that use of them. More opposition to tire gra¬ 
 ding of the Schools in the rural Districts, has arisen from this than any other 
 cause. Small children residing near the houses thus elevated in grade, are 
 necessarily sent to some other, and that, too, generally at a much greater 
 distance from them; and unthinking parents, who do not appreciate the 
 reasons for the change, at once denounce it, and with it the whole system 
 of gradation. 
 
 For these reasons, in most cases it will he found better in every respect 
 to erect new buildings for the higher Schools of the district, especially if it 
 he in the country, and to retain and arrange the former houses for the 
 Primary Schools. But, as the enlargement of old buildings, so as to suit 
 Schools of the higher grades, may, in some cases, particularly in the towns, 
 be found expedient, the following suggestions may be of use. 
 
 If, in grading the Schools, the circumstances of the district and the plans 
 of the Board will only admit of small Grammar Schools, each with one 
 Teacher, then, of course, nothing is necessary except the erection of a new 
 house, or the arrangement of an old one, with somewhat larger and better 
 furniture and apparatus than those needed in a Primary School, so as to 
 accommodate forty or fifty Pupils. Almost any of the plans in Class I, of 
 this Manual, will be found suitable for that purpose 
 
 But if the design be to alter an old house, so as to accommodate a gram¬ 
 mar School with from sixty to one hundred or more Pupils, and two or 
 three Teachers, considerable addition and alteration will become requisite. 
 
 In this case, the house is supposed to be of good size for a Primary or 
 ungraded School — say twenty-five by thirty feet — as re¬ 
 presented by the opposite plan; the door being at A, the 
 Teachers desk at B, and the stove, with a light flue or pipe 
 through the roof, over it, at C. It is also properly located 
 for the intended grade of School, has good walls and roof, is 
 high in the ceiling, with large windows properly constructed, 
 and a cellar underneath. If it have not all, or nearly all 
 these requisites, it will be a waste of money to attempt its alteration. It has 
 however, neither entry, class-room nor closet, they being non-essentials, 
 though very convenient; and, as the roof spans its smaller diameter and -is not 
 to be disturbed, any addition to its size must be made at one or both of the 
 ends. 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 243 
 
 If the intention is to increase this house so as to accommodate — sny— 
 eighty Pupils, with a Principal and an Assistant Teacher, this will require 
 the addition of about twenty-three feet to one end of the building. That 
 number of Pupils should have a study room of at least nine hundred square 
 Feet, which would here be about twenty-five by thirty-seven; a class-room 
 of at least sixteen feet square; and "an entry or clothes-room of about nine 
 by sixteen feet. 
 
 The opposite plan shows how this may be done. The 
 end wall with the door in it, has been taken down ; the re¬ 
 quired extension of twenty-three feet has been made, ad¬ 
 ding seven feet to the study-room (C), and forming the 
 entry ( B ), and the class-room (F). The outside door is at (A) ; 
 the Teacher’s stand and black-board at (D), midway between 
 the doors leading to the entry and the class-room; and the 
 smoke flue ( E) is at the intersection of the walls dividing the main-room, the 
 class-room and the entry. 
 
 be to enlarge the same building so as to accommodate — 
 say — one hundred and twenty Pupils with a Principal and 
 two Assistant Teachers, a very long but still a commodious 
 house will be the result. In that case, a study-room cf 
 about sixty feet in length by twenty-five in breadth, (C), 
 with two class-rooms, (F), and two entrances aid clothes- 
 rooms, ( B ), as shown in the opposite plan, will be needed. 
 The whole length will be about ninety feet, and the breadth 
 twenty-five, and the interior arrangement will resemble that 
 of the house shown in the Frontispiece, the ground plan of 
 which may be seen at page 142; except that it will be longer, 
 and will have no division in the study-room. 
 
 In a house thus arranged the sexes may be taught sepa¬ 
 rately or together, as deemed most expedient; but in either case, a separate 
 entrance door and clothes room (AA) should be assigned to each. 
 
 The several parts of this plan are the same as in the next preceding one, 
 except that a small platform and desk at D, will be sufficient for the one 
 Teacher in charge of the study-room. 
 
 If the position of the house on the lot suit, the whole addition contem¬ 
 plated by this plan, should be made at one end; thus saving the tearing 
 down and reconstruction of one end wall. In that case, one entry and 
 class-room will be taken off the untouched end of the old building. 
 
 In towns it often becomes proper, in grading the Schools, to make use of 
 the former ungraded buildings; and as these are generally larger than those 
 of the rural districts, the change is more easy and less expensive. This 
 
 If the object 
 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 25 
 
 
 0 
 
 09 
 
 
 
 
 
 a* T 
 
 . 16 
 
 9 
 
 25 
 
 D 
 
 F 
 
 16 
 
 B 
 
 9 
 
244 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE 
 
 was done, some years ago, in the city of Lancaster with much good effect. 
 In that district the houses previously erected were all 
 uniform in size and plan. They were one story brick 
 buildings with a portico in front, each about forty feet 
 square, and divided into two rooms for separate Schools, 
 as shown in the opposite plan. The windows were 
 large and high, and the story twelve feet in the clear. 
 
 In grading the Schools, the object was to prepare four 
 buildings for Grammar or secondary Schools, each to 
 contain about one hundred and thirty Pupils; and four of these houses 
 were, at comparatively small cost and with little diffi¬ 
 culty, adapted to the purpose. As shown in the opposite 
 plan, the dividing partition was taken away, the ceiling 
 being supported by an inserted girder standing on light 
 east iron pillars, and a study-room (A) of nearly forty 
 feet square obtained ; two class-rooms, (CC) each sixteen 
 by twenty feet, were built to the back end ; and an entry 
 or vestibule, (BB) of eight by ten feet was partitioned off 
 inside of each main entrance door. The Teacher’s plat- 
 o o o o-o form and desk are at D. 
 
 Each of these buildings, provided with neat double desks and single 
 revolving seats, sufficient apparatus for ventilation, and in charge of a Prin¬ 
 cipal and two Assistant Teachers, now comfortably accommodates and pro¬ 
 vides for the proper instruction of one hundred and thirty-two Pupils. 
 The recitations all taken place in the class-rooms ; two of the Teachers 
 being thus employed, while the third is, alternately with them, in charge 
 of the main l oom, keeping order and preparing the other classes for their 
 recitations, which occupy half an hour each, 
 
 A large substantial old School building, of two or three stories, is some¬ 
 times met in the larger towns of the State. It is too good to be torn down, 
 yet not well adapted to existing modes of instruction. Upon close examina¬ 
 tion, its chief defect will be found to consist in the want of class-rooms, and 
 the main rooms are not generally of sufficient size to admit of rooms for 
 this purpose being taken off them. These class-rooms must necessarily be 
 added; and how to do this most properly and conveniently, becomes a 
 question of importance. 
 
 Such buildings are generally square, or very slightly longer than broad, 
 and are often divided into two or more rooms on a floor. In attaching 
 class-rooms to them, two objects are to be kept in view: one is, so to place 
 them as neither to impede light nor ventilation; the other is, to have each 
 class-room directly connected with the School-room to which it belongs. 
 
 C 
 
 c 
 
 A 
 
 B D 
 
 B 
 
 20 
 
 ■ 
 
 20 
 
 o 
 
 o j 
 
 'TT 
 
 
 o O o O o 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 245 
 
 Both these ends seem to be effectually attained in the accompanying plan 
 of the Pottsville Public School for boys. It is proper to state, however, that 
 this is not an old building adapted to present wants; but a substantial large 
 and commodious edifice, erected a few years ago by the intelligent Board of 
 
 60 
 
 K5 
 
 21 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 21 
 
 CM 
 
 Directors of that town. It was planned by Mr. Isaac Lykens of Pottsville, 
 with the advice, as is supposed, of Elias Schneider, Esq., a Teacher of great 
 experience. 
 
 “ The main building measures 
 80 feet by 60 feet. The recita¬ 
 tion rooms, at each corner, are 
 all equal in their dimensions, 21 
 feet square. The building con¬ 
 tains three main School-rooms, 
 measuring each 60 feet by 40 
 feet; and two, each 40 feet by 
 30 feet. The recitation rooms 
 number six. The whole number 
 of rcoms is eleven. The School- 
 house can accommodate about 
 seven hundred and fifty Pupils.” 
 
 The lower and upper stories 
 are alike, except that one is di- 
 
 21 
 
 oo 
 
 o 
 
 09 
 
 21 
 
 c» 
 
 vided into two, and the other into three School-rooms. Two of the corner 
 or wing-rooms, not used for class purposes, are probably occupied as clothes- 
 rooms or for apparatus. 
 
 This seems to be an admirable plan for a School-house. It is, however, 
 somewhat costly, on account of the large quantity of wall and roof required, 
 
21G 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 in proportion to the capacity of the building; and it only suits a large lot. 
 It is here inserted as suggesting a most convenient arrangement of class¬ 
 rooms with reference to the main building. Two or four, accord in <>• to cir- 
 cumstances, of such corner additions to a large School-house destitute of 
 these necessary appendages, will add greatly to its efficiency, without loss 
 of light or space in any of the School-rooms; at the same time that each 
 class-room door will open directly into the study-room to which it properly 
 belongs. 
 
 It needs only be added, on the subject of enlarging School-houses, that 
 not a dollar for this, or any other purpose, should be expended on any of 
 the large old School buildings alluded to, if materially deficient in height 
 of ceiling or any other indispensable requisite to health. It is better to be 
 without class-rooms and other similar facilities for a few years, till the dis¬ 
 trict shall be able to pull down these old buildings and construct proper 
 elilices in their stead, than to entail them as nuisances on the place tor 
 generations perhaps, by costly additions. 
 
 III. DEFECTS IN INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT AND FURNITURE. 
 
 The arrangement of the furniture and other articles in the School-room, 
 belongs, of right and necessity, to the Teacher. He will not, of course, 
 make changes for mere change sake, nor injure the property of the district 
 solely to gratify a whim. But he should always have the right so to ar¬ 
 range all within the School-room, as, in his experienced judgment, may best 
 promote the good of the School and the progress of the Pupils. In many 
 of these points, experienced and able Teachers have differed, and will con¬ 
 tinue to do so; and therefore few directions can be given, beyond saying 
 that they must necessarily be left to the decision of him who is to be pro¬ 
 fessionally responsible for the result. His task is sufficiently onerous and 
 his responsibility great, without having the details of the School-room, 
 which, though small in themselves, may be to him, seriously influential in 
 result, unnecessarily interfered with or embarrassed. 
 
 Hence, the position of his own seat and desk and those of the Pupils, and, if 
 movable, that of the stove and black-boards; — in a word, the control and 
 arrangement of every thing, not permanently fixed, in the School-house, 
 should be left with the Teacher. If he is not fit to have this degree of 
 power, and to use it beneficially, he is not fit to be in the School. 
 
 As to the kind of furniture in the room, if it be not healthful, com¬ 
 fortable, and conducive to study, the remedy — and it is the Teacher’s duty 
 as well as right to demand its application —is to have it removed, and the 
 appropriate kind substituted. If he succeed in this—and success will be 
 more likely to follow good-humored and respectful request than ill-humor 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF OLD SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 217 
 
 or ridicule,— he will confer a very great advantage on his Pupils, and 
 largely add to his own efficiency as well as comfort. If he fail in his first 
 application to the Board, he should not give up the attempt, but endeavor 
 to arouse a local feeling amongst the parents on the subject. If rightly 
 excited and guided, this will, in most cases, sooner or later, effect the ob¬ 
 ject. 
 
 But should all practicable means fail in causing the School to be proper¬ 
 ly furnished, the Teacher still has it in his power to improve, to the utmost, 
 the most defective articles by his own efforts. 
 
 Desks ranged along the walls, so that the Pupils always have their backs 
 or sides toward the Teacher, may be removed and placed across the space 
 in front of him. If the seats and desks are too high, he can borrow a saw 
 and cut them down to the proper and comfortable height; or, if a female, 
 she may induce the larger Pupils to do so. The stove may be placed in the 
 right position. Some paper may be pasted on the wall at small cost, and 
 sized and painted for a black-board. If the Directors do not pay for it, 
 probably the Pupils will. If neither do, the increased facility of instruc¬ 
 tion will remunerate the Teacher for the outlay, and will not be lost, as a 
 matter of investment, in professional reputation. 
 
 In the same way and for the same reasons, a broom should be procured 
 and regularly used; and a Saturday should be occasionally devoted to the 
 use of the white-wash brush. 
 
 If the Teacher own maps, pictures, diagrams, &c., they should be hung up 
 in the School-room. Such things should not be withheld, for the selfish 
 reason that they are private property. It should be always borne in mind, 
 that Directors do not refuse to provide them out of mere stinginess ; but, in 
 most cases, because they have really not become aware of their utility. 
 Their exhibition and use, therefore, by the Teacher, will be the most 
 effectual mode of imparting, in the right quarter, a knowledge of the nature 
 and value of such aids to instruction, and of thus procuring them from the 
 Board. 
 
 On the whole, it may be said that the improvement of School furniture 
 and apparatus is the Teacher’s work; and that he or she who continues to 
 occupy the same School two years in succession, without effecting any change 
 in this department of School affairs, is in the wrong vocation. 
 
243 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 XI. SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 OX THE SIZE, ENCLOSURE AND IMPROVEMENT OF SCHOOL GROUNDS.# 
 
 I. SCHOOL GROUNDS AS THEY ARE. 
 
 No person traveling in Pennsylvania can fail to notice the School- 
 houses, and all such persons will hear witness to the fact, that a very 
 great proportion of the grounds and enclosures about them, have been sadly 
 neglected. Sometimes, the School-house stands half in the road and half 
 in the adjacent field; sometimes, it stands altogether in the field, but with 
 the front on the direct line of the field fence and in the place of a few 
 panels of it; and again, it may be seen at the angle of a cross-road, or on 
 the narrow strip of land formed where two roads fork, as if purposely to 
 accommodate those Pupils who may be less interested in their books than 
 in what passes on the highway. Not unfrequently, it is placed on some 
 low, damp, marshy spot; on some exposed, rocky common; or high up on a 
 bank by the road-side, unprotected from the heated rays of a summer sun 
 or the fierce, cold winds of winter. In all these situations, it is easy to see 
 that no well-arranged School-grounds coidd exist. The Pupils must exer¬ 
 cise, if they exercise at all, either in the School-house or on the public 
 road, or trespass on some adjoining property. 
 
 Rut there are many School-houses that are better situated than those 
 just described. Of these, some are located in the borders of open woods, 
 which furnish grateful shade, and room for the Pupils to amuse themselves 
 during play-time ; while others have play-grounds attached to them which 
 are sometimes enclosed, and more rarely planted with shade trees. No one 
 can pass, however, the large majority of this class, without noticing the 
 scanty dimensions of their School-grounds and the evidences of neglect 
 about the whole premises. When the grounds are merely open wood-lands, 
 though the bounds are sufficiently ample, the Pupils have but the same 
 privilege as the animals that roam at liberty through them; and v'hen en¬ 
 closed, the enclosures are too often rough and constructed without taste, 
 and sometimes, broken down or otherwise out of repair. The gate cannot 
 be closed or is entirely off its hinges. The trees about the grounds have 
 been injured or destroyed, or, at best, gone unprotected and untrimmed. 
 
 * This chapter was prepared at the request of the Editor, by J. P. Wickkrsham, Esq., Superinten¬ 
 dent of Lancaster county. 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 249 
 
 The play-ground near the door and the walks through it are ungraded and 
 unpaved, and in wet weather become muddy; and, in some parts, the ground 
 is covered with rubbish or overgrown with brushwood. 
 
 In the preceding remarks, reference has been had only to rural districts ; 
 but village School-grounds bear the same evidences of neglect. Land is 
 more valuable in a village than in the country, and, in comparison, village 
 School-grounds are generally smaller, and we very frequently meet with 
 School-houses, wholly without them. Often, no more ground belongs to 
 the School than the spot upon which the house stands, with the addition, 
 sometimes of a narrow alley by which to reach the rear of the building. 
 Here the exercises of the School must be constantly interrupted by the 
 noise of the street, and the morals and manners of the Pupils contaminated 
 by its vulgarity and vice. 
 
 It will be right to add that in all parts of the State, both in town and 
 country, there are noble exceptions to what has been said ; but the general 
 truth of the statement cannot be questioned, and this condition of affairs 
 calls loudly for amendment. 
 
 II. ADVANTAGES OF WELL ARRANGED SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 1. They promote Health : Supposing that a pleasant, retired, dry situa¬ 
 tion has been chosen for the School-house, care should be taken to attach 
 sufficient grounds to it, to permit free, exciting, bodily exercise; and this 
 will be promotive of health. Physical education, much as it has been ne¬ 
 glected, is important. The organs of the body as well as the powers of the 
 mind, were given for use, and to make either effective for the purposes in¬ 
 tended, requires training. In a School, periods of time devoted to study 
 should always alternate with intervals devoted to physical exercise; as 
 study, with close confinement, cannot be otherwise than injurious to the 
 young. Students of sedentary habits unavoidably lose their bodily vigor, 
 if not their health. Parents are frequently called to lament the pale and 
 sickly appearance of their children, when they attend School regularly; 
 and hundreds of premature deaths have taken place from the effects of over¬ 
 tasked brains and a want of corporeal exercise. Says Dr. Warren in a lec¬ 
 ture before the American Institute of instruction: “ Too much of the time 
 of the better educated part of young persons, is, in my humble opinion, de¬ 
 voted to literary pursuits and sedentary occupations, and too little to the 
 acquisition of the corporeal powers indispensable to make the former practi¬ 
 cably useful.” And another writer on the same subject remarks, that “ the 
 influence of the physical frame upon the intellect, morals and happiness of 
 a human being, is now universally admitted. The extent of this influence 
 will be thought greater, in proportion to the accuracy with which the sub¬ 
 ject is examined. Bodily pain forms a large proportion of the amount of 
 32 
 
250 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 human misery. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that a child 
 should grow up sound and healthy in body, with the utmost degree of mus¬ 
 cular strength that education can communicate.” If these views be true, 
 the development of the corporeal organs is an important part of education ; 
 and it becomes the duty ol those having the control of the matter, to attach 
 play-grounds, suitable for various athletic games and gymnastic exercises, 
 to every School-house. 
 
 2. They conduce to order and to progress in study: The experience of 
 Teachers has proven that children would attend School more regularly, be 
 more attentive to their studies, learn more and learn it better, if School- 
 houses were pleasantly situated and School-grounds properly arranged. 
 The character of surrounding objects strangely affects the mind, and in¬ 
 spires a disposition and power to accomplish what we have to do, or damp¬ 
 ens the energies and renders the spirits gloomy. Hence, neglected School 
 grounds and dark, dull, uncomfortable School-houses, cannot but be unpro- 
 pitious to study. 
 
 In a School-house erected upon a street or by the side of a highway, the 
 exercises of a School must suffer great interruption from noise, and consid¬ 
 erable disturbance from the Pupils’ curiosity to see every passing object. 
 At play, in such cases without a play-ground, the Pupils are, themselves, in 
 constant danger from horses and passing vehicles, while they sometimes 
 frighten horses and annoy travelers. 
 
 In such situations as are removed from the street or highway, but which 
 are without play-grounds, the Pupils are apt to trespass upon the neigh¬ 
 boring fields, much to the annoyance of their owners, or conduct their 
 games in the house, thus damaging the furniture, and rendering the house 
 unclean and a scene of uproar and confusion. 
 
 Play, fun and frolic, children will have. It is natural, and we have no 
 feelingin common with that sour asceticism that would condemn this dispo¬ 
 sition, or chide them for its reasonable indulgence. But it must be guided, 
 and it is important that it should be guided aright. If School children, in 
 hours devoted to amusement and exercise, be allowed to run wild — up and 
 down the highway — to the neighboring creek or wood—through the vil¬ 
 lage — everywhere and anywhere their fickle fancies may prompt, the 
 Teacher can have little control over them. They may quarrel, use vulgar 
 or profane language, act improperly towards passers-by, and the Teacher 
 remain in complete ignorance of the fact. He cannot even have a general 
 knowledge of their conduct while engaged in play. It is better far that a 
 play-ground, large and convenient, should be provided, in which they can 
 amuse themselves, but without restraint, under the Teacher’s eye and with¬ 
 in his hearing. At short intervals of ££ intermission,” too, without grounds 
 for play, the Pupils must either sit listlessly about the School-house or be 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 251 
 
 under the necessity of wandering too far away from it; but with them, 
 they can at once engage in exhilerating sports, set the blood to coursing 
 swiftly through the veins, while they breathe the pure air; and when the 
 bell calls back again, their tasks will be resumed with freshened spirit and 
 renewed energy. Good play-grounds, therefore, not only promote health, 
 but are both useful and convenient in the business of education. 
 
 3. They enable the Teacher to impart important lessons in manners and 
 morals : The play-ground affords the best opportunity to the Teacher of 
 becoming more fully acquainted with the disposition of his Pupils, of form¬ 
 ing their habits and imparting many useful moral lessons to them. While 
 engaged in play, restraint is thrown off, and real character displays itself; 
 and the Teacher; if he freely mingles among his Pupils, as he should, may 
 gather much information that will aid him in his School-room duties and 
 prove beneficial to the School. Unkind words will not be spoken nor pro¬ 
 fane language used when he is present; and gentleness of manners and 
 propriety of conduct will thus soon grow habitual. Instances, indeed, are 
 not wanting, in which, when rebellious natures had stirred up discontent 
 among the Pupils, and appearances indicated the subversion of the Teach¬ 
 er’s authority, he was able, by judicious management on the play-ground, 
 to arrest the rising tumult and win all hearts to respect and love him. 
 
 4. They refine the feelings and cultivate the taste : We have around us 
 silent Teachers. The towering mountain, the setting sun, the clouds of 
 Heaven — all that is sublime or beautiful in nature and art elevate the 
 mind and humanize the feelings. On the other hand, disproportioned, de¬ 
 formed or neglected objects, excite no train of pleasurable emotions. The 
 youthful mind is peculiarly susceptible to influences of this character, and, 
 it cannot be doubted, that the unimproved and uninviting grounds about 
 our School houses, have an effect to deaden the sense of beauty and refine¬ 
 ment. 
 
 The site of a School-house should command a prospect of the finest sce¬ 
 nery in the neighborhood; the School-grounds should be neatly enclosed 
 and planted with shrubbery and flowers; here and there clumps of forest 
 trees should furnish shade; the walks should be paved and bordered with 
 flowers, and these trees and these flowers should be under the special care 
 of Teachers and Scholars; the latter being taught to love and protect them. 
 If all this were realized, who can doubt that the noblest feelings of the 
 human heart might here be trained ; and that, instead of the ruthless dispo¬ 
 sition to destroy, and of rough, rude conduct and careless habits, which too 
 often characterize the Pupils of our Common Schools, all would have their 
 feelings refined and purified. 
 
252 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 III. THE IMPROVEMENT OF SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 1. Size: In cities and towns, it is generally impossible to obtain School 
 grounds of proper size, in convenient localities, without great expense, and 
 their dimensions must therefore depend on circumstances. It might be re¬ 
 marked, however, that it would be better for pupils to walk a considerable 
 distance, than that the limits of their play-ground should be so narrow, as 
 not to admit free exercise for the whole School. 
 
 YV herever land can be had at reasonable rates, half an acre is the least 
 amount that would well subserve the purposes of an ordinary School, and 
 an acre would be none too much. 
 
 The following plans represent, each, the first named quantity; but their 
 application to a full acre will be a matter of no difficulty, and the addition 
 will be greatly promotive of all the effects intended to be produced. 
 
 A different use, however, may ultimately be made of the other half acre 
 that prudent foresight may add to the School-grounds, and which will 
 perhaps be the best that could possibly be made of it. Teaching is now 
 rapidly assuming the rank of a profession. To retain it such, it must have 
 its known permanent locality. The Clergyman resides near the church. 
 The Lawyer has his office and his residence hard by the court-house. The 
 Physician places himself in the town, or other densest portion of the popu¬ 
 lation to be benefited by his skill. This is also the law of other avocations, 
 whether mechanical or commercial. Each is found to have its appropriate 
 locality. The same law will undoubtedly be found to govern the profes¬ 
 sion of Teaching, when it shall be fully developed and shall have occupied 
 its proper place, as well as its true rank, in the land; and therefore, the 
 Board of Directors who shall earliest provide for, and soonest effect this 
 manifest destiny of the Teacher, will be found most surely and most fully 
 to have promoted permanency in the improvement of their Schools. 
 
 The erection of a Teacher’s house, on a portion of ground sufficiently 
 large for a garden and the other purposes of a family, will be found eco¬ 
 nomical as well as beneficial in many particulars. A fair estimate of the 
 rent of the premises will reduce, to that extent annually, the compensation 
 to be paid for his services. His vicinity to the School-house will enable 
 him to guard it and the grounds from injury, when the School is not in 
 session. His supervision over the play and out-door conduct of the Pupils 
 will be greatly increased for good. Those frequent changes of Teachers, 
 which now so much retard the progress of Scholars, will be materially les¬ 
 sened in number. The standing and influence of the Teacher will be pro¬ 
 moted, by placing him in and before the community, as a resident official 
 member of it, laboring for its benefit in the most important department of 
 its interests. In short, from whatever point it may be contemplated, the 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 253 
 
 Teacher’s house assumes an importance, in the building up of the Common 
 School system, only secondary to that of the School-house. 
 
 It is not of course, intended to intimate, that this addition to the neces¬ 
 sary agencies of the system should at once be made, nor even that the 
 means of any district should be over-strained to promote it. But it is very 
 certain, that the prudent forecast which shall now provide for its ultimate 
 accomplishment, will be most abundantly justified and rewarded in the end. 
 
 2. Shape: The most dry and beautiful grounds are those which slope 
 towards the south or from the front of the School-house, which should al¬ 
 ways have its front in that direction. The inclination should be gentle, 
 though perhaps for purposes of play, level grounds would be the most suit¬ 
 able. They should never slope in the opposite direction, if it can be avoid¬ 
 ed, as a northern exposure is more cold. 
 
 GENERAL PLAN. 
 
 A. School.house. 
 
 BB. Yards for shrubbery and 
 
 flowers. 
 
 C. Boys’ play-ground. 
 
 B. Girls’ play-ground. 
 
 EE. Privies. 
 
 FF. Paved or graveled walks. 
 
 GG. Flower beds. 
 
 H. Gate. 
 
 II. Outside fence. 
 
 K. Dividing fences. 
 
 This and the two following 
 plans are intended to represent 
 grounds of half an acre each; 
 in parallelograms of one-third 
 greater in length than in breadth. 
 
 The shape should if 
 possible be rectangular, 
 the length extending 
 north and south, and 
 bearing the proportion 
 to the breadth of about 
 three to two. A School 
 lot containing six thou¬ 
 sand square feet, might 
 be one hundred feet 
 long and sixty feet wide; 
 one containing half an acre, one hundred and eighty feet by one hundred 
 and twenty-one; and one containing an acre, two hundred and forty-two 
 by one hundred and eighty feet. 
 
251 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 As the front of the grounds will probably border on a highway or street, 
 it will be better, in order to escape noise and secure uninterrupted atten¬ 
 tion to study, to place the School-house in the back part of the grounds, on 
 a line extending lengthwise through the centre of them. A paved walk 
 should extend from the gate-way to the house, terminating at the paved 
 portico immediately in front of it. A close and high board fence should 
 extend from behind the house to the centre of the fence at the back end of 
 the grounds. Walks might also extend on a line with the front of the 
 house to both sides. The two spaces thus cut off, should be private, in 
 mixed Schools, one for each sex; and the large space in front be enjoyed 
 by both in common. The former might be laid out in grass-plats with 
 shrubbery and beds for flowers, and the latter, especially in towns and 
 cities, should be paved with brick. Brick will be more costly than sand 
 or gravel, but answer a better purpose. The hardened soil would answer 
 well except in damp or wet weather. There should be shade trees in all 
 parts of the grounds, but special care should be taken in this respect with 
 the private spaces previously described. In grounds like these, Pupils de¬ 
 siring to read or study 
 could do so without in¬ 
 terruption, amidst the 
 shrubbery and shade of 
 those portions appro¬ 
 priated to this object; 
 and others, wishing to 
 watch the sportive game 
 enlist among the 
 
 or 
 
 players,could enjoy that 
 opportunity, unmolest¬ 
 ing and unmolested. 
 
 A. School-house. 
 
 BB. Yard for shrubbery and 
 flowers. 
 
 C. Hoys’ play ground. 
 
 D. Girls’ play-ground. 
 
 EE. Privies. 
 
 FF. Walks. 
 
 GG. Flower plats. 
 
 H. Gate. 
 
 II. Outside fences. 
 
 K. Dividing fences. 
 
 The artist in this and the pre¬ 
 ceding plan has omitted to rep¬ 
 resent the extension of the di¬ 
 viding fence in the rear of the 
 privy. Without this the design 
 is incomplete. 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 255 
 
 The first of these plans is arranged with the flower garden in the rear of 
 the building, and the play-ground in the front of it; in the second and 
 third, this order is reversed; and the third differs from the other two, by 
 having the lot lengthwise to the road or street. Either plan can be selected 
 according to the taste of Directors and others interested, and can be modified 
 to suit the size, shape and slope of the grounds. 
 
 The School-hpuses in all the plans have been drawn with their longest 
 sides towards the front. This is not a good arrangement. Most houses 
 front towards the south. In that case, if the narrowest side or end be 
 placed towards the front, and occupied by entries and clothes-rooms, no 
 light will be admitted into the School-room from the south; and if the op¬ 
 posite end be occupied by platform and black-board, the light will all enter 
 from the east and west. By this arrangement, also, the Teacher will have 
 all the Pupils before him. 
 
 A. School-house. BB. Flower yard. C. Boys’play-ground. D. Girls’play-ground. EE. Privies. 
 FF. Walks. ■' GG. Flower plats. II. Gate. II. Outside fences. K. Dividing fences. 
 
 4. The Enclosure : The enclosure should combine the qualities of neat¬ 
 ness and substantiality. A wall has been recommended by some, and it 
 would undoubtedly possess the latter quality. It could not be easily broken 
 down; and, if sufficiently high, would enable the children, when at play, 
 to conduct their sports unobserved; but School grounds thus enclosed have 
 too much the appearance of those belonging to a prison or a nunnery. 
 They have a heaviness and gloom about them, which are neither pleasant to 
 the feelings nor congenial to the taste. Cast iron paling, now furnished in 
 
256 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 such a variety of patterns, it is presumed, would cost less, be equally sub¬ 
 stantial, and certainly, much more beautiful. A neat pale or board fence, 
 strongly made, with jmsts sunk deeply into the ground, would however, be 
 cheaper than either, and might be so constructed as to be an ornament to 
 the grounds. The paling should be close and firmly morticed to the rails. 
 The fence should be six feet high, and by all means painted white, or at 
 least white-washed. If the entrance to the yard be through a gate, it 
 should be hung with weights so as to close of itself when left open ; but 
 some grounds are entered by short flights of steps, or a stile, which ascend 
 to a landing nearly on a level with the top of the fence, and descend in the 
 same manner on the other side. 
 
 5. Shade trees, shrubbery and flowers : School-grounds should be plen¬ 
 tifully supplied with shade trees. If otherwise suitable, in locating a School- 
 house, a spot should be chosen upon which some large forest trees are al¬ 
 ready standing, or the border of a wood might be selected which could be 
 easily thinned out. Generations must live and die before trees newly 
 planted will assume that stateliness and beauty possessed by our ancient 
 forest trees. Who can gaze upon the noble trunk, the wide spreading 
 branches and the deep, dense foliage of an old oak, and not admire its 
 beauty and court its shade 1 If possible, some such should be embraced in 
 every School-yard. 
 
 But if the grounds are to be planted with shade trees, and it be desirable 
 to select such as are of rapid growth, the maple, locust and poplar are per¬ 
 haps the best; with less rapidity of growth, but of equal beauty, the oak, 
 sycamore, ash and beech might be chosen ; and of evergreens, it is scarcely 
 necessary to name the pine, cedar and hemlock. It will be observed that 
 all those named are indigenous to our American forests, and if the School- 
 grounds were sufficiently large, they might be planted with a variety of all 
 our most conspicuous and useful trees ; that, while enjoying their shade, the 
 inquiring Pupil might learn their names, classes and uses. The same 
 principle should be applied in selecting shrubbery and flowers; and while 
 their cultivation would refine their taste, the Pupils might learn useful, 
 practical lessons in the study of botany. Though American trees and 
 American flowers should be preferred, on account of their real merit and the 
 facility with which they can be obtained, no unjust discrimination should 
 prohibit those which are exotic; but these are so numerous and possess so 
 many varied attractions, that the whole subject is left to the taste of Di¬ 
 rectors, Teachers, Pupils and intelligent citizens of the district. All per¬ 
 sons feel most interested in what they have themselves planned and exe¬ 
 cuted ; and after these general remarks, it is thought best, for this reason, 
 to leave in the same hands, also, the details of shaping flower beds and ar¬ 
 ranging shrubbery. The only additional remark which it is thought neces- 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 257 
 
 sary to make, is that no fruit or nut trees of any kind should be admitted 
 in the grounds; first, because the fruit would be seldom suffered to ripen, 
 and green fruit, if eaten, is injurious to health; and second, because the 
 trees would be broken and destroyed in efforts to obtain the fruit. 
 
 6. Means op exercise : In the country where the play-ground is large, 
 and suitable for the use of bats, balls, hoops, stilts, jumping sticks, &c., 
 which the Pupils will themselves furnish in abundance, it will render any 
 special provision in this respect less necessary. But in case the grounds 
 are small, and in towns where greater variety of means is required, addi¬ 
 tional arrangements should be made for such physical exercise as may 
 secure proper muscular development. 
 
 Amongst boys, running and leaping are favorite pastimes and both are 
 conducive to health. For running, no other preparation of the ground is 
 needed than that there shall be space enough, and that the surface be suffi¬ 
 ciently level to be safe. 
 
 Some kinds of leap require preparation. The long leap, 
 along the surface of the ground, only needs a level space 
 for the run and ground not too hard for the leap itself. 
 The high leap may be made a useful and safe exercise 
 by means of a proper leaping cord or bar, so constructed as 
 to be elevated in proportion to the increase of the youth’s 
 activity by practice, yet so arranged as to prevent the 
 injury by striking the feet against the cord or bar. 
 
 The pole leap brings the muscles of the hands and 
 arms into play as well as those of the lower limbs; 
 and if it be cautiously practiced and gradually increas¬ 
 ed, will give a degree of confidence and activity to the 
 performer, which may be valuable to him in the dan¬ 
 gerous and trying positions of after life. 
 
 Vaulting is another kind of exercise which strength¬ 
 ens the muscles of both upper and lower limbs. The 
 
 power to swing oneself over a 
 fence too high for a leap, in 
 times of danger or great haste, 
 is desirable. Rapid and graceful 
 mounting on horseback may 
 
 also be thus taught. The neces¬ 
 sary fixtures cost little and add to the variety of the play-ground. 
 
 The parallel bars are admirable contrivances to exercise and strengthen 
 the arms, and open and expand the chest. If of different heights and 
 
 33 
 
25$ 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 sizes, they may he used by Pu¬ 
 pils of all ages. They possess 
 the advantage of being perfect¬ 
 ly free from the possibility of 
 accident to the smallest boy 
 who uses them; and should 
 therefore be among the first 
 means for exercise introduced 
 
 upon the play-ground. 
 
 The horizontal bar is for lads of more advanced age, and 
 its use, beside strengthening the hands and arms, affords 
 the opportunity of placing the body and limbs in a great 
 variety of positions, and of thus strengthening many mus¬ 
 cles not ordinarily called into action. 
 
 The balancing bar is so constructed as to admit of elevation from the 
 
 ground in proportion to the 
 pupils’ confidence in him¬ 
 self and skill in using it. 
 
 It is admirably fitted to give 
 strength to the lower limbs, 
 steadiness to the brain and 
 self-possession to the mind. 
 
 The constant practice of balancing the person with exact reference to the 
 centre of gravity, must also have a beneficial and 
 graceful effect on the figure and general deportment. 
 
 Climbing the ladder, the rope and the inclined 
 board, are all calculated to add strength to the limbs, 
 activity and health to the body, and variety to the 
 exercises of the play-ground. They can be provi¬ 
 ded for at slight expense, and will be found, in com¬ 
 mon with other similar arrangements, to increase 
 love for School, by rendering it attractive. 
 
 No gymnastic apparatus combines greater 
 variety of healthful and pleasant exercise than 
 the rotary or flying swing. It combines run¬ 
 ning, leaping and climbing, with the addition 
 of engaging several in the same exercise at the 
 same time. It also has the advantage, which 
 few of the exercises that have been enumerated 
 possess, of being equally adapted to females. 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 259 
 
 Though girls neither require the same robust exercise nor rough sports, 
 to develop their frames and fit them for the duties of life, as boys, yet the 
 system of education which omits, or slightly pro¬ 
 vides for their physical training, is most radically 
 defective. In addition to such of the apparatus 
 already enumerated, and others proper for both sexes, those more peculiarly 
 adapted to their wants should be provided. In this point of view, light 
 dumb bells are best calculated, if properly used, to strengthen the arms and 
 expand the chest. 
 
 The long back-board is also well calculated to expand the chest and give 
 litheness and grace to all the movements of the arms and bust. The va- 
 rity of attitude into which its use can be 
 made to throw the person, cannot but be 
 beneficial. The triangle is a short bar of 
 wood, attached by a light rope at each end, to 
 one secured at some point of considerable 
 height. This is so arranged, by means of a 
 pulley, as to be adaptable to the size of the 
 person using it, and is a simple contrivance 
 which may be used in a shed or room, in bad 
 weather, and made to answer most of the uses of the rotary swing. 
 
 In suggesting these or similar arrangements and apparatus for the amuse¬ 
 ment and physical training of youth of both sexes, of course it is not de¬ 
 signed to assert that all or even any of them are indispensable to every 
 School. It is admitted that children, in good health, will have exercise 
 of some kind, and, if not restrained, will generally manage to secure a suffi¬ 
 ciency to promote growth and vigor of body; but it is also known that, if 
 left to themselves, they will generally neglect the studies proper for their 
 intellectual culture. Hence the latter, with that of their moral nature, be¬ 
 comes the object of primary importance and obligation. But then, it is also 
 believed that the means of physical exercise may also be vastly improved in 
 nature and result, and at the same time, be made a strong attracting influ¬ 
 ence in favor of the School and of learning. In this view of it, physical 
 training rises in importance to a point only secondary to that of the cul¬ 
 ture of the heart and the intellect; and it may, therefore, not be overlooked 
 without detriment to the best interests of the child and of society. 
 
 If it do not suit the convenience or the means of the District, to expend 
 money to provide for the physical training of its youth, by means of proper 
 gymnastic arrangements, much may be effected by the Teacher and the 
 Pupils. Timber is cheap, and there will be found in every School of the 
 ordinary size, several Scholars of sufficient age, mechanical turn, and, if 
 
260 
 
 SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 properly influenced, of willingness to labor for the common good. A Sat¬ 
 urday or two devoted to this purpose, will readily produce one or more of 
 the simpler kind of gymnastic apparatus, and the agreeable and beneficial 
 effects of these will soon introduce others. In this way a full set may in 
 time be obtained. 
 
 As to where the exercises shall take place in rainy weather, has been a 
 question. Some have proposed to fit up and use the basement for the pur¬ 
 pose ; some have thought that the School-house should be constructed with 
 two stories, the upper one of which might be used for play; and others have 
 proposed separate covered buildings or sheds. Should such a use be made 
 of the second story of the School building, the walls of the first story must 
 be made thick and firmly bound together. They need not extend, however, 
 higher than the first story, as the second should be open, but surrounded 
 by a balustrade and pillars to support the roof. The floor ought to be laid 
 with thick plank and deafened. More costly arrangements might be 
 described, but these have both simplicity and cheapness to recommend 
 them. 
 
 Should the price of ground in particular localities render it advisable to 
 occupy a room in the School building, for gymnastic or calisthenic exer¬ 
 cises, or to erect a building purposely, in which case alone such expedients 
 should be resorted to as the sole means of exercise, the utmost care should , 
 be taken to ensure a full supply of pure air. No consideration ought to be 
 permitted to interfere with this indispensable requisite. 
 
 7. Keeping the grounds in order : The Directors in whom, in this State, 
 is vested the exclusive control of the School property of the District, should 
 first project and erect School-buildings and arrange School-grounds; but 
 after they are in order, they should be intrusted to the Teacher’s care, and 
 he should be made responsible for their abuse. It is considered his duty to 
 keep a clean and tidy School-room, and he should be held equally respon¬ 
 sible for the condition of the yard and its enclosure. It is true that the 
 destructive propensities of children, uncontrolled, often lead them to do mis¬ 
 chief — to throw down the fences — to cut and bark the trees — to cover 
 doors and furniture with uncouth and obscene figures; but it is emphatically 
 the Teacher’s duty to prevent these acts, and no better proof need be de¬ 
 sired of a Teacher’s want of qualifications than his inability to do so. This 
 propensity on the part of the young, to cut, scratch, deface and destroy 
 School property should be corrected. They do not thus misuse the property 
 of their parents, and it is but mismanagement at School, that induces them 
 to act differently there. Teachers may create such a spirit among their 
 Pupils, as not only to prevent them from doing harm to the School property, 
 but to render them willing and ready to assist in protecting it from the 
 trespasses of others. They can be taught to love neatness and order, to 
 
SCHOOL GROUNDS. 
 
 261 
 
 guard affectionately the trees and flowers about the School-grounds, and to 
 take pride in their protection and preservation. 
 
 It would be a great convenience to have a spring of water in the yard, or 
 a pump, from which cool, fresh water could be brought at all times; and 
 this should be of such easy access that all might undergo those frequent 
 ablutions so necessary to cleanliness, and upon which depend, to so great an 
 extent, the good looks of School boys and School girls. 
 
 8. Improving existing School-grounds: These grounds can be leveled 
 and smoothed and good inclosures be provided. They can be enlarged by 
 the purchase of adjoining grounds; and in view of the probable increased 
 future requirement of the Schools in this respect and the increasing value 
 of land, good economy would dictate that there should be as little delay as 
 possible in so doing. . Shade trees can be planted in all School-grounds, in 
 which they do not at present exist. It will take them years to grow, and 
 in the far future the little folks who shall then enjoy the comfort of their 
 shade, will look back and thank those to whom they may be so much in¬ 
 debted . 
 
INDEX 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * f 
 
 
 . 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abacus ......».... 
 
 Accessibility, ....... 
 
 Access to Privy—should not be refused ........ 
 
 Air—Constitution and operation of. ... 
 
 Full supply of, necessary... , , ... 
 
 And food-—pure, necessary to health. ..... 
 
 Children incapable of selecting. 
 
 And light—causes of insufficiency of. 
 
 Chamber to be large.... .. 
 
 Pumps ........ 
 
 Apparatus.... 
 
 Importance of. ... . 
 
 Different classes of. .... 
 
 First class, for District School. .. 
 
 Clock........... ...... ................. 
 
 Bell.... 
 
 Boll.. .. 
 
 Thermometer..... . 
 
 For the little ones............. ..... 
 
 Slate.»,, 
 
 
 Cards and pictures. ... . . ..... 
 
 Building blocks., ....... 
 
 Object lessons...,..... 
 
 Black-board. ...... ,... 
 
 Pointers or wands.. ...... .. 
 
 Cardinal points. ... « • 
 
 Globes.. 
 
 Hemisphere globes. .. 
 
 Maps....... 
 
 Tellurion .... ............. 
 
 Musical Multiplication table. 
 Abacus or numeral frame. .. 
 Geometrical solids.......... 
 
 Cube root block.............. 
 
 Mechanical powers... 
 
 Second class • •-#«>•-•-• *-* * •"#"« « • « • «« 
 Electricity •.«»««-#•<« % % % < 
 
 34 
 
 Page 
 
 218 
 
 22 
 
 148 
 
 172 
 
 173 
 171 
 171 
 
 174 
 168 
 223 
 2U9 
 209 
 211 
 212 
 212 
 212 
 212 
 212 
 213 
 
 213 
 
 214 
 214 
 
 214 
 
 215 
 
 215 
 
 216 
 216 
 216 
 217 
 
 217 
 218' 
 
 218 
 219 
 219 
 
 219 
 
 220 
 220 
 
IiSDiiX- 
 
 266 
 
 Page 
 
 Apparatus........ 209 
 
 Second class. 220 
 
 Magic lantern... 221 
 
 Dioptric lantern...... ,.., . 222 
 
 Orrery. 223 
 
 Telescope. 223 
 
 Air pumps. 223 
 
 Force pumps... 225 
 
 Hydrostatic bellows..... 225 
 
 Screw pump. 225 
 
 Eye instruments.,... ... 226 
 
 Spectacle instrument.... , ........ 226 
 
 Choice of. 226 
 
 Case or closet for.........,,. 227 
 
 Use and care of......... .... 228 
 
 Architectural Details .... 14-9 
 
 Artificial ventilation. ....... ........,...181-184 
 
 Back-board ....... ...... .. 259 
 
 Bars—Parallel. 257 
 
 Horizontal. 258 
 
 Balancing. 258 
 
 Beautiful—study of—proper. 24-251 
 
 Bell—Advantages of......... 63 
 
 In School. ......... 212 
 
 Black-board. 203-215 
 
 Black-board—quantity of. .. 30 
 
 Boys—exercise for...... , ... 257 
 
 Brooms and brushes......... 191 
 
 Buckets....,..,. . 193 
 
 Building-blocks. 214 
 
 Calisthenic Apparatus ...... ........ 259 
 
 Cardinal points. 216 
 
 Cards . 214 
 
 Care of apparatus........... 228 
 
 Carpet. 268 
 
 Case for apparatus ..... . ...» .... ... 227 
 
 Ceiling—Height of. ... .. .... 175 
 
 Opening in. 179 
 
 Cellar to School-house. ..... ....... 30 
 
 Centralness......... .... 21 
 
 Charlotta street School, Philadelphia. ......... 103 
 
 Cheaper houses not included—why. ....... 158 
 
 Choice of apparatus.... , ........ 226 
 
 Cities—construction of Schools for. .. ....... ........... ...... 90 
 
 Class-room furniture.............. 206 
 
 Class-space..... , .................... 200 
 
INDEX. 2G7 
 
 Page 
 
 Clock;.. 212 
 
 Clothes-rooms ...-. 30 
 
 Hooks. . ,... 192 
 
 Completion—time of—to be in contract... 157 
 
 Construction of School-houses........... 29 
 
 General principles of, applicable to all Schools... . 29 
 
 Ungraded Rural Schools, Class I, one story. 31 
 
 No. 1—23 by 34 feet; 1 Teacher, 48 Pupils. 31 
 
 “ 2—25 by 30 “ 1 “ 48 “ 35 
 
 “ 3—23 by 34 “ 1 “ 48 “ 37 
 
 “ 4—23 by 34 « 1 « 46 “ 39 
 
 “ 5—30 by 40 “ 2 « 70 “ 42 
 
 “ 6—26 by 40 “ 2 “ 64 “ 44 
 
 “ 7—30 by 40 “ 2 “ 70 “ 46 
 
 Graded Rural Schools, Class II, one story. 49 
 
 No. 1—30 by 50 feet; 2 Teachers, 72 Pupils... 50 
 
 “ 2—30 by 40 « 3 « 112 “ 55 
 
 « 3—32 by 54 “ 3 “ 128 “ 58 
 
 « 4—32 by 54 “ 3 “ 128 “ 60 
 
 “ 5—32 by 54 “ 3 “ 128 « 63 
 
 “ 6—28 by 80 “ 2 or 4 Teachers, 96 or 128 Pupils.. 142 
 
 Schools for small towns, Class III... 67 
 
 No. 1—2 stories; 34 by 50 feet; 4 Teachers, 200 Pupils. 69 
 
 “ 2—2 “ 27 by 35 “ 2 “ 100 “ 74 
 
 “ 3—2 “ 27 by 36 “ 4 “ 144 “ 78 
 
 “ 4—2 “ 28 by 40 “ 4 “ 144 “ 79 
 
 “ 5—2 « 44 by 44 “ 6 “ 288 “ 82 
 
 « 6—2 “ 48 by 50 « 4 “ 208 “ 86 
 
 “ 7—2 “ 27 by 44 “ 4 « 144 « 89 
 
 Schools for cities, Class IV... 90 
 
 No. 1—2 stories; 40 by 50 feet; 5 Teachers, 252 Pupils. 92 
 
 “ 2—2 “ 37 by 47 “ 4 or 5 Teachers, 176 to 240 Pupils.. 97 
 
 “ 3—2 “ 36 by 55 “ 8 Teachers, 360 Pupils. 101 
 
 “ 4—2 « 47 by 50 “ 8 “ 432 “ 103 
 
 “ 5—2 “ 55 by 76 “ 6 “ 360 “ . .. Ill 
 
 “ 6—3 « 60 by 80 « 12 « 892 “ 114 
 
 « 7—3 « 74 by 84 « 11 “ 700 “ 121 
 
 « 8—3 « 47 by 92 “ 15 « 750 “ 128 
 
 « 9—3 « 55 by 82 “ 15 “ 816 “ 130 
 
 “ 10—3 <£ 75 bylOO “ 16 “ 600 “ . 135 
 
 Effect of, on light and air.... 175 
 
 Contract for building, how made..... '30 
 
 Convenience........ 26 
 
 Course of study, not too high... 19 
 
 Crayons—how to make..... 203 
 
 Cube-root block....... 219 
 
 Currents of air..... 163 
 
25 $ 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Deafening.•. 105-109 
 
 Defects in construction...,... ... .. 237 
 
 position...232-236 
 
 size. 238 
 
 Desks. 188-193 
 
 Details, Architectural. 149 
 
 Dinner closet. 192 
 
 Dioptric lantern. 222 
 
 Directors’ office. 86 
 
 Doors, to be wide..... 30 
 
 Dumbbells.... 259 
 
 Electrical machine. 220 
 
 Encased stove. ............ 163-167 
 
 Plate of. 164 
 
 Enclosure of School lot....... 255 
 
 Enlargement of old houses. 241 
 
 Entries. 30 
 
 To be wide....... 68 
 
 Evaporation, vessel for. 168 
 
 Exercise, means of... 257 
 
 Explanatory remarks. 157 
 
 Eye instruments.. 226 
 
 Fences— only division—included in estimates.... 157 
 
 Fire irons..., ... 191 
 
 Fitzwater street School, Philadelphia..... 103 
 
 Flowers. 256 
 
 Flue—Ventilating. 179 
 
 Operation of. 179 
 
 Management of.. ........ ..... 180 
 
 Force pumps. 225 
 
 Form of school room.. ... .. 30 
 
 Frontispiece, plan of. ... 142 
 
 Furnace—Advantages of.. 166, 167 
 
 Eequisites of.. 166-169 
 
 Cost of. ............ 167 
 
 Selection of. lo8 
 
 furniture. . ............. 188 
 
 Seats and desks, proper kinds of... 188 
 
 Why they should he comfortable. ..... . ,.. ... . . 188 
 
 Cheapest not most economical... .... 189 
 
 Teacher to be consulted as to. ..... . ... 189 
 
 Entry and clothes-room furniture ...... ....... 190 
 
 Scraper. 190 
 
 Mat. 190 
 
 Wash basin ........ 191 
 
 Buckets .. 191 
 
INDEX. 
 
 269 
 
 Page 
 
 Furniture.. .......•... 188 
 
 Entry and clothes-room furniture ..... 190 
 
 Brooms and brushes... 191 
 
 Umbrella stand.. 191 
 
 Fire irons. 191 
 
 Clothes-hooks.. 192 
 
 Dinner closet. 192 
 
 Mode of obtaining these articles. ...... 192 
 
 Mode of using them.... 192 
 
 Study room furniture.:.... 193 
 
 Seats and desks.... 193 
 
 Every pupil to have a desk... 193 
 
 Seat and desk to be adapted to pupil...... 194 
 
 Pupil to have ready access to.. 194 
 
 Primary seats and desks.... 194 
 
 Grammar school desks... 195 
 
 High school desks.. 196 
 
 Lancaster city school desks... 197 
 
 Kelative sizes of seats and desks ...... 197 
 
 Ink stands.. 198 
 
 Arrangement of seats and desks...... 198 
 
 Diagonal arrangement of....... 199 
 
 Class—space. 200 
 
 Platform......., 200 
 
 Teacher’s desk.... 201 
 
 Teacher’s chair....... 202 
 
 Black-board. 203 
 
 Different kinds of. 204 
 
 Chalk and crayons. 205 
 
 How to make crayons. 205 
 
 Black-board wiper and brush .. 206 
 
 Class-room furniture. 206 
 
 Grammar class-room. 206 
 
 Mathematical class-room. 206 
 
 Teacher’s platform and desk. ...,. .... 207 
 
 Map rails. . . .. 207 
 
 Carpet..-.... 208 
 
 Furniture, change the arrangement of, why. ... . . J 5 g 
 
 Furniture, improvement of. 246 
 
 Furniture not included in estimate. ...... 157 
 
 Geometrical solids. .....,...... 219 
 
 Girls, exercise for .......... .... 259 
 
 Glass partitions..,. 71_ 85 
 
 Gow, A. M., chapter by. 209 
 
 Graded Rural Schools. .... 49 
 
 Grading Schools. 9 
 
 Importance of. 9 
 
 Lawfulness of. 9 
 
270 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Grading schools. .......... 9 
 
 Reasons for..... . . . jo 
 
 It divides labor.. 10 
 
 Is the most economical. . . n 
 
 Increases teaching force. 11 
 
 Facilitates government. 12 
 
 Promotes equality .,, 12 
 
 Renders the system popular..... 13 
 
 Obligatory, where practicable... 14. 
 
 Nature of gradation.,, 15 
 
 Separate system....., .. 15 
 
 Union system. .. 15 
 
 Mixed systems. 16 
 
 Number of grades.,... 16 
 
 Results of grading. 17 
 
 Mode of proceeding. 18 
 
 Course of study not too high. .... 19 
 
 Grammar School—what...... 17 
 
 Seats and desks. .......195 
 
 Grounds, school.. 248 
 
 As they are........ 248 
 
 Advantages of well arranged...... 249 
 
 Promote health. 249 
 
 Promote order and study.... .„ ,,,,,, 250 
 
 Improve manners and morals. 251 
 
 Improve the feelings and taste... 251 
 
 Improvement of. 252 
 
 Size.......... 252 
 
 Shape. 252 
 
 Enclosure. 255 
 
 Trees, shrubbery and flowers... 256 
 
 Means of exercise. 257 
 
 Exercise in bad weather. 260 
 
 Keeping grounds in order. 260 
 
 Improvement of existing grounds.. 261 
 
 Ground plans, scales of....... 156 
 
 In the ground plan on page 244, a door-way should be shown from each 
 vestibule (B) into the main room; and there should be no opening 
 between the vestibules opposite D, leading from the portico into the 
 
 main room..,. . .... ...... . . .... 244 
 
 Gymnastic apparatus, importance of.249,259 
 
 Mode of procuring.. .... . . . 259 
 
 Hancock School, Philadelphia. .... 128 
 
 Healthfulness... 23 
 
 Health promoted by proper play and exercise... . 249 
 
 Heating school-houses. 159 
 
 True object of... 159 
 
 Proper temperature of.. ...... 159 
 
INDEX. 
 
 271 
 
 Dags 
 
 Heating school-houses....,........ 159 
 
 Temperature should be equal....... 159 
 
 should be maintained. 160 
 
 Thermometer necessary. 160 
 
 Heating and ventilation not inseparable. 160 
 
 Can be simplified. 160 
 
 Modes of heating small Schools..... 161 
 
 By stove in the room... 161 
 
 Kind of stove.. ........ 162 
 
 Position of stove.. ..... 162 
 
 Common screen... 163 
 
 Currents of air towards stove... 163 
 
 Encased stove. 163 
 
 Plate of........ 164> 
 
 Explanation of.. 164 
 
 Advantages of.. 164 
 
 Ventilating flue requisite. 165 
 
 Position of......... 165 
 
 Cost of.. . 165 
 
 By furnace.. 165 
 
 Advantages of.. ... .. . 166 
 
 Plate of. 166 
 
 Requisites of.. 166 
 
 Cost of. 167 
 
 Modes of heating larger houses..... 167 
 
 Common stove. 167 
 
 Encased stove. 167 
 
 Plate of.. 167 
 
 Furnace......167 
 
 Situation of furnace....... 168 
 
 Air chamber to be large...-... 168 
 
 to be high. 168 
 
 Purest air to be introduced... ...... 168 
 
 Grate to air shaft. 168 
 
 Heater to be perfectly tight. 168 
 
 Vessel for evaporation. 168 
 
 Teacher to have charge of furnace..... 169 
 
 Furnace to be repaired in summer. 169 
 
 General principles to be kept in view.... 169 
 
 Height of ceiling............ 30 
 
 High school—what. 17 
 
 Seats and desks...... 196 
 
 Philadelphia... 135 
 
 Hydrostatic bellows. 225 
 
 Importance of grading ....... 10-14 
 
 Of proper location....... 20 
 
 Improvement of old school-houses... . 230 
 
 Of furniture....... ..... 246 
 
INDEX. 
 
 27 2 
 
 Inclined board 
 Ink stands. 
 
 Paos 
 
 258 
 
 198 
 
 Ladder.......... 258 
 
 Lancaster city school-houses. 244 
 
 Seats and desks... . .. t 197 
 
 Street school-house, Philadelphia. *,.. 103 
 
 Large schools—Lighting of. 182 
 
 Heating of... 167 
 
 Ventilation of. 184 
 
 Lawfulness of grading ... ...... 9 
 
 Leap—High. 257 
 
 Pole. 257 
 
 Lecture hall....... 122 
 
 Lewisburg School..... .. 86 
 
 Lighting and ventilation. . . . 170 
 
 Number of deaths under twenty years of age.. . ..... 170 
 
 Supposed cause of this.. ... 170 
 
 Probable cause of it. 170 
 
 Sound food and pure air necessary to health. 171 
 
 Children incapable of selecting either. 171 
 
 Duty of directors and teachers as to pure air. .... . 171 
 
 Constitution and operation of pure air.... .. 172 
 
 Full supply necessary. ..... 173 
 
 Dependence of artificial ventilation on heat.. ..... 173 
 
 Causes of insufficiency of air and light... 174 
 
 Natural means of lighting and ventilating rural Schools. 174 
 
 Proper location. ...... 174 
 
 construction... 175 
 
 height of ceiling. 175 
 
 of windows .... 176 
 
 arrangement of windows.,..... 176 
 
 of blinds or curtains. ...... . 177 
 
 position of Pupils as to light.... . 177 
 
 window as a ventilator.... 178 
 
 opening in the ceiling. 179 
 
 ventilating flue......... 179 
 
 operation of.„.. 179 
 
 management of..... ....... 180 
 
 stove arranged to aid ventilation. 180 
 
 plate of. 181 
 
 opening to admit fresh air indispensable........ 181 
 
 Artificial agencies. 181 
 
 Lighting large Schools. 182 
 
 Windows often too numerous. .. .. 182 
 
 and too small.... . . . ....... . .. 183 . 
 
 High windows desirable... 183 
 
 Position of windows.. . .. ......... 183 
 
 Shutters and blinds requisite.... 184 
 
INDEX. 
 
 273 
 
 Page 
 
 Lighting large Schools.. ....... 182 
 
 Should be in charge of Teacher... 184 
 
 Ventilation of large schools..... 184 
 
 artificial means applicable. 184 
 
 plates of flues, &c., for.185, 186 
 
 heat necessary in mild weather, in aid of. 186 
 
 size of ventiducts... .... 187 
 
 General principles relating to light and air... 187 
 
 Light—General principles applicable to..... 187 
 
 Position of Pupils as to. 30 
 
 Little ones—apparatus for... 213 
 
 Location of Schools. ........ 20 
 
 Importance of subject. ...... 20 
 
 .Requisites of—in Country Schools.... 21 
 
 Centralness. ....•...... 21 
 
 Accessibility............ 22 
 
 Size of lot. 22 
 
 Healthfulness .... 23 
 
 Pleasantness. .... 24 
 
 Retirement.. ........ .... .... 25 
 
 Convenience...... .. 26 
 
 Requisites of, in rural graded Schools.... .. 26 
 
 town Schools. 27 
 
 Directors should have power to take land for... 28 
 
 Location—effect of, on light and air..... 174 
 
 Location of Privy...........-.... 145 
 
 Lock to Privy............ .... 148 
 
 Magic Lantern.. .... 221 
 
 Maps__ . .____.______ . 217 
 
 Map-rails. 207 
 
 Mats............ . 190 
 
 Material of School-houses.... ........ . 30 
 
 Mechanical powers........ 219 
 
 Mild weather, heat necessary for ventilation in.... 186 
 
 Mode of grading ..... 18-67 
 
 Mortality of young persons.. .... ,.... 170 
 
 Multiplication table—musical .... ....... 218 
 
 Natural means of lighting and ventilation ... 174 
 
 Nature of grading..... 15 
 
 Necessity of grading. 18 
 
 North-east Grammar School, Philadelphia... . .... 130 
 
 Number of grades......... .... 16 
 
 Numeral frame... ...... 218 
 
 Object Lessons ..... ........ ........ 214 
 
 Old School-houses, improvement of..... 230 
 
 35 
 
274 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Old School-houses, improvement of........... - 230 
 
 Why they should be improved...,. 230 
 
 When they should be improved... .... 231 
 
 How they should be improved... 232 
 
 Defects in position of rural Schools..... .. 232 
 
 Want of healthfulness..... 232 
 
 Want of size..... 234? 
 
 Want of retirement...... 235 
 
 Want of accessibility... .... 236 
 
 Defects in position of town Schools... . , ... 236 
 
 Want of healthfulness. 236 
 
 Want of size. 236 
 
 Want of retirement.... 236 
 
 Want of accessibility... . .. 237 
 
 Defects in construction of old School-houses . .. . ... 237 
 
 Deficiency in size of house..... 2°8 
 
 Deficiency in height. .... .. 239 
 
 Deficiency in windows...... 240 
 
 Deficiency in special means for ventilation. 241 
 
 Houses should not be made wholly air-tight... 241 
 
 Enlargement of old School-houses..... 241 
 
 When proper. 241-246 
 
 How done. 241 
 
 Of School-houses in Lancaster....... 244 
 
 Pottsville School plan........ 215 
 
 Improvement of School furniture..... .. .. 246 
 
 Teacher should control it..... 246 
 
 How it may be effected by ; ... . ... 247 
 
 Teacher’s duty in reference to..... 247 
 
 One story buildings, advantages of..... ..... ..... ...... 50 
 
 Opening to admit fresh air indispensable.... 181 
 
 Opening in ceiling.. .... 179 
 
 Orrery. 223 
 
 Outside passages in School-rooms proper.. ....... 83 
 
 Pictures.... 
 
 Plan and form of Privy. 
 
 Platform... ......... 
 
 Pleasantness.. . 
 
 Pointers..... 
 
 Portico... 
 
 Position of building, the most proper,. 
 
 Pottsville public School. 
 
 Powers, mechanical.. 
 
 Power to take ground for Schools.. . . 
 
 Primary School, what.. .. 
 
 Seats and desks. 
 
 Principles applicable to all Schools. . . 
 
 214 
 
 147 
 
 ... 30-200 
 24 
 
 215 
 
 ..... 36-37 
 
 69-232-236 
 245 
 219 
 
 ... 28-235 
 17 
 
 ... 194 
 
 29 
 
INDEX. 
 
 275 
 
 Paob 
 
 Privy—Importance of subject. 1+5 
 
 Proper location of... 1+6 
 
 Neatness of appearance... 1+6 
 
 Proper plan and form of. 1+7 
 
 Ventilation of. 1+7 
 
 Cleanliness of. 147 
 
 Well, proper shape of... 147 
 
 Should be locked. 148 
 
 Urinal to. 148 
 
 Pupils should have free access to. 148 
 
 Proportion of Pupils of each grade... 67 
 
 Purest air to be introduced... 168 
 
 Pump or well. ......... .... 261 
 
 .Reasons for grading..... 10 
 
 Reference always to numbers of same class.......... 157 
 
 Requisites of proper location.... ...... 21-26-27 
 
 Results of grading.....*. 17 
 
 Retirement. 25 
 
 Roll. 212 
 
 Rope climbing....... 258 
 
 Rural graded Schools, location of ....!.......... ..........26 
 
 Schools, construction of..., 29 
 
 Scales of ground plans...... 156 
 
 Schneider, Elias, Pottsviile School... 245 
 
 Scraper..........,. 190 
 
 Screen, common. 163 
 
 Screw pump. 225 
 
 Seats... ........ .... 188-193 
 
 Separate School gradation... 15 
 
 Shade trees....,.. 256 
 
 Shape of School lot............ 253 
 
 Shrubbery......... 256 
 
 Size of lot.. ....... ... *.. 22-252 
 
 of School-room. 29 
 
 of seats and desks.......... 197 
 
 of ventiducts.„... 187 
 
 Slate. 21 
 
 Every Pupil to have a... 193 
 
 Small towns, Schools for... 67 
 
 Spectacle instrument....... _.......226 
 
 Stairways, to be wide... ... 68 
 
 when to be double..... 68-90 
 
 Steam engine, plate of.. 211 
 
 Stove.... .........161-167 
 
 Kind of....... 162 
 
 Position of............ ,., H .. 162 
 
276 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Stove. 161-167 
 
 Encased..... ,. |63 
 
 To aid ventilation .. . . 180 
 
 Summer, the time to repair furnace. 169 
 
 Supervision of Pupils at play. 25-250-251 
 
 Swing, rotary. 258 
 
 Teacher to improve furniture. 247 
 
 Duty of, as to grounds...... 260 
 
 To have charge of furnace. 169 
 
 Telescope....,...... 223 
 
 Tellurion. 217 
 
 Temperature—Proper.... 159 
 
 Equal. 159 
 
 Continued. 159 
 
 Thermometer, necessary. ..160-212 
 
 Town Schools—location of. 27 
 
 Towns—construction of Schools for small. ...... 67 
 
 Trees.....256-261 
 
 Triangle. 259 
 
 Umbrella stand......... 191 
 
 Ungraded Schools—construction of. 41 
 
 Union School—what..... . .... 15 
 
 Urinal to Privy............ 148 
 
 Vaulting............. 257 
 
 Ventiducts—size of. 187 
 
 Ventilation and heating—not inseparable ........ 160 
 
 Ventilation—general principles applicable to. ....... 187 
 
 Ventilating flues—plates of... ........185-186 
 
 Ventilation of Privy.......... 147 
 
 Wash-basin. 191 
 
 Washington borough School... . .... . ... 121 
 
 Wickersham, J. P., chapter by.......... 248 
 
 Well, Privy—proper shape of....... 147 
 
 Williamsport School. 114 
 
 Woodcock’s arrangement. 199 
 
 Windows—Height of ...... .....30-176 
 
 Arrangement of. ... 176 
 
 Blinds or curtains to ........ . 177—184 
 
 Position as to Pupils , , ....... 177 
 
 As ventilators. 178 
 
 Too numerous..,..... .. . .. 182 
 
 Often too small.. 183 
 
 High desirable. .. 183 
 
 Wiper and brush for black-board. .., ... . ................. 206 
 

 
 
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 GETTY CENTER LIBRARY 
 
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