Author ^^*0/' <-> o :%: ^^ \^ ■ ^ -v •^ ** 'i LB... .3.E2.1 ...Ms. Title Imprint. 16-H17372-2 OPO ,u>- % IMPROVED SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE: .SHOWING lae§foriHi3!hc)(0)li ^ WITH WINDOWS ON THREE SIDES, AND WITHOUT LOSING ECONOMY OF SPACE IN THE BUILDING. - ^v^^ BY y .^^O: ADOLPHUS FREDERIC MARTHENS PITTSBURGH: ^ 1873. U>) Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1873, Dy Adolphus Frederic Marthens, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. [CHOOL AKCrilTECTURE has fully kept pace, in grandeur of style and extravagance of outlay, with the rapidly increasing wealth of the people of our country; but in some of the essentials of comfort and health it is yet greatly deficient. Perhaps a reason for this may be, that architects are never teach- ers, and are seldom if ever identified with educational interests to such a degree as to become imbued with a feel ing of the real needs of great school buildings. Their delight is in massive piles, and they revel among eleva- tions where hundreds of feet on each front give scope to their genius. Thus they frequently rear structures of such magnificent proportions as to necessitate imperfectly lighted interiors; forgetting that the "dim, religious light" of the poet, is unfitted for the active employments of life, and hardly even suited for the church, of which he sung. The author and designer of the following pages has had his attention drawn towards schools and school accommo- dations, for several years past; and all of his examina- tions, whether of the houses themselves, or the plans on paper, where the former were inaccessible, have only the more fully convinced him that the best exterior form has never yet been attained, and consequently that the interior 4 Improved School Architecture. is necessarily defective in some essential particulars, the chief ol which is undoubteily that of an abundant and evenly distributed light; a quality which ought to obtain in all school houses. Out of a great number of plans, from the least pretentious up to those of the largest and costliest structures, in only rare instances have I found rooms with windows on two opposite sides, in any but the smallest houses. The finest of them may be said indeed to be invariably made up of rooms either lighted only from one side, or else from two adjoining sides, in the propor- tion of two of the latter to one of the former. Some of the most popular educational institutions of EngltMid, such as Eton and Winchester colleges, and the schools of Rugby, Christ Church, Merchant Taylors, Har- row, &c., have their windows placed on two opposite sides; which is certainly better for diffusion of light than our method; yet those school rooms, excellent as they are, cannot be ranked as perfect when compared with a house the rooms of which are lighted by windows on three sides, through which the direct rays of light stream in. The object of this publication is to call attention to a New Plan for^chool Houses, which accomplishes this great result. \That this is a new plan, no one may doubt, for, although in exceptional cases, and as it were, by chance, rooms lighted from three sides may be found in school hou- ses, yet, on putting the question recently to an enthusiastic educator, a gentleman of high intelligence, who has visited more^than three hundred schools, including all of the best in the country, he assured me that none of them were lighted from three sides of a square. \ Improved School Architecture. 5 The elaborate and expensive but usually inefficient ar- rangements for ventilation, which are now so lavishly provided, may be entirely dispensed with, in houses built on this plan, as a movement of the windows on opposite sides of the rooms can always more certainly and promptly effect the object; and even the whole house, right through, can be thus aired. Another advantage is, that the direct light of the sun cannot be hindered from peeping into these rooms during some part of the day, giving life and health to the little learners, and invigorating the teacher as well. ]¥lie Plan, as will be seen, is drawn for a three-storied house, cabbie of accommodating eight hundred to a thou- sand pupill, (and more than this ought not to be under one roolij and with an Exliibition Hall of proportions am- ple for all school uses. [But one of the excellent points in it is its adaptability to smaller numbers of scholars. The general plan remains all the same, whether the school be large or small to begin with, and shows no lopsidedness in front, when only partially built. For example: the first story, with its large school rooms, besides directors' room, with vault for records, and other apartments, and on the second floor the three front rooms, with the centre part of the house built up to its full height, for the Hall, would give eight school rooms, leaving yet seven out of the plan, while the front appearance would not be at all unsightly. When the demand for more room would arise, it could be met by adding the two back rooms of the second story, or those two and the two front rooms of the third; and, finally, as population increased, the plan in its full propor- 6 Improved School Architecture. tions could be erected — but all the while, whether in its partial or its complete state, light, sunshine, and ventila- tion, would always be available. In publishing this New Plan for school buildings, I do not intend to interfere with the occupation of architects, (a highly meritorious class of artists,) any further than to exhibit to the public and to School Boards such a valuable improvement as shall demand acceptance. It might be supposed that this plan would require a much larger sur- face of ground than the present style of school buildings; but so far is this from being the case, that it actually takes less ground for a specific amount of seating room than that of any other with which I have compared it. As I said before, no other interference with architects is designed; and elevations, cellar plans, roofs, arrangements for heat- ing, including necessary smoke and hot air flues, &c., and the specifications necessary for the proper erection of the house, I willingly leave to them. A few observations in regard to interior arrangements: Each of the three stories ought to be about fourteen feet to the ceiling, and if the hall were elevated to eighteen or twenty feet, it would be all the better. The walls of the rooms ought to be as free from angles as possible, for the convenience of blackboard surface. The blackboard itself ought to occupy a space of three feet nine inches around the walls, beginning at a distance of fifteen inches from the floor, and ascending to a height of five feet. The teacher's desk ought to be invariably situated as indicated in the plans, so as to have the scholars' faces turned towards the only wall which is unpierced by windows. The windows Improved School Architecture. 7 ought to be placed h igh enough to be clear of the bl ack- board, (five feet from the floor, as above stated ;y and they ought to be provided with inside shutters, but not of the Venetian sort. Let them be simply panelled, and in four parts, each part running in one piece from bottom to top, for convenience of handling. When made in this way they will be much cheaper; much more convenient; much easier kept clean and in repair ; and, by the exercise of a little judgment, quite as effective in shading the room. There ought to be a comfortable room in the basement, for the janitor, where he should always be found during school hours, except when necessarily engaged in some other part of the house. A dwelling for a janitor's family in the basement, is a nuisance. The cooking of coarse and unsavory food, during school hours, often sends up offen- sive odors, and unfits the scholar for proper attention to his studies. Other reasons also might be given why it is very undesirable to have a family quartered on the premises. it pknatiatt