Francis M. Drexel School | |
 Exterior of the Drexel School in 1897 | |
    | |
| Location | 1800 S. 16th Street,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°55′42″N75°10′21″W / 39.92833°N 75.17250°W /39.92833; -75.17250 |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1888 |
| Architect | Joseph Anschutz; Charles O'Neill, Jr. |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| MPS | Philadelphia Public Schools TR |
| NRHP reference No. | 86003272[1] |
| Added to NRHP | December 4, 1986 |
TheFrancis M. Drexel School was a historicschool inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania,United States. Located along S. 16th Street, the school was designed byJoseph Anschutz and built under the direction of Charles O'Neill, Jr.[1] The three-story brick building was built in a regular rectangular plan in theVictorian style of architecture, with threechimneys dominating itsfacade.[2]: 2
The school was named forFrancis Martin Drexel, whose son, banker and philanthropistAnthony J. Drexel, foundedDrexel University two years after the construction of the school.
At the time of the Drexel School's construction, Philadelphia's school system had a decentralized administration, with Drexel being a part of the Twenty-sixth Section.[3] The school buildings, however, were designed by the central administration.[4]
The Drexel family was intensely involved with education at this time. Anthony J. Drexel, as the partner ofJ.P. Morgan, was an internationally important financier, and as the partner ofGeorge W. Childs, publisher of the PhiladelphiaPublic Ledger, was influential in local affairs as well. He was a close friend of Childs, and together they worked to offer free or inexpensive education to the working class. According to Childs, Drexel gave "many munificent gifts to established educational and charitable institutions," as well as founding and endowing the Drexel Institute, which later becameDrexel University.[5] Drexel's orphaned niece,Katherine Drexel, sought advice from Childs and Drexel on her plans to become a nun in the service of educatingNative Americans andAfrican-Americans. This work led to herbeatification by Pope John II.[6] Two other nieces, Elizabeth Drexel Smith and Louise Drexel Morrell, founded and endowed the St. Francis Industrial School at Eddington, Pennsylvania in 1888.[7] The George W. Childs School, also designed by Anschutz, was built in 1894 just three blocks north of the Francis M. Drexel School.[4]: 33
Completed in 1889,[2]: 2 the Drexel School included features common to late nineteenth-century Philadelphia schools. Earlier schools were generally built entirely ofbrick, and the 1870s saw the introduction ofstone schools, but schools built between 1883 and 1900, including Drexel, typically combined brick walls andbrownstone finishing.[4]: 6
Anschutz worked in the tradition of Samuel Sloan's "Philadelphia Plan" of school architecture: On each floor, classrooms opened onto a single corridor, and were divided by moveable partitions. Coatrooms were provided in each classroom. Stairways and other non-classroom space were located at the end of the corridor, near the outside of the building.[4]: 9–10 The architectural plans closely follow these principles. The school's windows were enlarged in 1914, and in 1922, lighting was changed from gas to electric.[8]
Although it originally housed classes for bothelementary andsecondary students, Drexel was built at a time when school boards were beginning to open separate schools for different purposes.[3][4]: 11 It remained in use by thePhiladelphia Public Schools into the late twentieth century.[2]: 1
In 1986, the Francis Drexel School was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in recognition of its architectural significance.[1] While many Philadelphia schools had been modeled on the Drexel School in the late nineteenth century, most had been destroyed or significantly remodeled; only Drexel and two other schools remained in a condition similar to that of their original construction.[2]: 2 Fifty-two other Philadelphia schools, including five designed by Anschutz,[4]: 11 were added to the Register on the same day as part of the Philadelphia Public Schoolsmultiple property submission.[1]
The Drexel School was demolished in February, 2010.[9]
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