James Betelle, Where Are You?

Ten beautifully restored chandeliers were recently installed in the auditorium at the Washington Irving Intermediate School of Tarrytown, New York. The school recently underwent a major renovation which included larger classrooms, an expanded library, a new art room, renovated music rooms, a new nurses station and renovations of the existing offices. A wonderful restoration job [...]

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Poor New Rochelle High school. As if a devastating fire in 1968 wasn’t bad enough, the old girl suffered another indignity as lightning struck one of its towers about 6pm on Friday. The strike arrupted a blaze that basically destroyed the conical roof, but luckily it was a localized event, and should be fully repairable. [...]

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My first exposure to New Rochelle High School was a series of photographs in a 1932 article on school architecture written by James Betelle. While I had been pretty familiar with the traditional English Gothic and Neo-Classical designs of his schools, this one stood out as unique; it had a style unlike any other. Towers, [...]

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While doing a little bit of research into Guilbert & Betelle’s New Rochelle High School, I came upon this postcard of Isaac E. Young High School, also in New Rochelle. Isaac E. Young Middle School, as it is called now, is quintessential Collegiate Gothic, featuring red brick, a central tower with octagonal corners in the [...]

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The December, 1931 issue of The Architectural Forum article, “Nine Senior High School Buildings” featured two Guilbert & Betelle schools; Great Neck High School and The Bronxville School. The text and illustrations for Great Neck High School (now Great Neck North High School) are shown here. While Betelle is on record as preferring the Collegiate [...]

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