Tag Archives: school

Focused discussion of specific schools by Guilbert & Betelle

The Marshall School, South Orange, New Jersey

One of the most important contracts for Guilbert & Betelle were the schools of the South Orange and Maplewood School District in New Jersey, where they would eventually design all of the new school buildings up through 1930. The creation of the first school they built, The Marshall School, (named for retiring Board president James Marshall), was significant for both Betelle and the District.

In 1920 the District, under the direction of George E. Low, Chairman of the Building Committee, began an aggressive building program to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding student population. The existing buildings were cramped, hazardous (there were numerous fires over the years) and ill-equipped.

This was not a new realization, and indeed a number of strategically located parcels of land had already been tentatively selected for schools a number of years before. One of these, on Grove Road in South Orange, was determined to be the best location for the first school.

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Great Neck High School

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 Gothic style, GNHS is very much a traditional Colonial design, of which he did numerous buildings. As the text points out, this was to make the school “harmonize with the history and architecture of the community.” Another interesting point is on the plan: the angled front facade hides the fact that an optimistically symmetrical portion of the school was left unbuilt as a “future addition.” Whether the school ever had an addition which followed Betelle’s plan, I don’t know.

Great Neck High School, Great Neck, L.I., N.Y.
Guilbert & Betelle, Architects

EXTERIOR: The Colonial character of the building was decided upon as being in harmony with the history and earlier architecture of the community. The walls are of red brick, with limestone trim, and the roof is of green slate. The windows are of wood, double hung.

INTERIOR: The corridors and stairs have glazed-brick wainscoting, plaster walls and ceilings. For most of their length the corridors are lined with lockers. The classrooms, library, administrative offices, etc., have plaster walls, chestnut trim, and maple floors. Corridor floors are of concrete. Toilet rooms have tile floors and walls, and metal toilet partitions. The building is heated by direct steam radiation, and ventilated by unit ventilators; the controlled cut-off system permits heating of the library, auditorium, and cafeteria independently of the balance of the building.

COST AND CONSTRUCTION: The building is of fireproof construction, with solid brick walls, concrete floor slabs and steel framework over the large spans of the auditorium and gymnasium. The non-bearing partitions throughout are of terra cotta. Total cost, exclusive of land and architect’s fee, was $907,000, or 1,905,000 cu. ft. at 46 1/2 cents per cu. ft.

Columbia High School in The Encyclopædia Britannica

Guilbert and Betelle are represented in the 14th Edition of The Encyclopædia Britannica (1929, vol. 20; SARS to SORC), under the heading School Architecture. It’s a one-paragraph blurb describing Columbia High School, accompanied by the first floor plan (which incorrectly places CHS in South Orange; the building is in Maplewood):

“The Columbia high school, South Orange and Maplewood N.J., designed by Guilbert and Betelle, is a building with a capacity of 1,600 pupils. There are standard class-rooms supplemented by rooms for special subjects. The auditorium seats 1,300 persons and on the large stage is a pipe organ. Full size gymnasiums are provided for both boys and girls, and between the gymnasiums is a swimming pool with spectator’s gallery.”

This entry is among a number of other ones describing progressive American school architecture. While certainly an honorable mention for CHS, the editorially neutral wording belies how some histories have exaggerated this item.

“The Trend in School Building Design”

The following article by JOB appeared in the May, 1932 issue of “Architecture” (Volume LXV, No. 5, Charles Scribner’s Sons). In it, he waxes philosophic about the current and future trends in school design. Early on it reads a bit surly, as he diplomatically defends against the rising cost of school construction, but then settles into forward-looking optimism, such as the idea of city-wide programs to instruct large groups of students via “radio instruction by television.”

Included are a number of photographs and plans from the original article (there are way too many to show them all).

The Trend in School Building Design
By James O. Betelle, F.A.I.A.
Of the Firm of Guilbert & Betelle, Architects, Newark, N.J.

Prosperous times for the past ten years, together with a greater demand for public education, have brought a great number of school buildings throughout the country. The erection of these buildings has furnished an opportunity, through experience, for the educated and architects to improve them, not only in design and construction, but also in layout, thereby making them more suitable and usable as educational structures.
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“Architectural Styles as Applied to School Buildings”

The following article by Betelle appeared in the April, 1919 edition of The American School Board Journal. Much of it reads as somewhat repetitive and obvious, but given ASBJ was directed at educators, not architects, the simplistic overview of concepts is understandable. Where JOB does get more specific is in explaining the benefits of the Collegiate Gothic style for schools, noting that windows may be larger and closer-spaced as compared to Colonial or Classical designs. He also notes that Collegiate Gothic is also cheaper, as “it does not require the heavy cornices, balustrades, pediments, or high pitched roofs, which are so characteristic of the Colonial period.”

Architectural Styles as Applied to School Buildings
James O. Betelle, of the firm of Guilbert & Betelle, Newark, N.J.

Cos Cob High School

Now that our thoughts are being directed to the construction of the much needed new school buildings, let us give a little more thought to the style of architecture to be used on the exterior of the buildings. Only in this way can we hope to improve upon the commonplace buildings, which are now so plentiful throughout the country. The importance of giving the floor plan a great deal of thought and study in order to arrive at the best results is pretty well appreciated, but the style of the exterior has not been so carefully considered. It is quite possible to design a school building which, taken by itself, would be attractive and beautiful, but still inappropriate to its surroundings,. That there is a lack of knowledge on the part of school boards and school superintendents regarding the different styles of architecture which can be used in school buildings, and their proper sue, is clearly shown by the many inappropriate and ill-adapted schools located in all parts of the country. It is with a view of explaining and illustrating in a brief way the various architectural styles as applied to school buildings that this article is being written.