Tag Archives: school

Focused discussion of specific schools by Guilbert & Betelle

“New Grade School Buildings of South Orange and Maplewood, NJ”

The following article by JOB appeared in The American School Board Journal, January, 1926. In it, he outlines the unique structure of the SO/M school system, accompanied by photographs and floorplans of the four initial grade schools. His description is rather understated, considering how huge the project was; the district had essentially planned to build, over a 10 year period, roughly eleven school buildings. JOB designed them all.

New Grade School Buildings of South Orange and Maplewood, NJ
James O. Betelle of the Firm Guilbert and Betelle, Architects.

montrose.jpg

The Village of South Orange and the Township of Maplewood New Jersey are two separate municipalities. They are entirely independent of each other, but the direction of their educational affairs is vested in a single board of education. In this respect the situation is rather unique, but it has worked out to the advantage of all parties concerned.

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The Bronxville School, Bronxville, N.Y.

The December, 1931 issue of The Architectural Forum featured the article, Nine Senior High School Buildings. Two Guilbert & Betelle projects were illustrated; Great Neck High School and The Bronxville School). The text and illustrations for The Bronxville School are shown here.

Interestingly, this school was a collaboration with the architect Harry Leslie Walker, who had some prominence in the area. Why this collaboration occurred is unknown.

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South Mountain School, South Orange, N.J.

South Mountain School in South Orange, New Jersey, was the last of the original slate of grade schools to be built for the South Orange-Maplewood School District by Guilbert & Betelle. Originally called The Wyoming Avenue School, it was completed in February, 1930. There is frustratingly little historical information about it, relative to the other schools that were constructed at the time.

These images are from the May, 1932 issue of Architecture magazine, from The Trend in School Building Design, an article by Betelle profiling many of Guilbert & Betelle recent work. It features a period photograph of the school and plans of the first and second floor (the basement is not shown).

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Vineland High School, Vineland, N.J.

Betelle designed Vineland High School (now Landis Middle School) in Vineland, New Jersey. There is a good website dedicated to the history of the school, containing a nice overview of the Collegiate Gothic style Betelle employed:

“Exterior style was carefully chosen to blend and harmonize with surroundings. Modified Collegiate Gothic was favored by J. O. Betelle for reasons of scholastic character and other practical points that recommended it for use in a large city school like Landis School. In the Collegiate Gothic style, windows could be as high and wide as needed with a relatively small proportion of wall surface. Also, windows could be arranged irregularly without detracting from the general appearance. Collegiate Gothic was selected for economical reasons as well.”

“Columbia High School, South Orange and Maplewood, N.J.”

James Betelle wrote many articles for educational journals of the day, most notably The American School Board Journal. This one is a brief look at the major features of Columbia High School, which opened its doors in 1927. The article was published in the January, 1928 issue of ASBJ.

COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTH ORANGE AND MAPLEWOOD, N.J.
Designed by Messrs. Guilbert & Betelle, Architects, Newark, N.J.

chs 1930

It may be recalled that in the special Building Number of the Journal for January, 1926, several of the new grade schools in South Orange and Maplewood were illustrated in connection with an article describing the community and the local point-of-view and objectives in the school-building program. With the grade school situation taken care of temporarily, attention has been given to a senior-high school building, which is located in the geographical and population center of the two communities. This school, known as the Columbia high school, is now completed and occupied, and is illustrated in this issue.

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