Modern American school buildings

Preface

The preparation of this work has been fragmentary in the extreme; the several subjects have been treated at intervals, usually wide apart, extending over a period of twenty years; they have, as a rule, been taken up at moments when the machinery of the ofhce was practically at a standstill, or when some special problem or incident had brought forcibly to my mind the need of radical reforms.

The first twelve chapters are here presented for the first time; Chapters XIII and XIV were papers prepared for State Board of Health reports. Chapter XV is composed of the series of papers originally written for ArcJiitecture and Building ; and the last chapter has recently been compiled to complete this series. The illustrations and designs, with some minor exceptions, are entirely new. Their collection and arrangement in book form was suggested by the constant demand for those that had been published, which could not be supplied.

The State Board of Health reports were limited editions, long since exhausted; and, while there are undoubtedly many volumes of Architecture mid Building containing that series of articles in existence, they are, as a rule, to be found only in the libraries of architects and are not accessible either to

VI PREFA CE.

the public or those who may be especially interested in school buildings. Under these conditions it was deemed advisable to edit in book form not only those that had already appeared, but such other matter as might be pertinent to the subject, with a hope that the interest taken in the original articles may be intensified and increased.

If the perusal of the pages of this book will tend to improve this most important branch of American architecture and result ultimately in better buildings for our children to pursue their studies in, my efforts in their behalf will not have been in vain.

Bridgeport, Conn., 1899.

Contents

CHAPTER

PAGE

I. In General • 7

Chapter I. In General

It has been said that more money is expended each year in the United States in the construction and maintenance of public-school buildings than is used for a like purpose in all the other countries of the world combined. While this appears to be an exceedingly broad statement, still it may not be an exaggeration, especially when our vast size and wonderful increase in population during the past decade are taken into consideration; for it can be affirmed with assurance that no community of this great nation, be it ever so humble, will long remain without a structure of some kind within which its children can receive at least the rudiments of an education. It is also undisputed that in the West, our greatest field of development, the first substantial public structure evolved from the chaotic mining-camp or land- " boomer's " settlement is the schoolhouse, which thus becomes the pioneer of enlightenment, progress, and knowledge. It is likewise true that these indisputable facts are more noticeable in our own than in any other country, for, however ignorant, lawless, or depraved the native American parents may be, there is found in them, as a rule, an inborn desire not only to improve the condition of their children, but to have them receive wholesome training. This tendency becomes stronger as the ratio of intelligence and prosperity increases, it being recognized intuitively that the surest safeguard that any nation can have is knowledge, and that the best way that it can be imparted to the masses is by the public education of their children.

That the public system of education has been carried irt our country during the last half-century to a degree of perfection heretofore unknown to any country of the world nO' one will deny ; and that to-day the United States is far in advance of all other nations in this respect will also be admitted.

Can it be said, however, with equal assurance that our school buildings have kept pace with our educational systems ? In other words, are they as complete in their design and construction as the educational system is in its. plan and equipment ? This question propounded to the average citizen will be answered without hesitancy in the afifirmative, and to emphasize he will point with pride to the numerous school buildings of more or less architectural merit to be found in his immediate locality. He assumes that because the building cost a certain amount of money and is pretentious, at least in outward appearance, it possesses all the essential qualifications of a good school structure. In these assumptions he is perfectly sincere and impartial, and, so far as his knowledge extends, has given an honest opinion. Perhaps nothing more should be expected, for the difference between that which is good and bad is often so inconspicuous as to be visible only to the trained eye; yet when the differ-

IN GENERAL. O

ence is once understood it becomes ever after painfully apparent and obnoxious. It may therefore be in the nature of a blessing that the old adage, " Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise," is so directly applicable to the great mass of public opinions expressed in regard to modern school buildings.

But leaving all consideration of the exterior architectural merit of the modern school building — going back, in fact, to the fundamental principle, which is tJie uses for zvhich the building is intended — and remembering that the building is to live and work in, not to look at, how then will it stand searching investigation ? The competent critic — and I claim that the average citizen, however much of an oracle he may be, is not in this class — will tell you that, judged by established and well-known (to the initiated) standards of construction and hygienic excellence, not one old building in fifty, nor new building in ten, comes anywhere near fulfilling the requirements.

That earnest efforts have frequently been made to correct existing evils and prevent their being repeated is true, and that there is an abundance of statistics and data at hand which if it were understandingly used would overcome many, if no tall, of the glaring faults so frequently encountered, is also undisputed; but in spite of this and in the face of the teachings of such men as Cohn, Lincoln, Billings, and Windsor, school buildings are constantly being erected all over this broad land of ours that are full of errors in planning, construction, lighting, heating, and ventilation. If you think this is a wild statement, let me refer you to a paper written by Dr. A. G. Young, Secretary of the Maine state Board of Health, published in its Seventh Annual lO MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Report for the year 1891. He says: "Two years later, or during the fall and winter of 1887-88, the Secretary of this Board personally visited and inspected eighty-four school buildings in twenty-three of the cities and larger villages of the State. The object was to examine a large enough number of the schoolhouses in different parts of the State, so that the results might be considered as fairly representative of the schoolhouses of the State generally, with a like location in cities and villages. The time spent upon each school building ranged from a few minutes, for a hasty survey, to half a day, or a whole day, diligently spent in examining, measuring, and testing, and in making notes. The results were published in full in the Third Annual Report of the Board. The eighty-four buildings examined varied in size from one-room schoolhouses to twelve- and even twenty-four-room buildings, and they contained an aggregate of 284 rooms, excluding recitation-rooms.

" As regards the lighting and ventilation of these rooms the following shows the conditions found:

Lighting of rooms satisfactory dy

Lighting of rooms unsatisfactory 217

Ventilation satisfactory 16

Ventilation none or insufficient 268

" It should be said regarding this classification of results that some of the rooms in which the lighting is classed as satisfactory zvould not be called so if judged in accordance with very exacting rules, and that hardly any, and perhaps none, of the sixteen schoolrooms put down as zvell ventilated came up to the ideal standard.

" While the window-surface of schoolrooms should be at

IN GENERAL. ' II

least one fifth as great as the floor-surface, the ratio actually found was often only one eighth, one tenth, one twelfth, or even in a few cases one sixteenth or one seventeenth, — degrees of lighting so insuf^cient that they cannot fail to be injurious to the eyes of the scholars.

" A very serious fault found in some schoolhouses was the location of some of the windows directly before the eyes of the scholars as they sat at their studies. Even in one twenty-thousand-dollar schoolhouse, passing as an architecturally fine building, there were found six large windows with a western outlook directly in front of the scholars. The effects upon the eyes of the pupils had been so disastrous that the school officers were seeking to obviate the difficulty, and they have done so in part by a new arrangement of the seats.

" As regards the ventilation, the best results were found in the main room of the Cony high-school building at Augusta. Determined by Wolpert's air-tester, there were found only Sy^ir parts of carbonic acid in I0,000 parts of air. In this room a large part of the scholars are absent from their seats most of the time in the three recitation-rooms. On the other hand, in many other schoolrooms 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 parts in 10,000 parts of air were found. In one city high school 29 parts of carbonic acid were found; in another city high school 22 parts; in one fine new building, reached just as the school was dismissed at noon, 18 and 20 parts of carbonic acid respectively were found in two of the rooms one hour after the scholars had left the building, the doors and windows being closed, but the ventilating arrangement in operation meanwhile. In some of the rooms no artificial methods of air-testing were needed, for upon entering them the close, stuffy, and disagreeable smell of polluted air was very unpleasantly perceptible to the sense of smell."

In this connection it will be well to quote: " An exceptionally valuable statement is made by the engineer of the Walker building, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, relative to certain atmospheric determinations in the various rooms of that building during the last nine years, as made and recorded four times daily. According to these data the outer air surrounding the institute shows an ordinary proportion of from 3.7 to 4.2 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000 parts of air. In the empty rooms the air shows a rise of carbonic acid of about 0.5 part, due to decomposition of the organic matter present in the flues, the floors, and the walls. The air of the building in general, of the halls, reading-rooms, etc., which are open and in which people are constantly moving about, is, it appears, maintained at about 5 parts as an average of all tests for eight years. The air of most of the lecture-rooms has contained from 6 to 8 parts, rising to 10 or 12 parts for the large and more crowded rooms, according to the state of the weather outside. From this state of things it is argued that students are capable of working well in a clean room with about 7 parts in 10,000 of carbonic acid. It is well added that a greater degree or amount than that is sufficient to cause dulness, and anything in excess of 13 parts is declared to be an almost insuperable obstacle to the full acquisition of knowledge by the classes." It will be readily seen from this that the pupils even in the best heated and ventilated schoolrooms found in the State of Maine were pursuing their studies in an impure atmosphere, and that the great majority were confined in

IN GENERAL. I3

rooms that must have been highly injurious to their health.

The sanitary conditions were found to be equally bad, and, if necessary, I could quote from numerous other reliable sources to show the correctness of my premises. It is reasonable to assume that the public-school buildings of the State of Maine are a fair sample of the buildings devoted to similar purposes in the surrounding States; accepting this assumption, then surely the statements that I have previously made are in no way an exaggeration. Perhaps it will be claimed that better results in heating and ventilation than those obtained in the main room in the Augusta building are impossible without the use of an elaborate mechanical apparatus. In reply to this it is only necessary to say that I know of schoolrooms, tested as long ago as 1883, in a twenty-room structure where the following results were obtained :

Room No. 8 55 pupils.

Air at ingress contained 1.25 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000 parts of air.

Air at breathing-point contained 1.256 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000 parts of air.

Air at exit contained 2.948 parts of carbonic acid in 10,000 parts of air.

The tests of the air of the room (which was selected at random) were conducted by an experienced analytical chemist at the request of a certain Board of Education which was at that time deeply interested in the heating and ventilating of school buildings. The method of heating employed was indirect steam, and the apparatus entirely automatic and comparatively inexpensive to construct and to maintain.

If such results have been obtained in one building, they certainly can be duplicated in another with more or less modifications, and there is absolutely no excuse for the existence of such schoolrooms as, according to Dr. Young's paper, comprise the great majority in the State of Maine.

It will be naturally asked why, when the results like those just cited are obtainable, they are not always insisted upon and the standard of excellence raised in every department of schoolhouse construction to the highest obtainable point.

The answers to this and pertinent questions are many and far-reaching, and it is my purpose in this work to point out some of them and suggest practical remedies, I shall consider, first, the methods usually employed to secure the necessary funds for the school building; second, the popular way of selecting the architect (incidentally discussing this phase of the question from several points of view); and finally, describing and illustrating faults of planning, construction, lighting, sanitation, heating, and ventilation that are commonly encountered.

MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Chapter II. Appropriations

One of the primary causes of unsatisfactory buildings is the lack of sufficient funds to properly erect and fully equip' structures of the required size. It is safe to say that in the great majority of cases the attempt is made to build a building of a certain size for an amount of money totally inadequate. This fault does not, as a rule, lie with the local Board of Education or building committee that may have the matter directly in charge, but primarily with the town or city meeting where the appropriation for the proposed structure has been made. The usual course pursued is something as follows: It has been decided, after considerable agitation, that a certain small city is in need of a new high-school building, and a public meeting is called for the purpose of appointing a committee and to appropriate the necessary funds. No very definite ideas of the size of the building or the accommodations that it must necessarily contain have been formulated, and it is more than probable that a site has not been selected. A few who are directly connected or interested in the school have rather a vague idea that a certain number of pupils must be provided for, and that any one of half a dozen sites that may be suggested will be acceptable. Beyond this there is absolutely no data to guide the meeting either in selecting the site or in determining the amount of money necessary to erect a building suitable to the future needs of the city. The meeting is called to order, its object and purpose stated, and a committee composed of good representative men, in whom the community will place the utmost confidence, is quickly selected.

It is now moved by some level-headed business man that an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars be made for the purpose of purchasing a site and erecting thereon a building suitable for the use of the high school. A motion of this kind, while strictly legitimate and based upon the soundest business principles, almost invariably precipitates discussion and creates an unreasonable and unwarranted opposition that is both unfortunate and disastrous. A golden opportunity is afforded the local oracle, who usually poses as a reformer and loves to denounce in unmeasured terms any scheme of improvement that may require the use of the city's money. Men of this class are not, as a rule, taxpayers, but they are still very much in evidence and by glib talk and noisy bluster succeed in stirring up so much opposition to the original motion that it is lost and a motion appropriating fifty thousand dollars is substituted and passed. The champions of economy are jubilant; they have won a signal victory, and the people's treasury will not be depleted!

Let us see, however, before passing judgment, what the ultimate result of the action of the meeting will be. The committee goes to work conscientiously and purchases for twenty thousand dollars a site that is satisfactory to the majority. Then with the superintendent of schools and perhaps the principal it visits existing structures in neighboring cities and, after many meetings and much labor, formu-

APPROPRIATIONS. 23

lates a program of the requirements of the school as they understand them. This is submitted to local, and in some cases to outside, architects with an invitation to present ■designs for the proposed building in competition, — it being expressly stipulated that the completed structure, including the necessary furniture, shall not exceed in cost the sum of thirty thousand dollars.

What an absurdity such a program is and how unreasonable it is to expect any architect to live up to its provisions! The committee when it issued the program, and the architects when they received it, knew — if they knew anything — that it would be absolutely impossible to erect and equip the simplest kind of a building, containing rooms of the number and size required, for the price so arbitrarily stipulated. The committee, however, should not be severely censured, as it has only carried out its instructions to the best of its ability. In fact it could pursue no other course, for at the outset the action of the meeting prescribed its duties and practically tied its hands.

The invited architects, on the other hand, are in no way bound to accept the invitation, and a few conscientious men will probably decline, and frankly state their reasons for so •doing. But will the majority enter a protest, or go to the committee in a body and say: " Gentlemen, it is simply impossible for us to prepare designs for your new building, according to the program which you have sent us, that will come anywhere near the price that you name "? As a rule, a very different course is pursued: the competitors proceed to get up the best-looking design that they are capable of producing, paying little or no attention to the cost, and at the same time institute as complete a system of social and political wire-pulling for the design that they are to present as lies in their power.

The designs are sent in, the committee is besieged by the competitors and their friends, and, after more or less deliberation and without obtaining professional counsel or advice, they, with their profound knowledge of architectural merit, select one of the designs, and the successful competitor is instructed to prepare working drawings and specifications and obtain estimates for the erection of the building. When this has been done it is found that the lowest reliable figure amounts to more than twice the sum at the disposal of the committee. A consultation between the committee and the architect follows, which results in the latter's receiving instructions to revise his design and cut it down to the lowest limit consistent with the requirements and sound construction. This after some delay is accomplished, but still the price of the building, fully equipped, is far in excess of thirty thousand dollars, and so the matter hangs fire, the committee being criticised for not attending to its duties, while the people are clamoring that the work upon the new building shall be commenced. At last the committee is reluctantly forced to call another town meeting to secure, if possible, an additional appropriation. This meeting is far from harmonious, much ill feeling being manifested on all sides. The committee is condemned for selecting so expensive a design, and the architect still more for presenting a design which he must have known could not be erected for the amount specified. Other competitors, or their friends, contend that their designs could be executed much more cheaply; collusion and fraud, if not openly charged, are strongly hinted, a protracted and heated controversy ensues which is generally

APPROPRIA TIONS.

ended by the granting of a small additional amount — far too little to erect even the modified design or any building suited to the school's requirements.

The committee again consult the architect, towards whom, by this time, they have not the kindliest feelings, or much confidence in any statements he may make. The plans are again revised, rooms are reduced far below the standard size, halls are contracted, staircases narrowed, ceilings lowered, windows omitted, walls and piers lightened to very near the danger limit, and this or that left out, until finally figures are obtained within the specified limit and the building is erected. But is this the structure that the original program called for, or is it what the committee desired, the school required, and the people expected ? Certainly not. The pruning process to which the design has been subjected has eliminated not only whatever artistic merit it may have originally possessed, but that which is still more vital to the successful working of the school and the health and comfort of its occupants — those elements of scientific and hygienic construction that were incorporated in it. The building stands completed, a monument of municipal blundering — a reflection on all those who have had to do with it, and an ignoble example of the pernicious results of the methods usually employed in obtaining an appropriation.

Where now is the triumph of the local reformers, and where is the economy that was so loudly heralded ? The building is condemned on all sides, and the very men who defeated the original motion are the most outspoken in their condemnation. Do you think that I have overdrawn the picture in my statement of the ordinary methods of procedure, or mutilated facts in regard to the results obtained ?

26 MODERM AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

If you do, investigate a little and you will find scores of examples that will prove the correctness of my statements^ Better still, ask some of the gentlemen who may have had the misfortune to serve on such a committee, and I am sure that they will answer that not one half of the obstacles and trials they were called upon to face and surmount have been named. Is it any wonder that buildings constructed under such a system as this, whose functions seem to hamper and impede from the start, when weighed in the scale of true excellence are found wanting ? It cannot be otherwise, and there must be a radical change in the way appropriations are made before there can be any marked improvement.

The remedies for the evils depicted are so simple and effective that it seems almost incredible that they are not better known and universally adopted.

In the first place, appoint your committee at a meeting convened for this purpose, instruct it, if you will, to purchase a suitable site, and give it full power to select an architect and obtain the necessary plans and estimates for the proposed building, and stop right there ; say nothing about the amount to be expended. Do not hamper the committee in any way, but let it find out what the requirements of the school are and what kind of a building is best suited to them and the site. Let the committee choose as its architect one who has had wide experience in the planning and construction of school buildings, a man in whom the utmost confidence can be placed as to his ability and integrity — there are such men and their services can be obtained. Above all, let no local pride nor personal friendship influence the committee in this selection; let it remember that this is not a personal but a public matter, to be governed accordingly.

APPROPRIA TIONS. ' 2/

When the architect has been engaged let him meet with the committee, the superintendent and principal of the school, and thoroughly discuss the requirements of the new building. You will find his suggestions and advice of incalculable value to all. When he has obtained their ideas, let him prepare his preliminary sketches. When he has finished these, carefully study and thoroughly discuss them with him, and when they have been revised and made satisfactory to all, let him prepare his working plans and specifications and obtain reliable estimates for what the building can be constructed.

When the figures are obtained and you know just what amount is needed to purchase the selected site and erect a building perfectly equipped, which will in every way meet the requirements of the school, the^i, mid 7tot before, call a meeting and boldly ask for an appropriation large enough to cover the total expense to be incurred. This is simply a proppsition based on true business principles, and nine times out of ten, when this course is pursued and the matter put properly before the meeting by representative men who, by the experience they already have had, are well qualified to speak intelligently on the matter and answer effectively any arguments or opposition that may be promulgated by the "reform" element, the amount asked for will be granted with little or no opposition.

The structure can then be commenced without delay, the work pushed rapidly to completion, and when finished the building will be perfectly adapted to the school's requirements, a credit to all those directly connected with it, and a source of pride to the community in which it stands.

Should it happen to be the tenth time and the meeting refuse, for some reason, to grant the amount asked for, or cut it down, then let the committee resign in a body and wash its hands of the whole affair. Let others, if they choose, adopt the methods first mentioned and obtain the results there faithfully described. But if you want good and improved buildings, erected upon the best known and most scientific principles, — in which your children can improve their minds without injuring their health, — stand for the right principles, and by so doing obtain the respect and lasting gratitude of your fellow men.

MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

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MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

Chapter III. Competitions

The almost universal method of obtaining designs for schools or other public buildings cannot be too strongly condemned. I refer to the unrestricted or open competition. No surer way can be devised to prevent the first men of the profession from submitting designs than this; therefore the primary object of the competition, which is to obtain the best talent, is defeated at the very outset by the course ordinarily pursued.

When it has been determined to erect a building it is not unusual to insert in the local papers an advertisement inviting architects to submit competitive designs for a structure of more or less importance. It is stated that the edifice shall not exceed in cost a certain sum, and that further information may be obtained upon application to the chairman of the building committee. No fixed compensation is offered to the successful competitor, nor are they assured that the designs handed in will be judged intelligently according to the architectural merit they may possess.

For a fifty-thousand-dollar building the munificent sum of two hundred dollars will be paid for the design that is placed first, it being stipulated that upon its selection and the pay-' ment of the prize to its author it shall become the property of the city, and it is not agreed that the successful architect will even be employed to execute the work. It would seem that conditions of this kind would prevent any sane man from competing; for, in the first place, he has no reason to believe that his design, however meritorious it may be, will even be understood — much less appreciated and judged intelligently; and, in the second, if it should be placed first, and he should receive the paltry premium, what claim has he against the city ? Absolutely none, for it is proposed, and he in competing accepted, certain conditions which, having been fulfilled by the payment of the prize, leave him without redress, and the city is at liberty to use the design that it has acquired as it may think best.

In spite of these facts being well known by the profession, committees have no difficulty in obtaining an almost unlimited number of competitors. It is needless to say that these men are not reputable practitioners nor men of high standing in the profession ; but what does the average committeeman know about that, or, if he should know, what does he care? He is not going to trouble himself about the ethics of the architectural world nor investigate the professional standing and talents of the various competitors. His city has a certain amount of money to expend for a school building, and the architect who will do the work the cheapest — that is, give him the most for his money — is the man he will advocate and vote for. To the majority of laymen the selection of an architect is purely a commercial transaction. The artistic and scientific elements do not, in their minds, enter into the question at all; or, if they do, it is in so small a degree as to be entirely overwhelmed by its mercenary aspect. From his point of view he must not be too severely censured; his actions are based upon the best of motives. He believes if he can buy the required service cheaply, he is working for the best interests of his city, and that he will be commended for his efforts to be economical with the public funds which have been entrusted to his care. He does not understand nor appreciate that cheap labor, no matter at what price obtained, is sure to be the most expensive in the long run.