Central School is a former school building located at 101 East Pike Street in

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

. It is the oldest remaining school building in Pontiac. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

History

Pontiac's Union School was built on this site in 1853. The Union School was demolished in 1893, and this building was constructed in its place. The building was constructed for $12,000 by H. Heitsch, a local builder/contractor. It was designed to accommodate 320 students in eight classrooms, four per floor, for students in grades 1–8. An addition was constructed in 1917, designed to be compatible with the original building. A second, more contemporary addition was constructed in 1957. By the 1980s, the school housed the adult education and job placement program of the Pontiac School District. By the 2000s it was vacant.

Description

Central School is a two-and-one-half story

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

brick structure situated on a small hill near Pontiac's central business district. The building is topped with a steeply-pitched hip roof with projecting side gables and hipped dormers. The main facade is dominated by a four-story, pyramid-roofed central projecting tower. The main entrance is located in the base of the tower. Secondary entrances are at the sides underneath the dormers. The 1917 addition continues the materials, scale and detailing of the original structure.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Oakland County, Michigan Romanesque Revival architecture in Michigan School buildings completed in 1893