The Dilworth Elementary School in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, is a historic school building, completed in April 1915. ''Note:'' This includes

Photo A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now crea ...

/ref> it is a traditional Magnet school for pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade in the

Pittsburgh Public Schools Pittsburgh Public Schools is the public school district serving the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (except for two small parts served by the Baldwin-Whitehall School District) and adjacent Mount Oliver. As of the 2021–2022 school year, the ...

system. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1986.

History

The school is named for the Dilworth family. William Dilworth (1791-1871) is credited with providing a school and teacher on Mt. Washington in the 1820s. Mary Parry Dilworth, widow of descendant John S. Dilworth later donated the land on which the Dilworth school was built. The architects, Martin U. Vrydaugh and Thomas B. Wolfe, also designed churches and homes for wealthy patrons, including the Calvary United Methodist Church. The school was designed three years after the Pittsburgh and

Allegheny City Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by ...

school boards where merged. The building is brick, H shaped, two and one half stories high. It was a consciously elegant design, stylistically unique in the city when built, echoing European school designs. It included kindergarten and basement play spaces as were becoming essential at the time; but here the playrooms did not receive as much design attention as such elements would later on, and were not particularly functional. An auditorium was added in 1927 and was well designed for its intended use with a full stage, and directly accessible without entering the main portion of the school.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Schools in Pittsburgh Tudor Revival architecture in Pennsylvania School buildings completed in 1914 Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks City of Pittsburgh historic designations National Register of Historic Places in Pittsburgh 1914 establishments in Pennsylvania