Henry C. Lea Elementary School is an historic

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

which is located in the Walnut Hill neighborhood of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. It is part of the

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...

and was named after the publisher, civic activist and historian

Henry Charles Lea Henry Charles Lea (September 19, 1825 – October 24, 1909) was an American publisher, civic activist, philanthropist and historian from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He took over the family publishing business from his father, Isaac Lea, and impl ...

History and architectural features

The building was designed by

Henry deCourcy Richards Henry deCourcy Richards, also spelled Henry deCoursey Richards, was an American architect who worked in Philadelphia for the public school system. He designed many public school buildings that have since been listed on the National Register of ...

and built by Cramp & Co. in 1914. It is a three-story, five-bay, reinforced concrete building that was faced with brick and with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

trim. It sits on a raised basement, was designed in the Late Gothic Revival-style, and features a Classical limestone center entrance surround, a central two-story bay window, decorative panels, crenelated

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

, and a projecting entrance bay. ''Note:'' This includes It was previously used as an "observation school" for teacher education and training. ''Note:'' This includes The building was added to 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 1988 as the Henry C. Lea School of Practice.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lea, Henry C., School of Practice School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania School buildings completed in 1914 West Philadelphia School District of Philadelphia Public K–8 schools in Philadelphia 1914 establishments in Pennsylvania