Phillis Wheatley Elementary School is a school in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. The original school building was designed by the architect Charles Colbert in 1954 as a segregated school for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

students. The cantilevered steel

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

structure allows for a covered

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

space underneath. The primary school building did not flood after Hurricane Katrina, but it remained closed. On June 17, 2011, the school was

demolished Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

, despite an 11th hour protest to save the building. In 2014, a newly constructed three-story campus opened to students.

General information

Location

The school is located at 2300 Dumaine Street in New Orleans'

Tremé Tremé ( ) is a neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana. "Tremé" is often rendered as Treme, and the neighborhood is sometimes called by its more formal French name, Faubourg Tremé; it is listed in the New Orleans City Planning Districts as Trem ...

neighborhood, one of the nation's oldest black neighborhoods. In keeping with the historical significance of the surrounding area, the school was named after

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784) was an American author who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates, Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Ameri ...

, the first black, female, slave poet in the United States.

Design of original structure

Architect Charles Colbert was assigned the task of designing a school that could accommodate 800 students but would occupy a two-acre campus, just one-sixth of the land area recommended for a student body that size. The resulting structure is considered his most important work and one of the best examples of

Modern Architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...

in New Orleans. Colbert's design incorporated glass windows instead of exterior walls and elevated classrooms, which spared the building from being flooded during Hurricane Katrina. The open space below the classrooms also provided a covered play area for students. However, some teachers criticized the design, claiming that the large windows allowed pupils to pay more attention to events outside than at the front of the classroom. Teachers also faulted the large windows for causing glare on the blackboards. Updated fire codes also prohibited upper floor classrooms from being used by younger students, requiring the installation of portable buildings on the school grounds for kindergarten and first-grade classes.

Honors

The building received a national school design award in 1954 and was profiled in a three-page article in the July 1956 issue of ''

Architectural Forum ''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...

''. The U.S. State Department displayed a model of the school in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

and

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to showcase American achievement in modern architecture. The World Monuments Fund cites the structure as "a valuable example of regional modernism." The Fund placed the building on its World Monument Watch list in 2009, along with the ruins at Machu Picchu and

Antoni Gaudi Antoni is a Catalan, Polish, and Slovene given name and a surname used in the eastern part of Spain, Poland and Slovenia. As a Catalan given name it is a variant of the male names Anton and Antonio. As a Polish given name it is a variant of the fe ...

's Sagrada Familia church in

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.http://dailyreporter.com/blog/tag/phillis-wheatley-elementary-school/ The Daily Reporter

References

External links

Photos of the school
on Flickr
"A Modernist Masterpiece at Grave Risk in New Orleans"
from PreservationNation {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, Phillis Elementary School School buildings completed in 1954 Elementary schools in New Orleans Historically segregated African-American schools in Louisiana