Favorite Mid-Century Modern Schools

[kayzer]

I recently took a class held at Spring Woods High School. I thought it was quite an interesting building, with the curved walled entrance and the courtyard in the center. Does any one know when it was built?

I'd like to hear some of your favorite schools. Pictures would be a plus!

[flipper]

Red Elementary on Tonawanda. I'll take a pic later today.

flipper

[BenH]

From what I've seen while driving on Memorial, Meadowood Elementary looks like a great MCM school. It looks well maintained too.

I went to an MCM school: Robert E. Lee High School (in Houston). It was designed by CRS, won several awards and was published in Texas Architect in the 60's (it looked much better before HISD got their hands on it). When I was there, West Side High School had just been finished, so I couldn't appreciate the fact that many of the details that make it mod were still in tact, right down to the tile mosaics. Granted, they were in horrible shape and HISD had added terrible additions.

[sevfiv]

Does anyone remember (or have photos) of the original fa

[plumber2]

Does anyone remember (or have photos) of the original fa

[NekoCase]

Ed White Elementary, Pat Neff Elementary, Fondren Middle School, Sinclair Elementary

[Specwriter]

Ed White Elementary, Pat Neff Elementary, Fondren Middle School, Sinclair Elementary

Ralph Goodman Elementary (nee Hidden Valley Elementary) at the corner of SH 249 and Deer Trail in the Aldine School District is one of my favorite Mid-Century Modern schools. The classrooms were arranged around court yards and the folded plane roof is also neat. There is (perhaps was) a planting bed with a low brick curb in the middle of the entry lobby with skylights above it. I wouldn't be surprised to find a guardrail around it now if it is still there at all.

I went to Hidden Valley Elem. when it was nearly new. I started kindergarten in there in 1966 and went through fifth grade. Both of my children attended Ed White earlier in this decade. It is one of identical triplets built for Clear Creek ISD in the late 60's.

I do not know if the school was built (or dedicated) at a time after the tragic demise of Ed White in January 1967 or whether it was renamed after it was built. For a nearly 40-year-old school it is in pretty good shape. Being older it is also smaller and has fewer students than the new elementary schools in the district. I think that is a plus.

If you really want to see a nice example of a Mid-Century Modern (higher education) school take a tour of the San Jacinto College campus in Pasadena (the main campus). It is evident that the board was not scrimpy when it came to the quality of the buildings. The curving stair in the middle of the library is especially nice.

[SecondTour]

I went to Ed White Elementary. I always dug the atrium on the eastern side of the school (Jorine). Oddly enough, all these years later I have an atrium in my house that reminds me of it, complete with iron bars on one side. I'll have to go by there with my camera.

[mkultra25]

Ralph Goodman Elementary (nee Hidden Valley Elementary) at the corner of SH 249 and Deer Trail in the Aldine School District is one of my favorite Mid-Century Modern schools. The classrooms were arranged around court yards and the folded plane roof is also neat. There is (perhaps was) a planting bed with a low brick curb in the middle of the entry lobby with skylights above it. I wouldn't be surprised to find a guardrail around it now if it is still there at all.

I went to Hidden Valley Elem. when it was nearly new. I started kindergarten in there in 1966 and went through fifth grade.

Wow, another Hidden Valley Elementary alum. I went there from 71-75 (2nd through 5th grade), and I'm pretty sure there's at least one other HAIFer who went there as well. Who knew?

It's certainly changed a bit - in the past, they didn't have the ugly hurricane fencing blocking off most of the property, and you used to be able to walk right up to the back side of the building. Guess it's to be expected in an era when "lockdowns" are something that people have come to regard as normal events for schools instead of prisons.

Not sure if that planting bed in the lobby is still there. My dad is still involved with the Hidden Valley Civic Club, and they occasionally have meetings or other events at the school. I keep meaning to attend one of them so I can take a look around - it's been many years since I was last inside.

[strickn]

West Columbia Elem., I guess. I can't find any pictures digitized (does anyone have a write-up on it?). There would be plenty here:

http://archon.lib.uh.edu/?p=collections/fi...contentid=27611

"In March 2005, the Houston Mod organization sponsored an exhibition at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture concerning Barthelme's Bousquet House (1940). At the time, the house, at 3981 Del Monte Drive in Houston's River Oaks neighborhood, was the last surviving Barthelme-designed residence in the city. It was demolished later in the year. The exhibit coincided with efforts by a class from the University of Houston to document the house for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). The exhibit featured a booklet, detailed photographs and drawings of the house in 2005, a scale model, the HABS drawings, and reproductions of Barthelme's original drawings. Houston Mod donated the exhibition materials to the University of Houston Libraries, Department of Special Collections, where they were added to the Donald Barthelme, Sr. Architectural Papers."

[JLWM8609]

Red Elementary on Tonawanda. I'll take a pic later today.

flipper

Here's a pic of mine.

That's my favorite one too. I went there 1995-1998. When I went back for a reunion about 2 years ago, I was sad to see that the old cantilever section that went over the driveway with very cool V-shaped support columns had been replaced with a present day design. If I remember, the old one was only 9ft 9in high and the school buses barely made it underneath. Though the rest of the school remains intact in 50s mod style, though from what I understand, the rear two story section that housed the 5th graders was a later addition from the early-mid 1960s.

[NekoCase]

I also went to Ed White. The atrium off of Jorine was awesome. The only time we were allowed in was for messy projects, etc. If I remember correctly there was a bird bath or a fountain in the center?

I also remember the outdoor patio/classroom in the center of the school. I always thought it was an empty swimming pool when I was little. I wonder if I flash my HISD badge they will let me in to snap some photos.

[kayzer]

I recently took a class held at Spring Woods High School. I thought it was quite an interesting building, with the curved walled entrance and the courtyard in the center. Does any one know when it was built?

I'd like to hear some of your favorite schools. Pictures would be a plus!

I found out Spring Woods HS was built at the end of the mid-century mod era, in 1965. Thanks, Kelly!

[HoustontoPhilly]

Herod Elementary on Jason, built in 1965. Wonderful school. I hear they are tearing it down and rebuilding this summer.

I was in kindergarten there the year after the school opened and was there through 6th grade, so that building remains fairly vivid to me. The classrooms have big window walls facing both the exterior and the interior corridors, which had an outdoor feel because of skylights, gardens and flooring that's more like an exterior pebble sidewalk. (My architect spouse says I'm describing stone aggregate paving.)

Unfortunately, I cannot find a decent comprehensive photo of the school online. If you're familiar with the school, imagine it without the misplaced blue sign out front. The school existed for decades without it. This photo of a bit of the school doesn't exactly show much.

http://es.houstonisd.org/HerodES/

This seems to be taken in one of those indoor-outdoorsy hallways, which seem to have more flora, or more mature flora, now. I don't remember those bulletin boards in the hallway (there were two hallway wings), maybe they were there all those years ago, though.

http://es.houstonisd.org/herodes/news/Jane...ith%20trash.jpg

Here are the plans for the new school. Looks like they're completely refiguring the site.

http://es.houstonisd.org/herodes/New_School.htm

Here's a thread from this very site about the plane crash that took the life of the heroic pilot, Gary L. Herod, for whom the school was named.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...?showtopic=9196

I guess I'm fairly true to my school.

[NenaE]

Here's my little elementary school...http://ruckeres.popalito.com/webs/History.html

I attended in the late 60's. I used to sit in those squares on the entrance porch. The hallways seemed massive & never-ending. There is a later wing built on, in the 70's, about the time air-conditioning was installed. That's where those brightly colored halls come from, I'm guessing, and the new entrance. I'm happy to say they left the original structure alone. Wonder who built it...when I visited UH in recent yrs., before the new admissions center was opened, the older bldg. reminded me of it.

[houstonaltima]

I am also an Hidden Valley Elementary Alum! I was there in the late 80s, early 90s. The last time I went to the school on a voting day, the planting bed was still there. Just outside the front office door.