MODERN AMERICAN SCHOOL BUILDINGS. BEIJNG, 1 A TREATISE UfUN, AND DESIGNS, -THE CONSTRUCTION SCHOOL BUILDINGS. BY WARREN RICHARD BRIGGS, F. A. I. A. 89 FIRST EDITION. FIRST THOUSAND, NEW YORK JOHN WILEY SONS. LONDON CHAPMAN HALL, LIMITED. 1899, Copyright, 1899, BY WARREN R. BRIGGS. ROBERT DRUMMOND, PRINTER. NEW YORK. AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE TO MY WIFE, Beacb AT ALL TIMES A LOVING HELPMATE, THOUGHTFUL ADVISER, AND CLEVER AMANUENSIS, THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. THE preparation of this work has been fragmentary in the extreme the several subjects have been treated at intervals, usually wide apart, extending over a period of twenty years they have, as a rule, been taken up at moments when the machinery of the office was practically at a standstill, or when some special problem or incident had brought forcibly to my mind the need of radical reforms. The first twelve chapters are here presented for the first time Chapters XIII and XIV were papers prepared for State Board of Health reports. Chapter XV is composed of the series of papers originally written for Architecture and Build ing and the last chapter has recently been compiled to com plete this series. The illustrations and designs, with some minor exceptions, are entirely new. Their collection and arrangement in book form was suggested by the constant demand for those that had been published which could not be supplied. The State Board of Health reports were limited editions, long since exhausted and, while there are undoubtedly many volumes of Architecture and Building containing that series of articles in existence, they are, as a rule, to be found only In the libraries of architects and are not accessible either to VIPREFA CJS. the public or those who may be especially interested in school buildings. Under these conditions it was deemed advisable to edit in book form not only those that had already appeared, but such other matter as might be pertinent to the subject, with a hope that the interest taken in the original articles may be intensified and increased. If the perusal of the pages of this book will tend to im prove this most important branch of American architecture and result ultimately in better buildings for our children to pursue their studies in, my efforts in their behalf will not have been in vain. BRIDGEPORT, CONN., 1899. CONTENTS. CHAPTER P AGR I. IN GENERAL 7 II. APPROPRIATIONS 2 r III. COMPETITIONS 33 IV. SPECIALISTS 49 V. COMMISSIONS 63 VI. SUPERINTENDENCE. ETHICS 75 VII. READY-MADE PLANS 91 VIII. ENTRANCE-HALLS AND STAIRCASES 107 IX. WINDOWS AND LIGHTING 119 X. HAT-AND-CLOAK-ROOMS PLAYROOMS 139 XL HEATING AND VENTILATION. ... 155 XII. SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS 177 XIII. HYGIENIC CONSTRUCTION OF THE BRIDGEPORT HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING 195 XIV. SUBURBAN SCHOOLHOUSES 223 XV. PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOLHOUSES 263 XVI. CITY SCHOOL BUILDINGS ON RESTRICTED SITES 399 vii ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE PAGE 1. Perspective of Twenty-Room Grammar-School Building .......... i 2. Plans ............ 3 3- f ............ 5 4. Perspective of Competitive Design for High-School Building at P. 15 5. Plans . 1-7 6. . 19 7. Perspective of Centre School Building, Danbury, Conn ........... 29 8. Plans l .......... 31 9. Perspective of Orphan Asylum, Bridgeport, Conn ............... 43 10. Plans ................ 45 t ................ 47 12. Perspective of Lincoln School Building, Bridgeport, Conn ........ 57 13.Plans ........ 59 14. ........ 61 15. Perspective of Small High School Building ...................... 71 16. Plans f ...................... 73 17. Perspective of Six-Room Building. . . ............................ 85 18. Plans ............................... 87 20. Perspective of Eight-Room .........................., . 101 21. Plans ..... .. ..................... .... 103 22. i ............................... 105 23. Sketches of Entrance-Halls ...................................... in 24. Perspective of Four-Room Building with Hall ......................