Area less than one acre NRHP Reference # 83002266 Added to NRHP 25 August 1983 | Built 1930 Opened 1930 Architect Irwin T. Catharine | |
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Location 21st St. and Benjamin Franklin Pkwy., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Architectural styles Streamline Moderne, Neoclassical architecture Similar Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Citizens Bank Park, Tower Theater | ||
The Board of Education Building, also known as the Board of Education Administration Building, is a historic building in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia. As the long-time headquarters of what is now the School District of Philadelphia, it was a center of the city's educational system. It was completed in 1932. In recent years, it has been converted to residential use.
The Board of Education Building was added in 1983 to the National Register of Historic Places.
Design
The building's design was selected by jury. Its style is a combination of Art Deco and Classical Revival, commonly known as Moderne. It was part of an early revitalization scheme for the city that resulted in the building of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Bas relief sculptures on educational themes are incorporated into the building. These were first sketched by the architect Irwin T. Catharine, then executed in plaster by Jules Melidon, before being sculpted by the stone cutters. Melidon reportedly was in Europe while they were being sculpted and installed, and sued Catharine and the Board of Education upon his return.
The four columns on each side of the central tower are topped by busts of great thinkers, educators, and statesmen: