{"nrhp_refnum":"05000161","name":"School 13","other_names":["Boys Alternative High School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"266-268 Oak St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.88902415800004,"lon":-78.87016149499993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-03-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"School 13, also known as Boys Alternative High School, is a three-story brick and glazed terra cotta school building at 266-268 Oak Street in downtown Buffalo, Erie County, New York, completed in 1915 to designs by architect George J. Metzger.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an intact example of early twentieth-century urban school architecture in the Neo-Classical style linked to the Beaux-Arts and City Beautiful movements (Criterion C). It is also significant under Criterion A for its role in the public education and Americanization of immigrant children in Buffalo.","narrative":"Built between 1913 and 1915 on Oak Street in downtown Buffalo, School 13 is a three-story, steel-frame primary school designed by Buffalo architect George J. Metzger. Its five-bay façade pairs bright red face brick with white glazed terra cotta, a rusticated limestone basement, and a projecting central entrance topped by a round-arched window and a bronze seal of the City of Buffalo. A T-shaped plan places classrooms along Oak Street and an auditorium, gymnasium and swimming pool to the rear. Inside, brown glazed brick corridor walls, slate blackboards and the original auditorium ceiling survive. The school reflects standardized schoolhouse planning of its era, including ribbon windows sized to bring daylight into classrooms. It is significant as an intact Neo-Classical school and as a place where children from many immigrant families were educated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The school closed in 2003 and is now vacant.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1915-1953","architect_builder":"George J. Metzger, Architect","architectural_style":"20th Century Revival/Beaux Arts Classicism","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant in the current function field; the school closed in 2003. The interior and floor plan are largely unchanged, though the original metal cornice and bronze entrance lamps are gone.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:52.725817-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000161.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000161/48c162a1b0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000161/48c162a1b0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:School_13_Dec_09.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:School_13_Dec_09.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317699","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_13","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7432139"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/school-13-05000161/"}