{"nrhp_refnum":"86003266","name":"Brooks, George L., School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5629--5643 Haverford Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.96827702100006,"lon":-75.23357907499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-12-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former Philadelphia public school building, the George Brooks School, designed in the Anglo-Gothic style by the Philadelphia School Board's Department of Buildings. It is now the headquarters of the Family Development Corporation.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is an exceptionally intact example of the academic Anglo-Gothic design used for early twentieth-century Philadelphia public schools. It also reflects the combined work of two School Board draftsmen, Lloyd Titus and Henry DeCoursey Richards, after a 1919 fire destroyed part of the original 1902 building.","narrative":"Built in 1902 in Philadelphia as a public school, the George Brooks School was designed by School Board draftsman Lloyd Titus in the Anglo-Gothic manner used by the city's Department of Buildings in the early twentieth century. A fire in 1919 partially destroyed the building. Henry DeCoursey Richards then prepared new interior designs, working within the surviving exterior walls and keeping the original character of the structure. The result is a rusticated stone building that combines the work of both men. The nomination treats it as an outstanding and largely intact example of academic Anglo-Gothic school architecture from the period. Its significance rests mainly on its architectural design and on the way the two designers shaped a rebuilt school. Today the building houses the headquarters of the Family Development Corporation, a community organization that has adapted the former school for its own use.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Lloyd Titus (architect, 1902 original building); Henry DeCoursey Richards (designer of 1919 interior after fire)","architectural_style":"Anglo-Gothic","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Now serves as headquarters for the Family Development Corporation","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:33.525187-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86003266.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003266/89b93e3344-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003266/89b93e3344-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooks_School_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooks_School_Philly.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001151","name":"Fairmount Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/fairmount-park-72001151/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993605","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_L._Brooks_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5541442"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/brooks-george-l-school-86003266/"}