{"nrhp_refnum":"86003274","name":"Dunbar, Paul Lawrence, School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Twelfth above Columbia Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.97886148300006,"lon":-75.15420947099994,"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 public school building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, constructed in 1931-1932, designed for the Philadelphia School Board. It is named for poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is a skillfully crafted transitional design that moves from the boxy Art Deco style toward the streamlined Moderne style. It is significant as a work by Irwin T. Catharine, described as an important public school architect, and its design quality is said to have been unsurpassed for school buildings of its time under his tenure.","narrative":"Built in 1931-1932 for the Philadelphia School Board, the Dunbar School is a public school building that marks a transition between the boxy Art Deco style and the functional, streamlined Moderne style. It was designed by Irwin T. Catharine, who was appointed Superintendent of Buildings for the School Board and had studied architecture at Drexel Institute in preparation for that career. The school was built shortly after his appointment and was paired with the Delaplaine McDaniel School, completed in 1937, which shares the same standard design type 166 with individual variations. Catharine's work at the school draws on Art Deco, Moderne, Neo-Classical and Academic Gothic vocabularies. The building is regarded as significant for its transitional Art Deco and Moderne design by an important public school architect, and for the high design standard of school buildings during Catharine's tenure. The school is named after the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Irwin T. Catharine (architect)","architectural_style":"Transitional Art Deco/Moderne","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:34.284164-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86003274.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003274/c171e78778-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003274/c171e78778-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunbar_School_Philly.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunbar_School_Philly.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993593","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Laurence_Dunbar_School_(Philadelphia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7151965"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/dunbar-paul-lawrence-school-86003274/"}