{"nrhp_refnum":"86003332","name":"Spring Garden School No. 1","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Twelfth and Ogden Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.96840778400008,"lon":-75.15582532799993,"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 Philadelphia public school building known as Spring Garden School No. 1, built from the design of the Lydia Darrah School and noted for its compact urban plan with a roof-top gymnasium.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant as an example of a Moderne school design adopted by the Philadelphia school system's Office of the Superintendent in the mid- and late 1920s. Its compact plan fit a small city lot while still providing recreational space, and its roof-top gymnasiums with metal domes became recognizable features of the streetscape.","narrative":"Spring Garden School No. 1 is an urban public school in Philadelphia, built from the design of the Lydia Darrah School. Its plan was developed for a small city lot in Center City and the neighboring districts, where space limited the choice of building form. To fit a recreational area into that limited footprint, the design placed a gymnasium on the roof. The gymnasiums were topped with metal domes, which made the building a recognizable part of the city's streetscape. The school is regarded as an example of the Moderne design adopted by the Office of the Superintendent during the mid- and late 1920s. These school designs were prototypes that were altered and adapted to suit individual sites, neighborhood populations and educational needs. The building shows how the city's school planners responded to crowded urban conditions with compact, multi-use structures.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"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 17:11:33.969099-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86003332.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003332/8a40c3b351-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003332/8a40c3b351-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spring_Garden_School_No_1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spring_Garden_School_No_1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993681","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Garden_School_No._1","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7580514"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/spring-garden-school-no-1-86003332/"}