{"nrhp_refnum":"86003343","name":"Washington, George, School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Fifth and Federal Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.933453230000055,"lon":-75.15270282399996,"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":"George Washington School, an institutional school building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The document does not state its construction date or builder in the readable text.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is a high point in the Philadelphia School Board's building program under Superintendent of Buildings Irwin T. Catharine. Its design is presented as a transition from boxy Art Deco to the more streamlined Moderne style, with an entrance decorated with figures in historical dress. The nomination describes it as exceptionally significant for architecture.","narrative":"Built as a Philadelphia public school under the supervision of Superintendent of Buildings Irwin T. Catharine, the George Washington School is a clear example of the shift from heavy, boxy Art Deco design to the lighter, streamlined Moderne style. Its entrance is decorated with figures in historical dress shown lighting the path to knowledge, a feature the nomination describes as unusually skillful for an institutional building. The design is compared with the Robert Fulton and George Meade Schools, which share a similar sophisticated approach. The school's construction is treated as a high point in the Philadelphia School Board's building program during the first seventy years of its existence. Later decades of school construction are described as far more plain, with undecorated boxy structures becoming common. For these reasons the building is valued chiefly for its architecture and for its record of a distinctive period in the city's school design.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"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 17:11:32.928399-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/86003343.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003343/7014c9f16d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003343/7014c9f16d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_School_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_School_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993595","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vare-Washington_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5546022"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/washington-george-school-86003343/"}