{"nrhp_refnum":"88002225","name":"Alcorn, James, School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1500 S. 32nd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.935186575000046,"lon":-75.19800253199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story yellow brick school building on a raised basement at 1500 South 32nd Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, completed in 1931-1932. It was designed by Irwin T. Catharine and is described as a school building in the Philadelphia Public Schools multiple resource group.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is significant under Criterion C for architecture as a richer example of collegiate or academic Gothic treatment applied by Catharine to a standard school plan. It shows his shift away from earlier Georgian and Regency Revival detailing toward a more pronounced association with ancient academic architecture in Philadelphia's post-World War I school building expansion.","narrative":"Yellow brick and stone school at 1500 South 32nd Street in Philadelphia, built in 1931-1932 to designs by Irwin T. Catharine for the Philadelphia public school system. The three-story building has nine window bays, projecting end sections with stone surrounds and carved panels, and a central entrance framed by a two-story stone bay. A crenellated parapet tops the structure, and carved stone highlights the parapet above the central section. Catharine used the same basic plan he had applied to earlier schools, such as the Morrison School of 1922-1924 and the George Wolf School of 1926-1927, but here he chose a richer collegiate Gothic treatment. The building marks his move away from the Georgian and Regency Revival styles he had inherited from earlier Philadelphia school architect Richards. It was retained as a school and is significant for showing how Philadelphia's postwar school expansion adopted traditional academic architecture.","period_of_significance":"1931-1932","architect_builder":"Irwin T. Catharine (architect)","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"School use","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:35.770907-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002225.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002225/567dc73b72-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002225/567dc73b72-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcorn_School_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcorn_School_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993625","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Alcorn_Charter_Elementary_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15229250"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/alcorn-james-school-88002225/"}