{"nrhp_refnum":"88002273","name":"Forrest, Edwin, School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4300 Bleigh St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.03463936400004,"lon":-75.03606748899995,"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 with a raised basement at Bleigh Street (4300 block) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built 1928-1929 to a design by Catharine. It is part of the Philadelphia Public Schools thematic group.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the school is significant as one of six schools built from School Board Type Number 144 between 1924 and 1930, showing the shift from Colonial Revival to Art Deco in Catharine's school designs. It is described as having a very high degree of integrity and as an excellent example of his 1920s and 1930s Art Deco work.","narrative":"A three-story yellow brick school set on a raised basement, built in 1928-1929 on Bleigh Street in Philadelphia to a design by Irwin T. Catharine. Its central feature is an arched entryway framed by terra cotta trim and clustered pilasters, with terra cotta panels around the first-floor entrance and a carved stone name plaque set in the parapet. Projecting stair towers flank the facade, and a diapered brick panel fills the full height of the outer bay above the basement. Catharine used School Board Type Number 144 for this building, which he had first used for the Clara Barton School in 1924-1925. The Edwin Forrest School is one of six schools built from this model between 1924 and 1930, and it is among the group that marked the move from Colonial Revival to Art Deco in Philadelphia school design. The building is regarded as having a very high degree of integrity, and a one-story noncontributing building stands on the same parcel. It was added to the Philadelphia Public Schools thematic group in 1988 as a contributing resource.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Irwin T. Catharine (architect)","architectural_style":"Art Deco","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Used as a school; condition recorded as excellent.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.351805-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002273.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002273/22cb070c64-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002273/22cb070c64-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Davidt8","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phila_EdwinForrestSchool01.png\" rel=\"noopener\">Davidt8</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phila_EdwinForrestSchool01.png"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993496","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Forrest_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5346423"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/forrest-edwin-school-88002273/"}