{"nrhp_refnum":"88002275","name":"Gillespie, Elizabeth Duane, Junior High School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3901--3961 N. 18th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.013276363000045,"lon":-75.15627877799994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-04-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 4-story brick junior high school building with a raised brick basement at 3901-3961 North 18th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the site of 21st and Winter Streets. It was built in 1925-1927 to designs by Irwin T. Catharine as part of the School District of Philadelphia's second generation of junior high schools.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its place in the history of education and of school architecture in Philadelphia. It was one of a set of identical junior high schools (type JHS-6) that adopted the Collegiate Gothic style to connect the schools with traditional architecture associated with learning. The document states the building retains very good integrity.","narrative":"Built between 1925 and 1927 at North 18th Street and Pike Street in Philadelphia, the Elizabeth Duane Gillespie Junior High School is a four-story brick building on a raised brick basement, designed by Irwin T. Catharine. Its front is organized into projecting end pavilions and a central tower with a large stone Gothic arched entrance, with carved limestone decoration and tracery. The building is one of five identical junior high schools of type JHS-6 that the School Board commissioned in the mid-1920s. Catharine departed from the Georgian Revival style used on the earlier junior high schools and chose Collegiate Gothic, a style used by many eastern colleges, to link the schools with traditions of learning. The building is significant for its role in the history of education and school architecture in Philadelphia. It retains very good integrity. It shares its site with Simon Gratz High School, and the nomination covers the portion of the tax parcel that contains this school.","period_of_significance":"1925-1927","architect_builder":"Irwin T. Catharine (architect)","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival","criteria":["C"],"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 17:11:35.946408-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002275.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002275/420ab3d7fd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002275/420ab3d7fd-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gillespie_Jr_HS_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gillespie_Jr_HS_Philly.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993641","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Duane_Gillespie_Junior_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5362697"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/gillespie-elizabeth-duane-junior-high-school-88002275/"}