{"nrhp_refnum":"88002286","name":"Jenks, John Story, School","other_names":["See Also:Chestnut Hill Historic District"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8301--8317 Germantown Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.074649340000065,"lon":-75.20333013499999,"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 brick basement at 8301-8317 Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built 1922-1924 from designs by Irwin T. Catharine and built by Cramp & Company. A portable school addition designed by Day & Zimmerman was added in the rear in 1968.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building marks a major shift in Philadelphia school design, eliminating many Colonial Revival and industrial characteristics of earlier school designs. It is among the first, if not the first, Philadelphia school to use yellow or buff brick as its main material, and it shows Catharine's move toward more ornate Gothic and Jacobethan detailing.","narrative":"Built between 1922 and 1924 on Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia, the John Story Jenks School is a three-story yellow brick building on a raised brick basement, with stone trim, carved decorative panels beneath the openings, and a crenellated parapet topped by a stylized Flemish gable above the central entrance. Irwin T. Catharine designed it, and Cramp & Company built it. Its significance lies in its design. Catharine used School Board Type Number 139, which removed many of the Colonial Revival and industrial features of earlier school designs. The building is among the first, if not the first, in Philadelphia to use yellow or buff brick as its primary material, a choice Catharine repeated on many later schools. Its Gothic and Jacobethan details show a more ornate approach to school architecture. A portable school addition was built in the rear in 1968. The windows were replaced in 1986.","period_of_significance":"1922-1924","architect_builder":"Irwin T. Catharine (architect); Cramp & Company (builder)","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival/Tudor Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Windows were replaced in 1986; the school is in use as a school.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.818441-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002286.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002286/4efb01173c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002286/4efb01173c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Staib at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johnstoryjenks.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Staib at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johnstoryjenks.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001151","name":"Fairmount Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/fairmount-park-72001151/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993665","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenks_Academy_for_the_Arts_and_Sciences","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6259324"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/jenks-john-story-school-88002286/"}