{"nrhp_refnum":"88002307","name":"Peirce, William S., School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2400 Christian St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.94169823000004,"lon":-75.18315537099994,"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 four-story brick school building on a raised basement at 2400 Christian Street (21st and Winter Streets) in Philadelphia, built 1928-1929 and designed by Irwin T. Catharine for the School District of Philadelphia.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its place in the history of education and school architecture in Philadelphia. It is presented as an example of Catharine's standardized school plans, here in the Collegiate Gothic style, adapted to meet the space needs of neighborhood schools during a period of rapid growth in the district's facilities.","narrative":"Built in 1928-1929 at 2400 Christian Street in Philadelphia, the Peirce School is a four-story, nine-bay brick building on a raised basement, with stone beltcourses, limestone capitals on full-height pilasters, and a projecting one-story entrance bearing the school's name carved into it. It was designed by Irwin T. Catharine for the School District of Philadelphia during a decade when the district erected 77 new schools. Catharine reused plans across several schools; the Peirce School follows Type 153-A, a version of an earlier design with an added floor and more ornamentation. Its Collegiate Gothic styling links it to buildings of learning and education. The building is regarded as a representative example of the district's 1920s neighborhood school program and of how Catharine's standard plans could be expanded to meet growing enrollment. It is listed for its significance in the history of education and school architecture in Philadelphia.","period_of_significance":"1928-1929","architect_builder":"Irwin T. Catharine (architect)","architectural_style":"Late Gothic Revival; Collegiate Gothic","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"School use; 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 17:11:35.708219-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002307.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002307/f282ebc414-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002307/f282ebc414-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peirce_School.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peirce_School.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993653","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Peirce_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8017996"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/peirce-william-s-school-88002307/"}