{"nrhp_refnum":"88002319","name":"Disston, Mary, School","other_names":["St. Josaphat's R.C. School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4521 Longshore Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.02832976500008,"lon":-75.04403390099998,"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 two-story granite school building at 4521 Longshore Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built in 1900-1901 as a public school and now used as St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic School. It has a Colonial Revival design with a shallow U-plan and recessed center.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is one of only two surviving examples of Andrew J. Sauer's work as architect for the Philadelphia School Board, and that its Colonial Revival detailing, including Palladian windows and a balustraded portico, is unusually ornate for a public school of its era. It is also presented as significant for its place in the history of education and school architecture in Philadelphia.","narrative":"Granite and Colonial Revival, the Mary Disston School occupies a shallow U-shaped plan at 4521 Longshore Avenue in Philadelphia. Built in 1900-1901 to designs by Andrew J. Sauer, while he worked for the city's School Board, it is a two-story, three-bay-wide building with arched first-floor openings in its wings and rectangular second-floor openings. The recessed center has a colonnaded porch with arched openings, topped by a balustrade and bearing the school's name. A central Palladian window and a single broken pedimented dormer on the hipped roof add to the design. Sauer used richer detailing here than was typical for Philadelphia public schools of the period, and the building is one of only two surviving examples of his school work. A rear addition from 1967 is linked by a corridor and does not compromise the original design. The school was built for the public system and later served as a parochial school. It is valued for its contribution to Philadelphia's school architecture.","period_of_significance":"1900-1901","architect_builder":"Andrew Sauer (architect); Harry Kuemmerle (builder)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and integrity as good; now used as a parochial school.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:37.029101-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/88002319.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002319/19a9f54b53-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002319/19a9f54b53-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M_Disston_School_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M_Disston_School_Philly.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"16000257","name":"Tacony Disston Community Development Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/tacony-disston-community-development-historic-district-16000257/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993575","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Disston_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6779320"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/disston-mary-school-88002319/"}