I’ve driven by the Humboldt School so many times I was beginning to be a bit embarrassed that I had never photographed it. At the bare minimum, just like the former Webster and Roe schools (and probably many more), Humboldt started out as older style–in this case more of an Italianate–school which was replaced by a more modern William Ittner design in 1908.
This is an intriguing design as it continues the Italian villa form with the twin towers, but now it has moved into more of a Gothic Revival style in ornamentation, late for the year of construction.
I recently read a study that says that natural light helps retain memory and all sorts of other benefits over artificial light. Not that we needed a study to tell us that but it’s nice to hear a confirmation from science.
This is a nice image, most likely created by an Ittner draughtsman, showing the school. I find the design interesting in the huge hole in the middle of the western facade above the first floor.
The huge pointed arch windows bring light into the school on the first floor of the school, in what I assume is either a lunchroom or library.
The roundels with mosaic are a classic sign of Ittner.
