The herald., 1896-03-23
CRED|TABLE PUBLIC WORK
THE NEW SCHOOLS NEARLY ALL READY
TO BE TURNED OVER
The Job Has Been . Remarkable One Prom .
Great Many s-Accommedatlons
for Nearly $500 New scholars-Those Who
Did It-SubstantisI Monuments

The eleven new school buildings, for
which the contracts were let last October,
are about completed, and the various struc-
lures are a remarkable credit to all who
have had aught to do with their construc.
ton. As result the city now has school
room for about $500 more pupils than was
available just one year ago. and the total
number of school rooms added has been
1875, seating forty pupils each.
The people of Los Angeles will, in the
future, be in a position TO say to visiting
strangers that they have a coterie of school
buildings which are appositely in accord
with the most approved modern ideas of
intelligent architecture. In other words,
Superintendent of Buildings Strange has
happily concentrated in his work the best
ian Renaissance and the distinctive and
typical colonial schools of architecture.
Perhaps the best feature about the work
is the pressing utility of it's details. There
is no loss of space, but the exact adjust
ment of all the available minutise. TAX
OF beauty as presented in classic
lines, Mr.. Strange has combined
Herewith q comprehensive knowledge
of the best thought in the matter of
ventilation and heating. In fact he has
touched very closely on The rugged ideas of
simplicity which governed the philosophers
of ancient Athens, in that he has given the
rising generation of Los Angeles the glo-
rious privilege of breathing pure air and
plenty of it. The general conception of
the school houses that particularly inn
presses the intelligent observer is the
breadth of the plans of construction. There
is an idea Of magnificent distance that con-
are lofty and the halls are spacious, and
there is breadth and freedom about the
buildings that is IN thorough accord with
the most symmetrical conceptions of the
visitor.
What the master architect, Richardson,
has done in the way of majestic structural
strength of ideas in the construction of
public buildings, Mr.. Strange in these la
ter days has forcefully reiterated in the
making of these new school structures of
the City of the Angels. In fact. there has
been no work done in the way Of school
edifices that so distinctively indicates the
best modern thought and that SO adequate
ly gives expression to the American school
of architecture as that which has been so
aptly done in consonance with the plans
drawn by Superintendent Strange. He
can we'll say that his future is secured in
the world of art structure, because like his
eminent predecessor, Richardson, he has
built the most substantial monuments.
The construction of the buildings has
been on most substantial lines.
Alpine plastering has been used, and not
crack could be found anywhere in any
of the buildings visited. The painting in
each one of the eleven structures is uni
form, being of a rich pearl gray. as pretty
as 1t is effective. The heating and ventilat-
ing is far from being the least noticeable of
a remarkable bit of public work, of which
all who had aught to do with it. may we'll
be proud. There is nothing OF more value
to any school building than plenty of pure
air, and the plants placed in the structures
just completed leave in this particular moth
ing to be desired. The new Los Angeles
schools are the only buildings of this charac-
ter which are in reality perfectly equipped.
What the contractors and their aids have
accomplished in the time in which it was
done, will be an architectural and brilliant
wonder in this section for years.
The building on Temple street near
Custer is ten-room structure, the archi-
lecture being Romanesque. The Twen.
tieth and Norwood street building is ten
room, being of an Italian Renaissance
style and the Twenty-eighth and San
Pedro street building consists of ten
rooms of Colonial style, and the Seventh
ward building is ten-room af-
fair located between Los Angeles
street and Maple avenue. The new Macy
street building contains eight rooms and
is Of Renaissance style. The building on
Cambria and Vernon streets contains
eight rooms, as does also the building on
Griffin avenue, which is of Italian Renais-
sance architecture. The building on Sec
ond and State streets. Boyle Heights, con-
tains eight rooms and is of Romanesque
style, the building on Pico street near
Sentous being q twelve-room structure of
Italian Renaissance and one of the finest in
the collection. The twelve-room building
on Olive street between Fourth and Fifth
is the only one not yet occupied. It is q
beautiful structure and is now aw aiting the
seats for study purposes. The Boyd street
building contains five rooms.
The job as whole cost $1S0,O0O. of
which amount it had at first been intended
to give to the architects of the city, some.
thing like 81 500 in competing for the
plans and specifications for the purpose.
The council wisely insisted that the super
intendent of the buildings was the proper
person to draw the plans and supervise the
work, and this was done at
cost of not quite $500 or q
saving of nearly $4,000 in cash. Will
lam Rommell, assistant superintendent of
buildings, employed for the purpose,
looked after the city's interests in the
work under Building Superintendent
Strange's supervision, and the work as
completed, reflects equal credit upon both
men. The contractors, in what they have
done, have accomplished a most re-
markable result in the short time which
was at their disposal for the purpose.
At WECrIAKE DADK