The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-03-02
WORLD 'SLARGESTSCHOOL
New York to Have Giant Struc-
ture for Children.
ROOM FOR 1000 PUPILS.
VIII Front on Three Streets and an
Alley, viii Have Two Hundred
Classrooms and be Fireproof-
Twelve Stories High-Many Ele-
vators and EscaIators,

difficult problems encountered in the
congested districts of the city Ar
rangements to put the new plan into
execution have already been COM
pletcd.
The biggest school building In the
world is to be erected at Grand, Lud-
low and Norfolk streets, on the site
Of School No. 137. This building is
to be torn down to make way for the
skyscraper, and the pupils will be ac-
commodated in Public School No. 62,
at Hester, Norfolk and Essex streets,
| while il Is building.
The new skyscraper will be abso-
lutely freproof and will have every
possible means of escape in case or
danger. It has not yet been decided
! whether the building will be ten or
twelve stories high. but If it is ten
stories high it viii accommodate 5000
children.
Associate Superintendent George
S. Davis, who has been interested in
the skyscraper building as a solution
to the crowded school problem, said
that the idea was generally favored
by the school authorities and that he
and Building Superintendent Snyder
had decided that it was so perfectly
practicable that plans would be push
ed through at once.
school building No 137," said Mr..
feet. When the new building Is
erected on that much ground it may
readily be seen what economy In
space will be brought about. This
land Is valuable, and we can accom-
modate just twice as many pupils as
the ordinary large building by run
ming IL up into the air.
THE new structure, for which Mr..
Snyder has excellent plans, will con-
tain about 200 classrooms. Glasses
will be confined to floors in relation
10 their grades, 50 that there will be
no necessity for pupils leaving the
one floor. The building will be de-
voted to the higher grades, and that
will be another point In favor of the
skyscraper in case of fire. The older
pupils will have more self-possession.
and then, besides that, the excellent
control teachers have over scholars
on account of fire drills is almost per-
feet.
THE fire-drill problem in the large
schools has reached a degree of per-
fection that makes the handling OF
large crowds a simple matter.
"Of course, the building will be as
nearly fireproof as modern building
construction will allow, which means
that practically the only innammable
substances will be the furnishings.
There will be four exits and four
high-speed elevators. Escalators will
run between floors, and there will be
a number of broad stairways.
"The departmental system will be
used, and this, together with the fact
that the scholars are all Of the higher
grades, will help a great deal. The
departmental system of teaching was
proposed for the new building in or
der to keep each grade to a single
floor and do away with the necessity
for pupils to pass from one floor to
another.
"The building will be especially
suited to night schools, and as this
proposition has been almost as seri-
GUS on the east side as the day
school, the skyscraper will be a great
advantage. The building will be as
nearly like modern Office building
as possible, and when it is finished 1t
will be the biggest school building in
the world, and the first of its kind as
well.
"The skyscraper is bound to be the
solution of the problem" said Mr..
Davis, "for it is necessary to make
the most of the ground allotted. We
have already planned the problem of
dismissal to certain extent, for to
turn 5000 or 10000 children out at
once might be confusing. For this
reason different hours of dismissal
will be arranged. At dismissal the
pupils on the lower floors will go out
by the stairways, the upper-hoor
pupils using the elevators. AS the
building will front on three streets
and an alley it will be easy, compare
lively speaking, TO empty the school,
"The building will be arranged with
fifteen classrooms ON each floor, and
each room will accommodate fifty
pupils. OF course, We cannot begin
the building until No. 1877 is torn
down, and this necessitates finding
accommodations for the scholars in
this school. No. 90, which Is a large
school, will offer this room, and as
soon as it is completed the pupils
will be transferred to it and No. 1877
torn down."
Building Superintendent Snyder
said in regard TO the proposed sky
scraper that it was entirely practical
Bile, and had he not considered 1t so
he would never have proposed it for
school building at No. 1877.
Il believe the skyscraper school
building to be the practical solution
OF the school problem. There is not
space enough to expand on the