Franz Sigel Elementary is one of William Ittner’s designs from 1906, and could be best described as an Italian Romanesque Revival influenced building, though that seems lacking in many ways. It’s still an interesting school, and is unique among the firm’s designs for the public school system. Compare this design to that of Farragut School in the Greater Ville.
There is minimal to no use of decorative terracotta outside the entrance portal, and the majority of ornament is created through the use of the same brick that makes up the curtain walls of the building.
Chris, I lived in the neighborhood if this school from 1992-1995. Something that I discovered was that the school was used for immigrants to use the showers for bathing, as only roughly 1/3 of homes at that time had indoor plumbing, even as late as 1950. The city provided 6 municipal bath houses, as well as the one in Buder Park, and some schools opened their showers for those that lived in the neighborhood. I believe at one time, there was a large Serbian population there, two of their churches are still in the area
That’s interesting. Some public schools still allow their students to use their bathrooms because some children are homeless or live in housing that lacks proper plumbing.