Some shuttered schools experience rebirth

While some are doomed to demolition, across the city are examples of old, abandoned schools that have been put to creative uses.

by JoAnn Greco, PlanPhilly

Photo: Harvey Finkle

The old Hawthorne School, built in 1909, was recently converted to luxury loft-style apartments.

Yellow heart pine floors stretch across apartments filled with architectural details like oversized windows, beamed ceilings, and detailed wainscoting. On the roof, a sprawling deck offers perfect views of Center City, while downstairs, a rec room and fitness facility await the condo owner at Hawthorne Lofts, 12th and Fitzwater Streets. 

Not long ago, though, this was just another empty building – the Nathaniel Hawthorne School, built in 1909, entered on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, and long since closed – set amidst the ragged debris of a neighborhood in transition. 

As District officials deal with 70,000 empty seats and review schools for potential closure, the question of how and whether to reuse shuttered buildings will have great impact on the physical face of the city, says Gary Jastrzab, executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. 

From a planning perspective, this "is about as exciting as we can hope for," he said. "There are great opportunities to serve the neighborhood in ways – from housing developments to charter schools to co-located municipal facilities – that offset some of the anger and disappointment associated with a school closing."

The development of Hawthorne Lofts came at a critical point in the neighborhood's hoped-for revitalization. The Martin Luther King towers had been imploded in favor of townhouse-style affordable housing, and the next-door Bella Vista neighborhood was enjoying record real estate prices. The area, called Hawthorne, seemed ripe for redevelopment.

Tony Rufo knew that. After inheriting some family homes, he set off on a career of buying and renovating others in the neighborhood. All along, he says, "the school was in my wake." Closed since the 1980s, the building was never fully redeveloped by subsequent buyers. When it was again offered for sale, Rufo pounced. A few months ago, the Conshohocken-based builder and developer completed the conversion into 53 loft-style apartments sporting granite countertops and stainless steel kitchens.

It was costly, he said, "but it's such a beautiful old building, with thick walls, huge windows, and a great exterior." So far, about a third of the units have sold; asking prices range from $160,000 to $340,000. 

But luxury condos may not be the preferred use in every neighborhood. "There are only so many" that can be built in the city, noted School District Deputy Superintendent Leroy Nunery.

As a prime example, a few miles north, at 8th and Lehigh, stands a compelling, 19th-century fortress that features crenellated towers and a coterie of gargoyles. The original Northeast High School, then Thomas A. Edison High and finally Julia de Burgos Middle School until 2003, the structure is under agreement of sale for $600,000 to Mosaic Development Partners LLC, which specializes in projects designed to revitalize struggling communities. 

Mosaic told the City Planning Commission it will demolish the original part of the school to make room for a supermarket and put senior housing in a newer section of the building. For now, though, the site is awash in a sea of discarded tires and newspapers, covered in graffiti and sporting smashed-out windows.

"These buildings are often icons in their neighborhoods," observed architect Joseph Denegre, principal at the Center City firm CDA&I, which has helped update more than 30 District schools. "But, at the same time, they become symbolic of the neglect that those neighborhoods have suffered."

Although the Edison/deBurgos site might be reborn, buildings like it present "the hard reality that it can be very difficult to find a new use for them, except for housing," Denegre said. "And unfortunately that use is subject to market forces."