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R E. P 0 R T R E S U4 14 E S ED 011 537 uc CO2 714 THE SCHOOLS AND URBAN RENEWAL, A CASE STUDY FROM NEW HAVEN. Ey- FERRER, TERRY EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES LABS. INC4, NEW YORK, N.Y. REPORT NUMBER EFL-CASE STUDY -8 PUB DATE 62 ECRS PRICE MF-$0.(19 HC-$0.66 22F. DESCRIPTORS- *URBAN RENEWAL, *SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, SCHOOL DESIGN, SCHOOL LOCATION, CONSTRUCTION COSTS, GRADE ORGANIZATION, HIGH SCHOOLS, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, MIDDLE SCHOOLS, NEW HAVEN, NEW YORK CITY THE SPECIFIC ARCHITECTURAL PLANS FOR NEW SCHOOLS TO BE BUILT AS PART OF AN URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT IN NEW HAVEN ARE BRIEFLY DISCUSSED. OVER A 9-YEAR PERIOD 14 OBSOLETE SCHOOLS WILL EE REPLACED, TWO OTHERS AND CNE ANNEX WILL BE ABANDONED, AND 15 NEW SCHOOLS WILL BE BUILT. THESE CHANGES WILL BE BROUGHT ABOUT THROUGH COOPERATIVE PLANNING AMONG. CITY OFFICIAL, THE COMMUNITY, AND THE BOARD.OF EDUCATION, WHICH, COMBINED WITH FEDERAL URBAN RENEWAL PROJECTS, WILL ALLCW ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE SCHOOLS TO BE BUILT "FREE." THIS WILL BE POSSIBLE BECAUSE FUNDS SAVED BY PURCHASING SITES LOCATED IN RENEWAL AREAS WILL BE USED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF MORE SCHOOLS. THIS DOCUMENT IS ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE OFFICES C7 EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES LABORATORIES, 477 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 22. (JL)

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R E. P 0 R T R E S U4 14 E S

ED 011 537 uc CO2 714THE SCHOOLS AND URBAN RENEWAL, A CASE STUDY FROM NEW HAVEN.

Ey- FERRER, TERRYEDUCATIONAL FACILITIES LABS. INC4, NEW YORK, N.Y.

REPORT NUMBER EFL-CASE STUDY -8 PUB DATE 62

ECRS PRICE MF-$0.(19 HC-$0.66 22F.

DESCRIPTORS- *URBAN RENEWAL, *SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, SCHOOLDESIGN, SCHOOL LOCATION, CONSTRUCTION COSTS, GRADEORGANIZATION, HIGH SCHOOLS, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, MIDDLESCHOOLS, NEW HAVEN, NEW YORK CITY

THE SPECIFIC ARCHITECTURAL PLANS FOR NEW SCHOOLS TO BEBUILT AS PART OF AN URBAN RENEWAL PROJECT IN NEW HAVEN AREBRIEFLY DISCUSSED. OVER A 9-YEAR PERIOD 14 OBSOLETE SCHOOLSWILL EE REPLACED, TWO OTHERS AND CNE ANNEX WILL BE ABANDONED,AND 15 NEW SCHOOLS WILL BE BUILT. THESE CHANGES WILL BEBROUGHT ABOUT THROUGH COOPERATIVE PLANNING AMONG. CITYOFFICIAL, THE COMMUNITY, AND THE BOARD.OF EDUCATION, WHICH,COMBINED WITH FEDERAL URBAN RENEWAL PROJECTS, WILL ALLCW ONEOUT OF EVERY THREE SCHOOLS TO BE BUILT "FREE." THIS WILL BEPOSSIBLE BECAUSE FUNDS SAVED BY PURCHASING SITES LOCATED INRENEWAL AREAS WILL BE USED FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF MORESCHOOLS. THIS DOCUMENT IS ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE OFFICES C7EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES LABORATORIES, 477 MADISON AVENUE, NEW

YORK, NEW YORK 22. (JL)

Educatioral F

acilities Laboratories, Inc.is a nonprofit corporation established

by the Ford F

oundation in 1958 to helpA

merican schools and colleges w

iththeir physical problem

s by theencouragem

ent of research and experimenta-

tion and the dissemination of know

ledgeregarding educational facilities.

Board of D

irectors

Milton C

. Mum

ford, Chairm

anP

resident, Lever Brothers C

ompany

Alvin C

. Eurich, V

ice Chairm

anV

ice President, D

irector, The F

und for theA

dvancement of E

ducationC

lay P. B

edfordV

ice President, K

aiser Industries Corporation

James C

. Dow

ns, Jr.P

resident, Real E

state Research C

orporationH

enry Dreyfuss

Industrial Designer

Morris D

uaneA

ttorney, Duane, M

orris and Heckscher

Harold B

. Gores

President, E

ducational Facilities Laboratories

Frederick L. H

ovdeP

resident, Purdue U

niversity

J. E. Jonsson

Chairm

an of the Board, T

exas Instruments, Inc.

Philip M

. Klutznick

Klutznick E

nterprisesJ. L. M

orrillC

onsultant, Ford F

oundation

Winthrop R

ockefellerW

inrock Farm

, Morrilton, A

rkansasT

homas J. W

atson, Jr.C

hairman of the B

oard, International Business

Machines C

orporationB

enjamin C

. Willis

General S

uperintendent of Schools, C

hicago,Illinois

Officers

Harold B

. Gores, P

residentJonathan K

ing, Secretary and T

reasurer

Executive S

taff

Lillian Butler, P

ublications Associate

Frank C

arioti, Consultant

Robert M

. Dillon, A

IA, C

onsultantM

argaret Farm

er, Editorial A

ssociateA

rnold J. Kuesel, A

ssistant Treasurer

James J. M

orisseau, Editorial A

ssociateC

yril G. S

argent, Program

Specialist

Ruth W

einstock, Research A

ssociate

Library of Congress C

atalog No. 64-16732

Additional copies are available from

the offices ofE

ducational Facilities Laboratories,

477 Madison A

venue, New

York 22, N

ew Y

Ork

U0 002._

71y-

The S

chools and Urban

Renew

al

A case study

from N

ew H

avenby T

erry Ferrer

U.S

. DE

PA

RT

ME

NT

OF

HE

ALT

H, E

DU

CA

TIO

N &

WE

LFA

RE

OF

FIC

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F E

DU

CA

TIO

N

TH

IS D

OC

UM

EN

T H

AS

BE

EN

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PR

OD

UC

ED

EX

AC

TLY

AS

RE

CE

IVE

D F

RO

M T

HE

PE

RS

ON

OR

OR

GA

NIZ

AT

ION

OR

IGIN

AT

ING

IT.

PO

INT

S O

F V

IEW

OR

OP

INIO

NS

ST

AT

ED

DO

NO

T N

EC

ES

SA

RILY

RE

PR

ES

EN

T O

FF

ICIA

L OF

FIC

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F E

DU

CA

TIO

N

PO

SIT

ION

OR

PO

LICY

.

A R

eport from E

ducational Facilities Laboratories

Forew

ord

The schoolhouse in the cities of A

merica is in a general condition of deteriora-

tion and decay. Ugly and ill-kept, it adds its forbidding shadow

to the depress-ing environm

ent of city neighborhoods. its very age and condition contribute tothe out-m

igration of people to the suburbswith their bright new

buildings andtheir light, air, and space. A

nd the deficiencies of the urban schoolhouse addto the already large gap betw

een the conditions of living and learning providedthe suburban child and those available to the generally less privileged childrenof the city.

John Hersey described its appearance best in his novel, T

he Child B

uyer:"T

he school is an old, dark, brick, two-story contraption, a N

orman fortress,

built as if learning and virtue needed a stronghold, a place of turrets and para-pets, w

ith narrow slits in the bricks through w

hich scholars with crossbow

speep out at an atom

ic world."

While the city school has continued to deteriorate, there has been a grow

ingseries of actions, both public and private, w

hose purpose has been to arrestand even to reverse the trend of general physical decline of urban areas. T

husover the past 13 years in m

any Am

erican cities, areas of slum housing and

blighted comm

ercial and industrial uses have had these structures replacedby decent housing, m

odern shops, offices, and industrial districts. And during

these years the concept of the scope and complexity of the task of renew

ingurban .neighborhoods has been continuously enlarged. E

ach revision of theF

ederal Housing A

ct of 1949 has added new dim

ensions and encouraged more

comprehensive plans and program

s, for it is clear by now that city blight and

decay can be arrested only by massive attacks on problem

s of housing, landuse, roads and transportation, com

mercial and industrial developm

ent.M

oreover such studies as have been madefor exam

ple, the one in Detroit's

Mack-C

oncord areawould seem

to indicate that the "patch up, paint up, fixup" approach for residential renew

al has produced far less than had beenhoped for in such m

atters as improved com

munity m

orale and stabilized resi-dential patterns. N

o strong comm

unity cohesiveness has resulted. Significant

physical changes, among other things, appear necessary to create the sym

bol-ism

necessary for a personal sense of identification with an area and a feeling

of satisfaction with the living space.

In any residential renewal plan (conservation or clearance, or a com

bination

2

of both), the school building can well becom

e this symbolic focus, for it is one

of the comm

unity's most im

portant visual and functional elements. A

mong the

generally small-scale structures in a residential area the schoolhouse can

become the "neighborhood capital"the significant architectural elem

ent.T

he belief is also increasing that local residents may be disposed to spend

more on repairing and reconditioning their ow

n homes w

hen they see, earlyin the execution of a rehabilitation or conversion project, an expenditure fora w

ell-designed school building. This can becom

e a sign of intent, an article offaith and interest on the part of the local governm

ent in the well-being of the

area and its people.It is in recognizing the role that the school can play in rebuilding a city, and

in acting vigorously on this conviction that the leaders of New

Haven's urban

renewal program

have set an example am

ong Am

erican cities. Since 1953,

Mayor R

ichard C. Lee has m

ade the redevelopment of N

ew H

aven his main

concern. Cam

paigning continuously on the issue of urban renewal, he has put

together a program w

hose projected scope covers more than half of the city's

total area. Directed until 1960 by E

dward J. Logue, and subsequently by L.

Thom

as Appleby, H

arold Grabino, and M

elvin J. Adam

s; this program has

increasingly been concerned with the hum

an and social conditions of urbanliving. T

he school and its program have thus becom

e a central element in the

plan, according to city officials, "to create an opportunity structure which

would m

ake it possible (for each New

Haven resident) to achieve personal

fulfillment and a sense of w

orth and dignity."N

ew H

aven has learned that urban renewal needs the schools. It seem

sequally clear that the schools need the urban renew

al program. T

his case studyof N

ew H

aven's effort brings out rather dramatically the fiscal advantages

which can accrue to a city and a school system

through the renewal process,

but the end is not financial, nor is that New

Haven's goal. T

he end is a more

satisfying and rewarding life for the city's people.

As P

aul Ylvisaker of the F

ord Foundation has suggested, "A

comm

unityw

hich made its schools ... the tender object and physical center of its urban

renewal operations w

ould be taking one of the noblest and shrewdest steps

forward in the civic progress of this century." N

ew H

aven is taking this step.E

ducational Facilities Laboratories

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r

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e.1' 2,'

New

Haven

Blighted room

ing houses, far left, were rehabilitated under

New

Haven's urban renew

al program to transform

Academ

y Street

slum into charm

ing residential street.

Ten years ago the city of N

ew H

aven, Connecticut, w

as 315 years oldandlooked every m

inute of it.Its buildings of drab brick and age-stained w

oodw

ere pressed into narrow streets. Its grim

y slum areas had been breeding and

spreading in the midst of the city. Its population had been dropping: In the

decade ending in 1960, more than 12,000 fled the city for the m

ore attracti-;c,suburbsa sizable loss in a city w

hose population in 1950 was betw

een.164,000 and 165,000. T

his was N

ew H

avenuntil 10 years ago.W

edged in the streets of the seemingly dying city w

ere its 40 schools, most

without adequate acreage, poorly lit, poorly ventilated, m

any still with base-

ment toilets, m

any more w

ith their plaster walls cracking, their ancient stairs

creaking. Tw

elve elementary schools w

ere built before 1900one the yearG

rant took Vicksburg. S

ixteen more elem

entary schools date back before1920. O

nly two elem

entary schools were constructed betw

een 1920 and 1950.T

hus, the vast majority of N

ew H

aven's schools were educational tenem

ents,drab, ugly, dilapidated. W

hile the city's perimeter and suburbs beckoned

families w

ith new schools and good playgrounds along w

ith .a home of one's

own, N

ew H

avenlike many another A

merican cityhad not renew

ed theurban schoolhouse.

Not until the last few

years, that is. For N

ew H

aven is currently engaged inthe largest urban renew

al per capita project of its kind in the country. Within

this total redevelopment, the city w

ill tear down, betw

een 1961 and 1970, 14 ofits obsolete ec -hools, abandon tw

o others plus one annex, and build in theirstead 15 new

schools. In less than 10 years, the city will replace som

e 40 percent of its schools. A

nd the city itself will be refurbished as w

ell.T

he secret of how to do it: tying in the new

schools with federal urban re-

newal projects. B

y cooperative planning among city officials, the com

munity,

and the Board of E

ducation, savings for the school system and the city have

been effected which m

ake possible a program of school construction w

hichthe com

munity w

ould probably otherwise never have considered. O

ne of everythree of N

ew H

aven's schools will be "free" to the cityw

ith site acquiredand school erected by funds saved on the purchase of 11 of the 15 sites w

hichare located in existing or planned renew

al areas.H

ow has N

ew H

aven's program com

e about? It all begah when the S

tate in1953 announced plans for a N

ew H

aven Interchange for the new C

onnecticutT

hruway, w

hiph would have cut right through a thickly populated Italian neigh-

borhood and one of the oldest residential areas, Wooster S

quare.F

ortunately, New

Haven had an im

aginative modern plan for the future

drawn by M

aurice Rotival the year after he joined the Y

ale faculty in 1940 asassociate professor of planning. B

ased on the recomm

endation of the Rotival

Plan, the C

ity Planning C

omm

ission protested the state's interchange locationand proposed that it be shifted further east. In addition, it urged that a six-lane,depressed connector road be built w

hich would link dow

ntown N

ew H

avendirectly w

ith the thruway. M

ayor Richard C

. Lee pressed these proposals5

vigorously and persuaded the state not only to accept the alternate route butto pay for the dow

ntown connector w

hich was to cost $15 m

illion.."B

uilding the 'new' N

ew H

aven," as the slogan became, w

as under way. T

heO

ak Street project for the connector road w

as followed by the C

hurch Street

project for rebuilding the comm

ercial and business district in the heart ofdow

ntown N

ew H

aven and the Long Wharf plan for reconstructing the w

ater-front. T

hese were succeeded in turn by a m

ajor rehabilitation of the Wooster

Square neighborhood w

hich had been "saved" by the highway relocation.

Wooster S

quare had been the city's first suburb by about 1820, with fine

homes overlooking the harbor and a pleasant park. B

ut, as happens in som

any expanding Am

erican cities, in 40 years the neighborhood began to de-teriorate. S

mall factories rose on the vacant land beyond the handsom

e houseson the square, follow

ed by jerry-built homes and tenem

ents to housethe

factory workers. N

earby Court S

treet, terminating in the square, w

as littlem

ore than a skid row of filthy buildings leased by the room

at $3 a week, often

to local drunks. Rat-infested dw

ellings multiplied; fire hazards grew

in 17years, 35 persons w

ere burned to death in the area. The three public

schoolsw

ent further and further downhill along w

ith the neighborhood.In 1955, the W

ooster Square N

eighborhood Renew

al Com

mittee and the

city's planning and development staff began w

orking on plans to rebuild thearea. P

lanning with the residents w

as substituted for planning for them, and

the urban renewal staff becam

e increasingly attuned to the human factors in

the renewal process. S

chools began to assume a dom

inant role, not only inW

ooster Square plans, but in the D

ixwell and S

tate Street projects as w

ell.R

eflecting on the Wooster S

quare and Dixw

ell projects experience espe-cially, E

dward J. Logue, D

evelopment A

dministrator in the city, suggested a

comprehensive survey of all the city's schools. T

he Board of E

ducation agreed.and D

r. Cyril G

. Sargent, then P

rofessor of Education at H

arvard University w

asengaged to do the survey.

in March of 1961, D

r. Sargent finished his report. H

is indictment of the con-

dition of the city's schools could well apply to countless other com

munities.

As D

r. Sargent w

rote:"In com

mon w

ith almost every older A

merican city, N

ew H

aven's schoolplant, particularly in its older neighborhoods, is over-aged, w

orn-out, andobsolete. F

or too many years in the past, N

ew H

aven has built too fewschools

..."A

n obsolete and inefficient school plant has consequences beyond reduc-ing the quality of education for our children. T

he ugliness and drabness of oldschools are a m

ajor cause of the flight to the suburbs and the decline of oldercity neighborhoods.

"Schools, w

ell designed, on adequate sites and made a center of com

-m

unity activity, can go far in arresting blight and improving neighborhoods

where residents m

ust establish new confidence in their com

munity and hence

6

their city. Schools that are com

munity-centered can serve as recreational and

adult education facilities."T

o achieve substantial economies, the school construction program

needsto be integrated w

ith urban renewal and neighborhood im

provement pro-

grams. N

ew H

aven's well-advanced urban renew

al and neighborhood im-

provement program

makes such a com

bination feasible and timely.

"The school building program

recomm

ended in this report, if adopted, will

enable New

Haven to provide an im

proved and efficient school plant on aneconom

ical basis."S

pecifically, Dr. S

argent proposed that 14 schoolsincluding the 12 builtbefore the turn of the centurybe torn dow

n, and that three other schools beabandoned. In .their places w

ould rise 15 new schools, and extensive renova-

tions would be done on som

e of the schools retained.T

he report emphasized the substantial savings w

hich could be realizedthrough tie-ins w

ith urban-renewal projects. T

he total cost of the 15 schoolsincluding sites totaling 71 acresw

ithout urban renewal w

ould have been$19,967,000. T

his was prohibitively high. W

ith urban renewal tie-ins, the cast

would drop to $12,947,000a saving of $7.020,000 through w

ritedowns on sites.

Dividing the 15 schools into the larger cost of $19,967,000 produces a cost-

per-school of slightly more than $1,330,000. U

sing this figure, with the $7,020,-

000 saved through urban renewal. five schools could be financed by this

saving. Thus these five schoolsone of every three of the 15 proposedare

"free" for New

Haven.

But these are only the direct savings of cash outlays required to m

odernizethe city's school plant. A

s the report pointed out."It should particularly be noted that in m

any cases the cost of the schoolconstruction itselfa sum

which the city w

ould plan to spend in any eventis sufficient to m

ake up the city's required one-third share of renewal project

cost.... In fact, it may elim

inate the need for any further direct cash contribu-tions on the part of the city for urban renew

al projects."T

he new schools w

ould be sprinkled throughout the city to serve neighbor-hood areas and to provide com

munity facilities. E

leven of the 15 should beelem

entary on a K-4 organization. three should be "interm

ediate," or 5-8, andone should be a new

four-year high school (9-12). What actually w

asproposed

was a sw

itch from the 6-3-3 organization used in m

ost New

Haven schools to

a K-4-4-4 plan.

In a subsequent letter to the Board of E

ducation, Dr. S

argent outlined what

he feels are the "substantial educational advantages" of the K-4-4-4 plan for

New

Haven. H

e wrote:

"A four-year high school not only gives recognition to the m

aturity of ninth-grade pupils but perm

its and encourages a more sustained and vigorous edu-

cation program throughout the high-school years. T

here are aspects of theninth grade, including the elective system

, that bear special relationship to

F

I It7.r:

""irlIP44.

it7

Model of proposed new

''house plan" high school for New

Haven.

1'1%x* 04

, A

h

aws

401.-

44rsrtit.-;'

V.Z

;10

oto

xl

*".r.A

-4-C 'A

tt,L,N

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=.

t

zr,-

-.A

.4C:

4.V.

.r.'

ra4Pol.Ivirrreirri,

the tenth grade and la'er sequences of study. A four-year high school plan

also provides continuity in the guidance program w

hich can effectively sup-port educational goals.

"The fifth- through eighth-grade interm

ediate school extends the basic prin-ciple of the junior high school to the fifth-grade. It can m

ean offering courseson a departm

ent basis, the extension of guidance programs to fifth-grade

students, as well as the introduction of special facilities and courses. N

ewH

aven first adopted the junior-high-school principle in 1924, but has nevertotally com

pleted its grade organization to carry out that system.

"The sm

all, neighborhood-oriented K through 4 elem

entary school can bea school specially designed for very young children. T

he classrooms, special

facilities, and even the school sites themselves can be adapted for children

of kindergarten through fc'irth -grade age. In addition, the schools would be

so located as to serve relatively "ompact neighborhoods w

herever possible."D

r. Sargent's report w

as unanimous:y approved by the B

oard of Education,

and numerous com

munity m

eetings were held to explain itincluding a huge

public meetingthe largest in the history of the cityw

hich voted 1,300 to20 for his plans.

In August of 1961, the N

ew H

aven Board of F

inance agreed to let the cityfloat som

e $13,000,000 worth of bonds as needed to finance the S

argent repor,,despite som

e political opposition to the lump-sum

permission. T

his meant that

the Board of E

ducation did not have to return to city officials 15 times in 10

years to get approval for each school.T

he new high school has been designed by S

aarinen Associates, and is

scheduled for completion by 1965. T

he four-year school is on the "house"plan to provide sm

aller units for its 1,600 pupils. Four houses w

ill accomm

o-date 400 pupils in eacha cross section of all four classesunder four ad-m

inistrators, who can get to know

their pupils far better than if they were trying

to keep track of the whole 1,600.

Concurrently, the architectural firm

of Perkins and W

ill and a New

Haven

architect, Carleton E

. Granberry, w

ere retained to prepare programing studies

of the K-4 schools recom

mended by D

r. Sargent.

The architects designed a school w

hich they felt would be used on eight of

the 11 planned elementary sites. T

heir idea: in a city which desperately needs

a feeling of space, drop the school partly underground, put the playgroundon roofs of the school's sections, and give the effect of a park by using onlythree acres of a site of seven to eight acres.

,

Each classroom

of the architects' proposed school has window

s on an innercourt. T

he kindergarten is separate from the other classroom

s, and can usethe inner court for play. G

rades 1 to 4 can play on the roofs or adjacent park-like land.

The proposed school has not as yet been built in N

ew H

aven on any site,but it has been suggested for the F

air Haven section. P

erhaps not surprisingly,

I

5.

01411,4 r1

fill,114filovt

black

9

1

1

»1 .

i

Sr

I

Interior court of Conte S

chool, left, offers play space for younger children.E

xterior, above, enhances neighborhood.

in the light of earlier citizen discussions, at a recent public meeting to discuss

the school, one Fair H

aven resident objected to the plans on the grounds that"if w

e are going to have a new school, w

e want to be able to see it."

Meanw

hile, the school which started N

ew H

aven on its present program of

school building, the Henry A

. Conte S

chool & C

omm

unity Center, opened in

Septem

ber of 1962. The school enrolled 750 pupils, just about half of w

homare N

egroes, in kindergarten through grade eight.D

esigned by Skidm

ore, Ow

ings and Merrillthe first architects brought into

New

Haven from

the outside to design a schoolthe Conte S

chool and theC

enter are placed on two city blocks.

The school is square and tw

o stories high, with 26 classroom

s. The exterior

is poured reinforced concrete, with cinderblock on the inside. In the interior

of the square, window

s look out at the playground for the smallest pupils,

safely enclosed. Tw

o other play areas for older children are on the outsideof the school square.

The school has a sw

imm

ing pool, large gymnasium

, and science laboratory.In a separate building, connected to the school by an underground passage,is a com

munity and school auditorium

.F

urther, across a broad plaza are the two other buildings of the C

onte com-

plex, a three-room senior citizens' center linked to a branch of the public

library. The school,' auditorium

, senior citizens' center;` and library are openm

ost nights until 9 p.m. or later for com

munity m

eetings, plays, or other enter-tainm

ent and relaxation.A

nd then there is Court S

treet, the former room

ing-house block terminating

in the square. At a cost of $250,000, the city rehabilitated the shabby buildings,

also under urban renewal. N

ew H

aven's Redevelopm

ent Agency bought up the

blighted and blotched buildings, painted and spruced them up and resold

them, barring room

ing-house use. The w

hole area was planted w

ith trees.T

he result is a charming street w

hich looks like Boston's B

eacon Hill or

part of the French Q

uarter of New

Orleans. T

he rehabilitation, first of its kindin the country, "provided m

ore housing per dollar than could have beenachieved by new

construction and will return a substantial tax revenue to the

city," says New

Haven's 1963 budget report. "C

ourt Street has been praised

by officials on every level of government, and it is an exam

ple that is sure tobe follow

ed by many other com

mun;ties.-

Conte has not been w

ithout its critics. The principal com

plaint about theschool has been its extrem

ely high cost, which ran to $30 a square foot in the

four buildings (as contrasted with the C

onnecticut school average of about $14a square foot). N

ew H

aven Board of E

ducation officials defend the expense bypointing out that the $14 figure is a classroom

s-only per-square-foot cost, while

the $30 for Conte includes such expensive item

s as the swim

ming pool, w

hichis open for com

munity use, the neighborhood library, and the auditorium

.E

xpensive or not, the Conte S

chool-Com

munity C

enter showed N

ew H

aven11

what could be done financially, and how

a new school could becom

ebydesignthe hub of com

munity life by day and by night. A

nd theopen areas in

the plaza between the buildings gave a refreshing feeling of

space in a cityw

hich previously had built most of its schools virtually to the edge of the

sidewalks surrounding them

.T

o understand the relationship of the new schools to such other urban

re-new

al project building as housing, an industrial district,a com

mercial park, a

central fire station, a shopping area, and new sew

ers and streets, it isneces-

sary to examine. the financing of the w

hole Wooster S

quare project and com-

pare the project with and w

ithout schools. Here is the w

ay it works:

The F

ederal government loans N

ew H

aven $23,858,000 to buy propertiesw

hich have to be cleared of dilapidated buildings. Improvem

ents suchas

sewers, firehouses, and city-aw

ned property add to the cost of the project by$3,498,000, bringing the total to $27,356,000. If the W

ooster Square S

choolcost and the share of the cost of the new

Wilbur C

ross High S

chool for pupils

Table 1. W

ooster Square P

roject / Com

parative Costs to N

ew H

aven

attending from W

ooster Square are added, the total project cost becom

es$31,556,000. F

rom this is subtracted the incom

e received from the sale of-all

the land, making the net project cost $28,920,000 w

ith schools and $24,720,000w

ithout. After subtracting the federal share (2/3) of this cost and the state's

contribution (50% of the local cost), the net cost to the city is $4,820,000 w

iththe schools as com

pared to $4,120,000 without. B

ut the federal government

allowsas a non-cash credit tow

ard the city's 1/3 paymentthe schools, fire-

houses, and public land so that with the schools the city has an actual cash

credit of $2,878,000 (which can be applied to its share of other renew

al proj-ects), as against an additional outlay of $622,000 w

ithout the schools.. And this

credit can yield an additional $17,268,000 of federal funds for other projects.W

hile the Conte S

chool was under construction N

ew H

aven's mayor and

other city officials pressed ahead, and in addition to wiping out slum

s and re-building the schools, they em

barkgd on a "human renew

al" program, supported

by $2,500,000 from the F

ord Foundation. C

alled Com

munity P

rogress Inc., the

ItemW

ith Schools

Without S

chools.

1. Project E

xpenditures.

$23,858,000$23,858,000

2. Non-C

ash Grants-in-A

idS

chool:1) W

ooster Square S

chool2) W

ilbur Cross H

ighN

onschool:1) F

irehouse, sewers, etc.

2) City-ow

ned property

$3,600,000600,000

2,403,0001,095,000

,

$ 7,698,000

2,403,0001,095,000

$ 3,498,000$7 °,98,000

$3,498,000

3. Gross P

roject Cost (1 -I- 2)

31,556,00027,356,000

4. Land Sale

2,636,0002,636,000

5. Net P

roject Cost (3

4)28,920,000

24,720,000

6. Federal S

hare (2/3 of 5)19,280,000

16,480,000

7. Minim

um' Local G

rants-in-Aid (1/3 of 5)

9,640,0008,240,000

8. State contribution (1/2 of 7)

4,820,0004,120,000

9. Net C

ity Grant-in-A

id (7 8)4,820,000

4,120,000

10. Local non-cash (2)7,698,000

3,498,000

11. Localcash(C

R)

622,000

12

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Ghltidhopt.,

program began in the fall of 1962 to attack such social problem

s as lack ofjobs for the poorly educated and juvenile delinquency, and to stress the

com-

munity school as the center for solving these problem

s. CP

I's executive direc-tor is M

itchell Sviridoff. w

ho was form

erly chairman of N

ewH

aven's Board of

Education.C

PI, w

ith special attention to thecity's N

egroes-15 per cent of the popula-tion--w

ill try everything frompre-kindergarten program

s to acquaint childrenw

ith books before theygo to school to neighborhood service directors to

coordinate sot:jai services. Legalcom

munity w

orkers will be in each com

-m

unity school to "help what is now

a fear of the law into an

awareness that the

law presents an opportunity."

Helping teachers. trained in city fam

ily and culturalproblens, w

ill be hiredto reach pupilsto "find out w

hat makes

Johnny tick"and help involveregular teachers in neighborhood life. T

here will be funds

provided for extrarem

edial reading teachers. Improved

guidance aimed at today's labor m

arketand post-high school technical

programs w

ill help high school graduates getbetter jobs. "S

chool" will be in session 12 to 16 hours

a day.N

ew H

aven's new school superintendent, D

r.Laurence G

. Paquin, w

elcomes

these efforts to provide better buildings and better lives forhis 21,000 pupils.

He is also w

ell aware that neighborhood

cooperation plus coordinated effortsof city officials, city planners. and schoolm

enare essential to the city's effort-

at rebirth.

Building new

schools through urban renewal projects

may not be the answ

erfor every large city in the

country. It can be a long and tedious process. Total

urban renewal plans m

ust clear one of theseven regional offices of the H

ous-ing and H

ome F

inance Agency spotted throughout the

country. The cities'

plans must also be approved in W

ashington. The w

holeprocedure takes at

least two years before building can begin.

although school plans must get no

approval as such--only as part of the city's plan.B

ut New

Haven has found it w

orth the effort. Other com

munities

might w

ellconsider urban renew

al as an economical and

practical way to renew

theschoolhouse in the heart of the city.

New

Haven's school bond issue of $13.000.000 could

bring the city 546,500.-000 m

ore in federal and state funds toward

general renewal purposes. F

or inthe case of the 11 schools planned in the renew

alareas the state w

ould match

their estimated $9,300,000 cost. T

he federalgrant on the $18,600,000 of state

and local money w

ould be 537.200,000. Thus the state and federal

government

could provide an additional 546,500.000 for New

Haven in its drive

to be thefirst slum

-free city in Am

erica. And the schools w

ouldbe in the forefront of

this drive.

Congress m

ade S2.5 billion available for urban renew

al in 1961. So far.

bigurban centers have not m

ade as much use of these funds

as the smaller cities,

according to federal renewal officials. N

ew H

aven is the exception.

15

;ff

*f

II s 4

.

7

:

:43

IS

Design:

Cherm

ayeff & G

eismar A

ssociatesP

hotography:Ivan C

hermayeff: cover

Earl C

olter: pages 3, 4, 7. Courtesy

New

Haven R

edevelopment A

gencyM

aris/Ezra S

toller Associates: page 7. C

ourtesyS

kidmore, O

wings &

Merrill

Ezra S

toller Associates: pages 8,

9,10. Courtesy S

kidmore, O

wings &

Merrill

William

R. S

imm

ons: pages 12, 13, 15.C

ourtesy Ford F

oundation

Other R

eports from E

FL

The foH

owing publications dealing w

ith facilities for elementary and secondary

education are available from E

FL; 477 M

adison Avenue, N

ew Y

ork 22, N. Y

.

About E

FL.

The purposes and activities of E

ducational Facilities Laboratories, Inc.

Cost of a S

choolhouse.C

ost and effectiveness of school housing, planning, building, and financing.

Design F

or ET

V: P

lanning for Schools w

ith Television.

A report on facilities needed to accom

modate instructional television and

other new educational program

s. Prepared for E

FL by D

ave Chapm

an, Inc.,Industrial D

esign.

The S

chool Library: Facilities for Independent S

tudy in the Secondary S

chool.

Profiles of S

ignificant Schools.

A series of reports w

hich provide information on som

e.of the latest develop-m

ents in school planning and design.

Belaire E

lementary S

chool, San A

ngelo, Texas

Heathcote E

lementary S

chool, Scarsdale, N

ew Y

orkM

ontrose Elem

entary School, Laredo, T

exasT

wo M

iddle Schools, S

aginaw T

ownship, M

ichiganN

ewton S

outh High S

chool, New

ton, Massachusetts

Holland H

igh School, H

olland, Michigan

Schools for T

eam T

eachingten representative examples

High S

chools 1962educational change and architectural consequence

Case S

tudies Of E

ducational Facilities.

A series of reports w

hich provide information on specific solutions to problem

sin school planning, design, and construction.

1. Conventional G

ymnasium

vs. Geodesic F

ield House

West B

ethesda High S

chool, Montgom

ery County, M

aryland

3. Laboratories and Classroom

s for High S

chool Physics

Chapter from

Modern P

hysics Buildings: D

esign and Function

4. A D

ivisible Auditcrium

, Boulder C

ity, Nevada