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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
E O
F E
DU
CA
TIO
N
TH
IS D
OC
UM
EN
T H
AS
BE
EN
RE
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
E O
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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A
r
V
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
""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
,=
rt=,
=.
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
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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Yes
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
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