Monday, March 7, 2011

Roosevelt Middle School, San Francisco

Roosevelt Middle School, San FranciscoIn 1928 San Francisco architects, Miller and Pflueger, won the bid to bid a new building for the Roosevelt Junior High School.

They choose to build the school using brick, a rare choice after the 1906 earthquake, and were probably influenced by the Dutch Expressionist buildings and the Dutch Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exposition.

The building opened in August 1930 and as the Roosevelt Middle School is still used for education today.

Roosevelt Middle School, San Francisco

Roosevelt Middle School, San Francisco

Roosevelt Middle School, San Francisco

References:
Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger, Therese Poletti

6 comments:

  1. What an excellent building, and you have done a great job at capturing it's qualities, I especially love the last photograph in your series, looking up like that has given a great dramatic angle and the brick work is simply stunning!

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  2. Very different from what we normally see in Australia. Well done!

    I would love to see an image of the Dutch Pavilion at the 1925 Paris Exposition. It would be interesting for two reasons:
    1. 1925 was as early as it gets for Deco fairs, so Miller and Pflueger must have gone over to Paris themselves OR had seen publications about the exposition that were quickly written up.

    2. The Netherlands isn't usually thought of as a major influence on North America. Miller and Pflueger must have simply loved the Dutch pavilion.

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  3. Thanks Thomas,do you know the BYFAS building in Abbotsford, here in Melbourne? It has similar brickwork on the tower at the entrance.

    http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2009/05/byfas-abbotsford.html

    Helen, this site has some pictures of the Dutch Pavilion from the Paris 1925 Exposition. I think the brickwork on the back wall is extrodinary.

    http://en.nai.nl/content/341700/an_award_for_j.f._staal

    Art, a curious bit of European brickwork in California!

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  4. If you are interested in Dutch Expressionist architecture: visit this page about The Amsterdam School:

    http://amsterdamse-school.startpagina.nl

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  5. Thanks. Looks like a very comprehensive site.

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