Property Record
4300-4310 N 16TH ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Fifteenth Street School |
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| Other Name: | Emanuel Philipp School |
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| Reference Number: | 110224 |
| Location (Address): | 4300-4310 N 16TH ST |
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| County: | Milwaukee |
| City: | Milwaukee |
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| Year Built: | 1931 |
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| Additions: | 1961 |
| Survey Date: | 19802019 |
| Historic Use: | elementary, middle, jr.high, or high |
| Architectural Style: | Art Deco |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Eschweiler & Eschweiler; Thomas Eschweiler (1961 auditorium) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A playful fusion of sculpture and architecture sets this Art Deco style elementary-school building apart from other public schools of its era. The general massing of the flat-roofed building looks modernist in its geometric simplicity. Its abundance of high-quality, hand-crafted exterior detail work further distinguishes the structure. The school is composed of a three-story classroom block with a taller entrance tower at the north end and a one-story auditorium wing added in 1961. Brickwork laid in a modified Flemish bond pattern, imparts texture and richness to the wall surfaces of the North Sixteenth Street side classroom wing. Set into this brick background, and mostly on the entrance tower, is an extraordinary program of handcrafted ornament. Alongside the stoop outside the entrance, the low stone retaining walls are highlighted in bas-relief with a small menagerie. At the first-floor window sill level, terracotta panels, designed by Milwaukee artist Gertrude "Tula" Erskine, depict children's-story and nursery-rhyme characters. Above the school entrance two corbels shaped like bears' heads support a balustrade of carved limestone penguins. Some of the school's interior also contains handcrafted ornamental features that continue the zoo and storybook theme. The school was designated a Milwaukee Historic Landmark in 1988 |
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| Bibliographic References: | Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. "Emanuel Philipp School Historic Designation Study Report" Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission, 1988. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |