John Lathrop Motley Public school
- Architect
- John J. Flanders
- Year
- 1885
- Style
- Colonial Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
The Motley School was built in 1884 as Chicago Board of Education chief architect John J. Flanders' answer to a booming West Town student population, driven by immigration and Illinois' 1883 Compulsory Education Law. Flanders designed it on a standardized plan later used across the city, closing the school in 2013 after 129 years of continuous operation.
the building
Break from Italianate schools. The school's asymmetrical layout, small side entrances, ornamental brickwork on the chimneys, and metal cornice marked a sharp departure from the symmetrical Italianate plans Chicago had used for earlier public schools.
1898 addition. As West Town's population kept growing, the Board of Education built an addition onto the school in 1898.
the style
Facts list the building as Colonial Revival, though its recorded features (asymmetrical plan, ornamental brick chimneys, metal cornice) are described as Renaissance Revival, the idiom Flanders used to break from Chicago's earlier symmetrical Italianate school designs.
More on Colonial Revivalthe architect
John J. Flanders became chief architect of the Chicago Board of Education in 1884, the same year Motley School went up, and used it to establish a standardized school plan applied throughout the city.
significance
Designated a Chicago Landmark (L-341) on December 14, 2016, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 5, 2017.
nearby
- Holy Innocents Church
- Polish Museum of America
- Elizabeth Peabody Public School
- St. John Cantius in Chicago
- Holy Trinity Church
- Polish National Alliance Building