Willam R. Belknap School
Encyclopedia
The Willam R. Belknap School is a former school building in the Belknap
neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky
USA. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1982.
It was designated as a local landmark by the Louisville Metro Landmarks Commission in 2001.
The school takes its name from the developer of the surrounding neighborhood. In 1995, the Belknap neighborhood association took a geometric motif from the school building for its logo.
The Belknap School is a two-story building on a raised basement. The building has a central projecting entry bay and projecting end wings. The central projecting entrance contains double doors with a single transom. The panes have geometric mullion
s. This entrance is encased in a stone surround with an arched tympanum
lined with exaggerated dentil
s. Within the tympanum is a central lamp with the words "LUX ET VERITAS, light and truth," above an open book with a fig branch. In the lintel is a band of exaggerated dentils. In the stone surround; the school name, WILLIAM
R. BELKNAP SCHOOL, is located above the doors, flanked by applied decorative terra cotta motifs.
On the second floor is a pair of windows with vertical mullions in both sash, and crosshatch mullions in the upper portion of the upper sash. Flanking the windows are applied, terra cotta
torch motifs. The inside walls of this projecting bay contain three stepped windows on the first level and paired windows on the second with the flanking torch motifs. The fenestration
of the recessed facade plane which flanks the entrance bay consists of five basement-story windows and five
windows on both the first and second floors.
The basement-story windows have six-over-six lights. A stone band divides the basement-story from the first floor. The first and second floor windows contain unusually patterned geometric lights. Pilaster
s rise from the sill of the first floor windows to the lintels of the second floor windows, with tapestry-like terra cotta panels on the pilasters between the second: floor windows.
A stone band divides the second floor from the large parapet
wall with a stone coping.
On the inside walls of each wing are three basement-story windows and two first and second floor windows with the same mullion patterns found on the recessed front facade windows. Applied tapestry-like panels are found on the second floor. The ends of the wings contain no fenestration and are the most decorative planes of the structure. The same tapestry-like panels found on the other facade planes are also located here, on both sides of a central, slightly recessed plane which contains banding and brickwork which comprise another tapestry-like design. The stone band which divides the basement-story from the first floor is interrupted by an elongated arch with a
medallion containing an old city of Louisville emblem.
On every outside corner of the building at the parapet level is a band of exaggerated dentils with projecting ends. On the right side of the building is an entrance for the boys and on the left side is an entrance for the girls. The entrance is within a stone surround with the tapestry-like applied motifs on each side of the entrance. The name BOYS and GIRLS is located in the lintel. There are small paired windows above the entrance and another larger pair on the second level. The rest of the fenestration on the side walls of the building is the same as that found on the front. The windows on the rear of the building have nine-over-nine lights.
The polygonal smokestack contains some of the same decorative elements found on the school building. Every door knob on the interior is a bust of William R. Belknap. In 2000 a cellular
antennae was added atop the smokestack, but was quickly altered to hide the antennae within the smokestack after neighbors complained.
It is not clear what material was used in the surrounds and applied motifs and banding on this building. It is terra cotta, stone
or cement
- most likely a combination of all three. Assumptions were made as to the material used in the context of the description. If and when terra cotta was used, it is unglazed.
The Belknap School was designed in an eclectic style. The plan is typical of the Neo-Elizabethan style schools of the period, but the decorative elements are both classical and Sullivanesque. The main entrance is ar example of the combination of the decorative motifs. Exaggerated dentils line the arched panel above the double doors. This panel also contains a lamp, symbolic of enlightenment, hope, window and truth, an open book, symbolic of intellectual attainment, and a fig branch from the tree of knowledge. The remaining elements are stylized foliate patterns, typical of Sullivanesque detailing.
The projecting end wings of the building also contain geometric and foliate stylized panels, described in a 1916 article from the Courier-Journal as tapestries.
1914 to 1916. J. Earl Henry was architect for schools and also designed Louisville Male High School
and Brandeis Elementary School, both of which are also on the National Register of Historic Places.
Henry was in partnership with Brinton B. Davis
before becoming school architect, and assisted Davis in the plans for the Broadway School
. Henry is known particularly for his use of classical and mythical symbolism, as well as his ingenuous eclectic designs. The Belknap School remained a neighborhood school until 1978 when it was closed.
Jefferson County Public Schools
sold the building to a private company which reopened the school building as office space in 1983. A portion was used by the Christian Academy of Louisville
from 1994 to 1998. Vineyard Christian Church held services in the building in 2002 until 2006.
In 2006, the school building was converted into 20 condominium
units. As a part of the plant, a new condo building was built on the school lot just south of the original building. The new building was built to roughly resemble the original building and have a similar footprint.
Belknap, Louisville
Belknap is a neighborhood five miles southeast of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, USA. The neighborhood is bound by Bardstown Road, Douglass Boulevard, Dundee Road and Newburg Road. It is part of a larger area of Louisville called the Highlands...
neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
USA. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1982.
It was designated as a local landmark by the Louisville Metro Landmarks Commission in 2001.
The school takes its name from the developer of the surrounding neighborhood. In 1995, the Belknap neighborhood association took a geometric motif from the school building for its logo.
Description
The building and its grounds originally took up an entire 2.15 acres (8,700.7 m²) city block. The building has about 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) of indoor space.The Belknap School is a two-story building on a raised basement. The building has a central projecting entry bay and projecting end wings. The central projecting entrance contains double doors with a single transom. The panes have geometric mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
s. This entrance is encased in a stone surround with an arched tympanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
lined with exaggerated dentil
Dentil
In classical architecture a dentil is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect Vitruvius In classical architecture a dentil (from Lat. dens, a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice.The Roman architect...
s. Within the tympanum is a central lamp with the words "LUX ET VERITAS, light and truth," above an open book with a fig branch. In the lintel is a band of exaggerated dentils. In the stone surround; the school name, WILLIAM
R. BELKNAP SCHOOL, is located above the doors, flanked by applied decorative terra cotta motifs.
On the second floor is a pair of windows with vertical mullions in both sash, and crosshatch mullions in the upper portion of the upper sash. Flanking the windows are applied, terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
torch motifs. The inside walls of this projecting bay contain three stepped windows on the first level and paired windows on the second with the flanking torch motifs. The fenestration
Window
A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
of the recessed facade plane which flanks the entrance bay consists of five basement-story windows and five
windows on both the first and second floors.
The basement-story windows have six-over-six lights. A stone band divides the basement-story from the first floor. The first and second floor windows contain unusually patterned geometric lights. Pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s rise from the sill of the first floor windows to the lintels of the second floor windows, with tapestry-like terra cotta panels on the pilasters between the second: floor windows.
A stone band divides the second floor from the large parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
wall with a stone coping.
On the inside walls of each wing are three basement-story windows and two first and second floor windows with the same mullion patterns found on the recessed front facade windows. Applied tapestry-like panels are found on the second floor. The ends of the wings contain no fenestration and are the most decorative planes of the structure. The same tapestry-like panels found on the other facade planes are also located here, on both sides of a central, slightly recessed plane which contains banding and brickwork which comprise another tapestry-like design. The stone band which divides the basement-story from the first floor is interrupted by an elongated arch with a
medallion containing an old city of Louisville emblem.
On every outside corner of the building at the parapet level is a band of exaggerated dentils with projecting ends. On the right side of the building is an entrance for the boys and on the left side is an entrance for the girls. The entrance is within a stone surround with the tapestry-like applied motifs on each side of the entrance. The name BOYS and GIRLS is located in the lintel. There are small paired windows above the entrance and another larger pair on the second level. The rest of the fenestration on the side walls of the building is the same as that found on the front. The windows on the rear of the building have nine-over-nine lights.
The polygonal smokestack contains some of the same decorative elements found on the school building. Every door knob on the interior is a bust of William R. Belknap. In 2000 a cellular
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
antennae was added atop the smokestack, but was quickly altered to hide the antennae within the smokestack after neighbors complained.
It is not clear what material was used in the surrounds and applied motifs and banding on this building. It is terra cotta, stone
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
or cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
- most likely a combination of all three. Assumptions were made as to the material used in the context of the description. If and when terra cotta was used, it is unglazed.
Architecture
The Belknap School is an example in Louisville of the eclectic styles of the early twentieth century. The craftsmanship displayed in the terra cotta ornamentation on the building's exterior make it one of the city's finest examples of Sullivanesque detailing.The Belknap School was designed in an eclectic style. The plan is typical of the Neo-Elizabethan style schools of the period, but the decorative elements are both classical and Sullivanesque. The main entrance is ar example of the combination of the decorative motifs. Exaggerated dentils line the arched panel above the double doors. This panel also contains a lamp, symbolic of enlightenment, hope, window and truth, an open book, symbolic of intellectual attainment, and a fig branch from the tree of knowledge. The remaining elements are stylized foliate patterns, typical of Sullivanesque detailing.
The projecting end wings of the building also contain geometric and foliate stylized panels, described in a 1916 article from the Courier-Journal as tapestries.
History
The Belknap School was the last of seven schools built with a local bond issue from1914 to 1916. J. Earl Henry was architect for schools and also designed Louisville Male High School
Louisville Male High School
Louisville Male Traditional High School is a public secondary school serving students in grades 9 through 12 in the southside of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It is part of the Jefferson County Public School District....
and Brandeis Elementary School, both of which are also on the National Register of Historic Places.
Henry was in partnership with Brinton B. Davis
Brinton B. Davis
Brinton B. Davis was an architect in Kentucky. More than a dozen of his works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of his works were covered in a study, "Buildings on the Western Kentucky University campus TR"....
before becoming school architect, and assisted Davis in the plans for the Broadway School
Broadway School
Broadway School is a community secondary school and sixth form located in Birmingham, England. The school serves about 1,400 students aged 11 to 18. The school has been awarded specialist Language College status.- Campuses :...
. Henry is known particularly for his use of classical and mythical symbolism, as well as his ingenuous eclectic designs. The Belknap School remained a neighborhood school until 1978 when it was closed.
Jefferson County Public Schools
Jefferson County Public Schools (Kentucky)
Jefferson County Public Schools is a public school district located in Jefferson County, Kentucky and operating all but one of the public schools in the county...
sold the building to a private company which reopened the school building as office space in 1983. A portion was used by the Christian Academy of Louisville
Christian Academy of Louisville
Christian Academy of Louisville, is a member of the Christian Academy School System which holds a distinctive place among educational institutions in the Kentuckiana area by providing a high-quality, Christian education...
from 1994 to 1998. Vineyard Christian Church held services in the building in 2002 until 2006.
In 2006, the school building was converted into 20 condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
units. As a part of the plant, a new condo building was built on the school lot just south of the original building. The new building was built to roughly resemble the original building and have a similar footprint.