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St. Brigid's School and Covent
Inventory No.:
B-3704-1
Date Listed:
12/27/2016
Location:
900 S. East Avenue, Baltimore, Baltimore City
Category:
Building
Period/Date of Construction:
1961
Architect/Builder:
Edward H. Glidden, Jr.
Boundary Description:
The boundary of St. Brigid's School & Convent is recorded as Ward I/ Section II/ Block 1881/ Lot 001 in Baltimore City Land Records.
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Description:
St. Brigid’s School & Convent is a flat-roofed, L-shaped, three-story modernist/International Style building located on the southeast corner of Hudson Street and S. East Avenue in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore City. It was built in 1961 as a Catholic school for St. Brigid’s Parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore for 450 students and also included a convent on its third floor for its teaching staff, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. A 150’ long three-story wing housing classrooms along a double-loaded corridor and the convent extends along S. East Avenue to an alley and a 150’ wing containing a main office, a library, and a two-story-high multipurpose room with a connected one-story kitchen extends along Hudson Street to S. Robinson Street. The main entry to the building is at the corner of Hudson Street and S. East Avenue. To the rear of the building paralleling S. Robinson Street is a playground enclosed by chain-link fencing. The school has been closed by the Archdiocese since 1980 and has been used for parish and community activities. It is constructed of structural steel framing sheathed in an aluminum curtain wall system and brick. The building has 100% intact architectural integrity, retaining all its modernist/International Style design features including its massing, fenestration, and original aluminum curtain wall and brick construction. The exterior has remained unaltered since its construction in 1961. The interior consists of glazed and painted concrete block walls, terrazzo floor in corridors, asphalt tile, plaster partitions, acoustical tile, and plaster ceilings. It is in excellent condition and remains unaltered with the classrooms, library, and convent spaces remaining in their original locations. Except for some pollutant soiling and wear from the elements, the exterior of the building is in excellent condition.
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Significance:
St. Brigid’s School & Convent is architecturally significant because it is a fully intact example of modernist school design representative of the Post-World War II public and parochial school construction boom that lasted from 1945 to 1970 in the United States. It has retained 100% of its exterior and interior architectural integrity since its construction in 1961, with all its walls and partitions in their original locations and its original finishes intact. Its massing, construction methods, fenestration, detailing, and floor plan reflect the new design direction that postwar architects and school officials adopted that supported new educational theories for a new approach to school buildings that created a child-friendly environment promoting the physical, emotional, and academic needs of the pupil. The building is an outstanding example of the nationwide trend of modernist/International Style-inspired school design with glass and metal curtain wall cladding that replaced historicist pre-war schools. The postwar school construction boom in America took place chiefly in the suburbs; St. Brigid’s is usual because it is an intact modernist design in an inner city neighborhood. Although the building is primarily significant for its architecture, it is also historically significant for its role in the history of St. Brigid’s Irish-American parish, the first Catholic church in Canton. The school’s multipurpose room also functioned as St. Brigid’s parish hall. The school is associated with the history of the national Catholic teaching order, the School Sisters of Notre Dame. St. Brigid’s School & Convent is also significant for its association with historical trends in religious education in postwar America in the early 1960s when Catholic school enrollment in the U.S. was at its height.
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