County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: S 7th St. & Jefferson St., SE corner, St. Charles
Built: 1952
Architect: Unknown
Architectural Style: Modernist
Original Occupant: Lutheran School
Map
"105. Immanuel Lutheran School, 120 South Seventh Street; Modern; 1952-1956; Contributing
This 3-story Modernist school building has a flat roof. The original long, rectangular classroom building was built in 1952-1956. The orange colored brick building is banded horizontally with very wide flat canopies above the second floor on the east, south and west elevations. There is an equally deep flat canopy at the roofline, which is clad with copper edging. The corner entrance has a wide flat-roofed canopy that projects from the south and east elevations and is supported by a brick corner pier. The recessed glazed aluminum doors face east. The south elevation bears the aluminum lettering, “Immanuel
Lutheran School,” above the corner entry and also has a rectangular bank of windows below the second floor canopy that consists of 3 levels of paired plate glass windows to each side of a wide section of
concrete panels (scored to divide them into panels of the same size as the plate glass and concrete spandrels between the window levels). A cornerstone at the west end of this elevation has the date 1952
and the phrase “Feed My Lambs, John 21:15.” The west elevation along South Seventh Street is divided into 8 bays, with the fifth bay from the south end being subdivided by an additional brick pier. It has a
series of plate glass windows adjacent to bottom hopper aluminum windows in each bay. Below the second floor canopy are concrete panels that project slightly and extend to the top of the second floor
windows. In the fifth bay is a projecting entry with a flat roof canopy (at the same level as the second floor canopy). This entry has a brick wall on the south side and pipe railings on the roof and second floor entry level, which has a concrete ramp that extends along the wall toward the north across the next 3 bays. The first floor of this entry is a poured concrete room with a small 2-light aluminum window on the west side. There is an additional railing and shallow ramp on the south side that accesses the first floor entry. The second floor has a triple aluminum commercial door with transom. At the north end of the school is the 3-story gymnasium addition that was built in 1968. It has the same orange brick walls and a projecting flat canopy at the roofline, but the street elevation walls along Seventh and Jefferson are windowless, with simple brick piers dividing the west wall into 4 bays and the north wall into 7 bays.
Some of the north bays have brick patterned into religious symbols. The east elevation has a 1-story, flat roofed section that has an additional projecting flat canopy. It contains 2 pairs of glazed aluminum doors connected by a transom. Each pair is surrounded by a dressed limestone surround." ~ NRHP Nomination Form Structure 105, page 46
"Built: 1956
Style/Design: Modernist
The Immanuel Lutheran School first opened in 1854 according to Dr. Sanford to provide quality Christian education to members of their church, which had opened in 1847. Initially classes were held in a portion of a mill on South Main Street in St. Charles and the school has remained in continuous operation since that time. The current school building is the second school on this property to serve this congregation. The older school building was apparently misidentified on the1886-1900 fire insurance maps as a public school building (Dr. Sanford said it was never used as a public school building), that by 1909 was identified as the German Lutheran School. The school outgrew this building between 1909 and 1917, when a two-story classroom hall had been built between the old school building and the church, which is located at the corner of 6th and Jefferson (115 S. Sixth). The
cornerstone on the southwest corner of the current school building is dated 1952, although Dr. Robert Sanford noted that the long, three-story, Mid-Century Modern school was finished in 1956 along Seventh Street. He also dated the gymnasium addition, on the north end of the school at Jefferson, as being finished in 1968. The school is technically addressed as 115 S. Sixth as part of the church complex (that is the address for the church), but it is inventoried by its historic address of 120 S. Seventh since it is actually positioned along Seventh and not Sixth Street. The front entry to the school faces south onto what was historically Madison Street, but that street appears to have been abandoned by the city and became part of the parking lot, driveways to the school and church property. This is a great example of the architectural changes occurring after World War II, with its rectilinear design features and horizontal banding created by the flat canopies at the second and third floor levels surrounding the classroom wing. The brick walls are unadorned, simple in design, although there are church symbols worked into the brickwork on the north wall of the gymnasium.
"The school building was built abutting Madison, along S. Seventh Street. It is a three story, Modernist design with a flat roof. The
original portion of the classroom building is rectangular, built in 1952. The facade apparently faced the school yard (parking lot) that separated the school from the church, with the entry at the southeast corner of the building. The orange colored brick building is banded horizontally with very wide flat canopies above the second floor and surround the east, south and west elevations.
with copper edging. The east elevation is divided into four baysof windows on each level, separated by simple brick piers and spandrels. Three of the bays have clusters of eight aluminum framed windows, separated in the middle by a wide mullion and having pairs of windows on either side that have a bottom hopper window while the outer two pairs are fixed plate glass windows. The south window bay is similar but only has seven windows (the south end has a single plate glass window instead of a pair) and on the first floor of that bay, there is only a four window unit because the other half of this bay is part of the corner entry. The entry has a wide flat roofed, projecting canopy and a brick corner pier as well as wall along the north end; the entry projects out from both the south and east elevations with the aluminum commercial doors facing east. The south elevation, which not only bears the aluminum lettering for the school “Immanuel
Lutheran School” above the corner entry at the east end, also has a rectangular bank of windows below the second floor canopy that consists of three levels of paired plate glass windows at each end separated by a wide section of concrete panels (scored to divide them into panels of the same size as the plate glass and concrete spandrels between the window levels). A cornerstone is at the west end of this elevation and has the date 1952 and the phrase “Feed My Lambs, John 21:15.” The west elevation, along S. Seventh is divided into eight bays, with the fifth bay from the south end being subdivided by an additional brick pier. Like the east elevation, it has a series of plate glass windows adjacent to bottom hopper aluminum windows in each bay but the pattern is less consistent than the east elevation although the effect is still a ribbon of plate glass windows. Below the second floor canopy, there are concrete panels that project slightly that extend to the top of the second floor windows instead of brick spandrels. In the fifth bay, there is a projecting entry with a flat roof canopy (at the same level as the second floor canopy). This entry has a brick wall on the south side and pipe railings on the roof and second floor entry level, which has a concrete ramp that extends along the wall toward the north across the next three bays of windows.
The first floor of this entry is a poured concrete room with a small two-light aluminum window on the west side. There is an additional railing and shallow ramp on the south side that accesses the first floor entry. The second floor has a triple aluminum commercial door with transom.
At the north end of the school is the gymnasium addition that was built in 1968. It is as tall as the three story classroom, that
extended the building about 1/4 of a block north along Seventh to the corner with Jefferson, but visually the original classroom building still dominates both the courtyard façade and the street elevation along Seventh . It has the same orange brick walls and a projecting flat canopy at the roofline, but the street elevation walls (along Seventh and Jefferson) are windowless, with simple brick piers dividing the west wall into four bays and the north wall into seven bays. Some of the north bays have brick patterned into religious symbols. The east elevation has a one story, flat roofed section that has an additional projecting flat canopy. It contains two pairs of aluminum commercial doors connected by a transom. Each pair is surrounded by a dressed limestone surround and flanked by glass and aluminum cylinder lights (original to the building).These are positioned in the north half of this elevation and the remainder is unadorned except for a simple brick pier.
The classroom and gymnasium create an L-shaped plan and at the interior corner there are what appear to be some other additions, but research has yet to date these additions. At the southeast corner of this rectangular addition is a tall two-story, orange brick building that has similar aluminum windows on the second floor in partial width bands on the east and south elevations. On the first floor, these windows are recessed slightly under concrete lintel bands and separated by projecting brick piers. Given its styling it appears to be a more recent addition that blends well with the classroom and gymnasium.
Although the gymnasium is not yet 50 years old, the classroom building is the prominent element in the design and it retains its
integrity from its period of construction and as such the complex is identified as a contributing building in the historic district.
There appears to be few alterations to the exterior of the classroom or gymnasium and even the aluminum windows appear to be
the originals.
"The entire property is paved in asphalt for parking." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase I, PDF pages 765-770