Frieze Art @ Northeast Catholic High School - Philadelphia, PA
N 40° 00.344 W 075° 05.638
18T E 491979 N 4428397
The frieze art which graces the front facade of this stone and brick high school is extremely typical of the 1920 structures which line both sides of the Delaware River in Philadelphia & Camden.
Waymark Code: WM8AAN
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 02/27/2010
Views: 6
This building was built in the Colonial Revival style with maybe a touch of Late Gothic Revival perhaps. It is hard to make a positive determination as there is no record of its building and all of this is from personal observation. From 1920 to 1926 scores and scores of these types of buildings were erected all over Philadelphia and Camden. They must have had a lot of money and artists back then because the buildings, including this one, are adorned to the hilt with this stuff.
High up on the top left and right corners of this beautiful stone and block building are two rectangular friezes featuring religious catholic icons. They are hard to see as they are particularly high up on the building. With this exception, the building itself is extremely typical of the 1920s building that were erected in Philadelphia and Camden including many neighboring buildings like Warren G. Harding Middle School, located a stone's throw away on Torresdale Avenue. Except for the object of this waymark, these could be sister buildings, having been built in the same year as well. Beautiful columns adorn the front entrance. Spectacular cornice work, balustraded balconies in front of ornate windows grace the front. Relief work is aplenty. It is a shame the building and its architectural features go mostly unnoticed in this neighborhood.
Three sconces are over the front wooden doors and two light posts are raised up on huge, concrete socles. Iron gates flank the front left and right sides adjacent to the side flights of stairs.
This beautiful and very successful school has been in operation since 1926 and is slated to close forever at the end of this academic year amid protests from the community. An on-line petition seeks to reverse this decision.
Northeast Catholic High School for Boys was opened in September 1926 as the fourth Diocesan High School in Philadelphia. The site for the school was purchased from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for $150,000. The beautiful school is located at 1842 Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is under the administration of the high school system of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia and its sports teams participate in the Philadelphia Catholic League. During the course of its history, at one point it had the largest student body of any Catholic boys school in the world, and today it is known for having the largest number of all-male alumni of any high school in the world.