Designed by Floyd Archibald Naramore and built in 1915, Franklin High School was one of several school buildings constructed in the early 1900s. Franklin High School is one of the best surviving examples of Colonial Revival architecture in Portland. (Photo by Homestead Images © 2010)
As one of my personal projects this summer, I’ve set out to photograph all 10 public high schools in the Portland school district. The buildings represent a significant but under-appreciated investment in public architecture.
In Portland, the (original) buildings generally date from two periods. Major construction on six of the 10 occurred between 1909 and 1929. The other four were mainly built in the 1950s. The former group are all either Classical or Colonial Revival in style; the latter are International.
So far I have photographed one from each group: Roosevelt (1921) and Wilson (1954). They were featured yesterday on Portland Architecture, the premier architecture blog in the area. If you haven’t seen it already, please check it out.
The photo above is a sneak peek at the rest of the project.
annie ginn
This is a beautiful looking high school…better than CKSS, a boring brown but functional building or lego land (Theriault) in Timmins.
Jul 28, 2010 @ 4:19 pm
Matthew
They’re all cool in their own way. But you have to “not expect” one style of building when you look at another.
Aug 02, 2010 @ 2:31 pm