Middle School – Lawrence NY

Description

Lawrence Middle School in Lawrence, New York was originally constructed as the town’s high school during the 1930s. The project was aided by federal Public Works Administration funds (PWA Docket No. NY 2724). The building replaced an old high school on Central Avenue.

According to PWA documents at the National Archives the building “is located on an 11-acre site with a 500′ frontage on the main thoroughfare of Lawrence [Broadway].”

“The red face brick walls have a limestone base and are trimmed with limestone and wood. Exterior doors and windows are wood and the [sloped] roof is slate. The building is rectangular in plan with two interior courts flanking the auditorium in the center of the building. A wing projects to the rear of this rectangle on the central axis, in which the gymnasium is located. The building also contains room for wood working, machine work, mechanical drawing, sewing, cooking, community activities, physical correction, dramatic arts, and music. It has a library, physics, chemistry and biology laboratories and a cafeteria.”

The 40,000-square-foot building featured [the Horn Memorial Stadium] to the rear, with six tennis courts to the side. The school had a capacity of 1,350 students and was completed August 15, 1936. The construction cost was $745,700.