aisle being two feet wide, and the six side aisles sixteen inches each, a width sufficient for all practical purposes, would occupy a floor space: twenty-two feet by fifteen, or three hundred and thirty square feet. A room twenty-eight feet square and thirteen feet high, with seven hundred and eighty-four feet of flooring, would be sufficient for the accommodation of the fifty-six primary pupils seated as above described, supposing the daily attendance to be fifty and allowing a little over two hundred cubic feet of space per pupil. "At the rear of the room and upon the sides are wall settees, with lifting seats for classes in recitation. These settees are made in short sections and are bracketed to the walls, and when lifted allow ready access to the blackboards." I regard this provision of wall settees as an objectionable superfluity.. In a graded school, recitation settees are never needed. Primary and intermediate scholars should never sit at recitation and no recitation should be too long for them to stand.

In these criticisms of some details it is not intended to detract in the least from the great credit which is no doubt due the school officers for the pains they took to make these buildings what they should be in all respects. But, while willingly admitting that they deserve high commendation because they did well, still it cannot be conceded that they combined in their buildings all the excellences that might have been se-cured for the money which they cost.

The liberality of municipalities in the erection of high school houses has been remarkable and it seems to be steadily increasing. These buildings are in general architecturally more ornate and pretentious than the buildings for graminar schools, but the average high school-house is not so well planned as the average grammar school-house. There seems to be no type of a high school building which has gained general acceptance. The greater number of the buildings, however, consist of one or more study halls, with recitation rooms attached. In the smallest cities we commonly find a single study hall, where the pupils of all the classes are seated when not engaged in recitation. In addition to this hall, on the same or a different floor, there is the requisitenumber of recitation rooms. Where the number of pupils is too large for this arrangement we often find a study hall for each grade or class, with recitation rooms attached. In the largest cities for the most part the high school buildings have the essential features of the grammar school buildings which we have described, i. e., a certain number of class rooms, where the pupils are permanently seated, and one general assembly hall. In some buildings these two characteristics are com-bined, the pupils of the lower classes being permanently seated in class rooms, while those of the upper classes are seated in study halls having recitation rooms attached. It is a difficult problem to adapt a high school-house to all the wants of a large school for both sexes, pursuing three or four courses of study and taught on the departmental plan. It is comparatively easy to devise a satisfactory plan for a school

for one sex, pursuing one course of study, as is the case with the high schools of Baltimore, New Orleans, Charleston, Philadelphia, Louisville, New York, and Boston.

A glaring fault of many high school buildings otherwise good is the imperfection of the provision for lighting. This fault is particularly marked in the splendid new high school building in Providence, aud the same may be said of the grand new high school building for girls in Philadelphia.

A still more serious, as well as a more general, fault in the plans of existing high school-houses is the arrangement requiring too much climbing of stairs, especially in the case of girls. In a large eastern city a high school-house was recently erected in which the study hall for all the pupils, boys and girls, was placed in the fourth story, while the reci tation rooms are placed in the different stories below. This may stand as the type of the worst cases. Baltimore, on the other hand, can boast of affording the best examples of the opposite kind. Her high schoolhouses for girls are only two stories high, the study hall being placed in the upper, which is reached by broad, easy, and not too high flights of stairs, and the recitation rooms in the lower. A visit to these buildings by Boston school officials many years ago induced them to condemn the four-story plan of grammar school buildings.

BOSTON HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

As the new high school block in Boston for the accommodation of the two central boys' high schools, the Latin and English high, comprising two connected school-houses nearly identical in plan, is a new departure in our American school architecture and was intended to embody the essentials of a good building, its leading characteristics are here presented:

(1) It is not a solid rectangular block, but is built around a large interior court, divided in the middle by a connecting annex. This, I believe, is the first instance of the realization of this court plan or idea on a considerable scale in any school building in this country. The most serious defects in our large school-houses have resulted from the ignorance or disregard of this idea by our architects. This idea is distinctly foreign in its application to school houses. The principle may be thus stated: So plan the building that it shall be in no part wider than the width of a school room with the width of the corridor added. We have college and other educational buildings with wings at right angles to each other, but not planned in accordance with this principle. The superiority of this court plan over what may be called the solid plan, which has hitherto prevailed, is found more especially in the advantages it affords for light and air. So important do I consider this idea in school-house building that I doubt whether there can be a first class school-house of any considerable size in which it is not applied.

(2) The school rooms are all nearly identical in character and they all have the essential characteristics of the model school room as described further on; size, 24 by 32 and 14 high, giving 268 cubic feet to a scholar on the estimate of forty to a room.

(3) The light and airy corridors, so immensely superior to the corridors in the buildings in the solid or block plan.

(4) The great hall for military drill, which is not a foreign idea. This is the only one connected with a public school, in any country, that has come to my knowledge. A secondary but not unimportant consideration in favor of such a hall is that it may be used as a grand assembly hall for public occasions. The dedicatory services were held in this hall, which was found to accommodate more than three thousand persons.

(5) The gymnasium. This hall is larger, I think, than the great Turnhalle of the city of Berlin. No credit, however, is claimed for its extraordinary size. It is really larger than is necessary, and was made so large simply because, under the circumstances, it cost little or no more than a smaller one would. But a sufficient separate room set apart for gymnastic exercises is so exceptional and at the same time so desirable a provision in our school architecture that this feature is entitled to claim recognition as an important characteristic.

(6) The chemical annex of the English high school, comprising the laboratory and lecture room, both in respect to its detached location and to the completeness of its fittings and equipments, as well as its adaptation to the wants of such a school.

(7) The character of the lecture rooms for natural science, each with two cabinets attached, one for physical apparatus and the other for natural history collections.

(8) The libraries, both in respect to their æsthetic character and their adaptation to the purpose.

(9) The ample provision of conference rooms for teachers and of offices for the head masters and janitors.

(10) The unique and successful provisions for water closets and urinals on each floor.

(11) The treatment of the assembly halls. Their location on the upper floor of the central pavilions made it practicable to give them the requisite size, symmetry, proportion, and lighting. In respect to ornamentation they are yet unfinished. The walls and ceiling will in time be appropriately frescoed and the friezes decorated with sculptured reliefs. But the time has not arrived when we can dream of rivalling in artistic treatment the finest school halls in Europe, of which that of the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna and that of the city corporation school of London are the supreme examples.

(12) The drawing rooms of the two descriptions-that is, model drawing and copy drawing-all spacious, perfectly lighted, and having every desirable quality, each being provided with two adjoining rooms, one on either end, of ample size, for the safekeeping of models, copies, &c.

(13) The fire proofing, a characteristic of immense importance, and probably never before attempted to the same extent in this country. (14) The iron staircases-in respect not only to their fire-proof material and rubber padded steps, but in respect to their spaciousness, being nowhere less than 6 feet wide, and their number and convenient ar rangements.

(15) The perfection of the lighting of every part of the vast block and the complete success of the system of heating and ventilation. (16) Dwelling apartments for janitors.

(17) The composition of the design, the harmonious, symmetrical, and convenient arrangement of all its parts-an arrangement which combines, in a most remarkable degree, both æsthetic and pedagogical requirements. Herein, in my judgment, the genius of the architect' is most signally displayed.

(18) It is a double building, two connected buildings on one lot, constituting one block. It should be distinctly understood that this feature is not to be regarded as a merit; it has the advantage of economy and convenience in respect to drill hall and gymnasium, but it was justly re garded by the designers of the building as on the whole an objectionable feature. Separate buildings at some distance from each other would have been better. Circumstances necessitated the union.

(19) This building is the result of a serious attempt, under favoring conditions, to combine in one structure all the known elements of a good school-house of its kind as illustrated in school architecture at home and abroad.

The prototype of the Boston building was the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna, which ten years ago, it is believed, was the best classical school building for boys among the German speaking people. It was built by the government as a model school, the design being the product of the best architectural talent and the best pedagogical talent working together. It is built on a square lot encircled by streets inclosing a square interior court. The lighting is perfect. No part of the structure is wider than the combined width of a school room and corridor. On the front side, the corridor is very wide, affording width for the hall located on the third floor, which is perhaps artistically the finest educational hall in Christendom.

CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL.

In this conection mention must be made of the masterpiece of English school architecture. This is the building for the City of London School, a classical school for 680 boys between the ages of seven and nineteen, erected by the city corporation since the completion of the Boston edifice. The cost of this building, together with the site, amounted to a

1 Mr. George A. Clough, city architect.

million dollars. No pains or expense were spared to make this a model school-house in all respects. Its magnificent site fronts the Victoria embankment and contains 65,340 square feet of land, valued at $475,000. The ground plan is L-shaped; the shorter arm of the L is the hall block facing the embankment containing the library, administration rooms, and grand hall. The longer arm. of the L, facing a new side street, is the teaching block, containing hat and coat room, dining room, and covered playground in basement; eighteen school rooms on the first and second floors; natural science school and lecture hall and two class rooms on third floor; a common room and anteroom for assistant masters. A kitchen, with its appurtenances, and apartments for the resident janitor are provided in suitable places.

The following are some of its characteristics:

(1) The hall block is in the style of Italian renaissance, enriched with carving and sculpture; it is constructed entirely of Portland stone, except the columns of the windows, which are polished red granite shafts; it seems intended to be as good a specimen of æsthetic architecture as the art of the country could produce.

The exterior of the teaching block which faces a side street leading back from the embankment is of very plain character architecturally, being of faced white brick, with stone strings, cornices, and window dressings.

(2) Fire proofing. The whole of the floors throughout, except those in janitors' bed rooms in the roof, are fire proof, consisting of Portland cement concrete, filled in between rolled iron joists; the lintels throughout are made up of rolled iron joists.

(3) The staircases, as to the number, liberal size, and arrangement. The state staircase leading to the grand hall is monumental, containing niches for statues and marble memorial tablets in the wall panels on either side.

(4) Provision for heating, which is varied to suit the requirements of the different parts of the building. Each school room is heated entirely by Boyd's open fireplace, having a warm air chamber at the back of the stove (fireplace). This warm air chamber has one opening into the outer air and another opening into the room, over the top of the fireplace. The fireplace is in the corner of the room at the righthand end of the master's platform.

The administration rooms and the dining room are also warmed by open fireplaces; the other parts of the building are warmed by coils of hot water pipe.

(5) The school rooms are nearly square, being 24 by 22 and 14 feet and 6 inches high, giving about 200 cubic feet of space per boy; they were planned on the assumption that forty is the maximum number of boys to be accommodated in each; each school room is lighted entirely by a large window on the lefthand side of the pupils, this window being four lights wide, with divid.ng mullions and a transom. The top lights