Category
Local Historic Register Nominations

Daniel Bagley Elementary School

Georgian Revival, Floyd A. Naramore, architect – 1930
Green Lake Neighborhood, Seattle, WA

 

Historical & Community Significance

Best known for his public school designs between World War I and the Great Depression, Floyd A. Naramore was hired as District Architect by Seattle Public Schools in 1919. Over the next thirteen years he designed approximately two dozen schools in Seattle. Naramore’s designs incorporated contemporary architectural ideals, departing from the nineteenth-century convention of cramped plans or one-room schoolhouses with more open spaces, emphasizing air circulation and light.

Daniel Bagley Elementary School, built in 1930, was designed in an Art Deco style with elements of Collegiate Gothic embellishing the exterior. Charming details peppering the exterior include bas-relief rabbits and grapes, dogs and cats, sporting equipment, an owl, and other symbols of education, including the light of learning and a three-legged stool. The Landmarks Preservation Board designated Bagley’s exterior, main stairways, and cafeteria as a Landmark in 2015. The building is currently under renovation—adding a two-story classroom wing and doubling the size of the existing gym, in addition to other improvements—and is set to reopen in fall 2020.

Landmark and Consulting Services included
  • Prepared a City of Seattle Landmark Nomination in collaboration with Seattle Public Schools.
  • Delivered nomination and designation presentations to the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.
Preservation & Education

The landmarks process is a first step towards renovating or replacing public school buildings and bringing them up to contemporary educational standards. If a school receives Landmark status, the school district can then plan for how to upgrade and add to the school while preserving the landmarked portions. If a school is not designated a Landmark, the district can move ahead with designing an all-new school building.

Studio TJP has prepared more than two dozen Landmark Nomination Reports for Seattle Public Schools, eleven of which have been designated city Landmarks. Of the two dozen schools, ten were designed, entirely or in part, by Naramore or NBBJ, the firm of which he was a founding partner.

Contemporary photos by Studio TJP