Demo Photo Set #5

Thursday February 4, 2016.

The best set of photos so far as a lot of debris has been cleared away and some interesting features have become visible over the past two days. In the center of the photo below are windows from the original Cottage Street structure that were bricked over when the south wing was added. To their right are the windows that were expanded to form the hallway entrance to the south wing. To their right is the now partially exposed elevator shaft which has lost most of its rooftop cap. Directly below that two floors down is the yellow brick west wall of the gym, better seen in the zoom photos.

Visible top left through the now exposed window openings is the door to Room 308, which was my science and home room. They had drafted the aging school nurse (Mrs. Kimmel) to teach 7th grade science that year. It was a truly horrible experience for everyone, including her.

Stage right of McDowell auditorium. Mostly I am struck by the 1920's engineering challenge of supporting the roof of both the gym and the auditorium, given the size of the stage opening.

Nice view in the above photo of the "Alice in Wonderland Door", my favorite feature of the entire building. It was a half door set about three feet above the 3rd floor hallway, it was always locked because only the White Rabbit had a key. It led to an attic above the ceiling of the auditorium, an unlikely space to store anything considering the difficult access; its function was to help with temperature regulation.

Note the windows in the yellow brick of the gym wall. These look unfamiliar because they were always boarded up. Given the location of the area behind them and the lack of door access, my guess is that this area was an enclosed space used for airflow. The technical term is "plenum space", and this would be consistent with its location just above the main fan and heat exchangers.