1949 Addition

Click here for diagrams of the Osborn Floorplan:

https://sites.google.com/site/tvcwrt/home/harry-a-fulton/osborn-school-configuration

Harry A. Fulton was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined William Reed Taylor (1884-1964) in forming the architectural firm of Fulton & Taylor in 1913. Paul Cahill joined the firm from 1921-3 when it was known as Fulton, Taylor & Cahill. Fulton & Taylor remained partners until 1934. In 1957 Fulton formed the firm of Fulton, Del Motte, Nassau & Associates. He was known as the dean of school architects. He was the Cleveland Board of Education architect during the Works Progress Administration. His firm designed several schools for Cleveland, the suburbs, and outlying communities. He was a member of Acadia Country Club, a 32nd degree Mason, and a member of First Presbyterian Church in East Cleveland. He lived at 19600 Upper Valley Drive in Euclid. He was listed as a registered architect in the Ohio Architect November 1940. He died on December 10, 1961 in Leeburg, Florida where he is buried.

In 1896, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan coined the phrase 'form ever follows function' to capture his belief that a building's size, massing, spatial grammar and other characteristics should be driven solely by the function of the building. The implication is that if the functional aspects are satisfied, architectural beauty would naturally and necessarily follow.

In a very real sense Fulton's entire 1949 Osborn School addition was a masterpiece of form following function, but the three story staircase actually transcended masterpiece status as it perfectly capped the northern end of the school. Although eye catching and glittering from the outside (especially at night), it is actually more magnificent from inside, where its function as a well lighted means of ascending and descending the three floors is second to none. Translucent windows on staircases did not begin and end in 1949, but none was more striking than this minimalist wall of glass blocks illuminating a perfect arrangement of exposed steel girders, railings, and stone stairs and landings. All capping an entryway of three steel and glass doors (the doors in the photo are aluminum replacements and the deco metal light was been removed from above the center door).

A Cathedral-like Tower of Learning from the outside.

Presented above for your viewing pleasure is the ready-to-order example used each year when the vocabulary lesson gets to the word "philistines". A couple decades ago the glass block windows on this side of the gym were replaced with brick by the budget philistines who refused to allocate money to keep them in repair. Of course this eliminated 90% of the natural light in the gym (an obvious negative) and removed the main unifying architectural element of the entire structure - a negative that no doubt went unrecognized by persons hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts (see philistine).

The base of this wall was the site of many marble games back in my day, often using ball bearings as shooters; supplied by fathers who worked in the many manufacturing plants a few blocks to the NW of the school.

The two small glass block windows on the other side of the gym were not replaced. Note how glass blocks figure prominently in the windows of each classroom.

For about ten years my parents ran the PTA Festival coat check room in the classroom just to the left of the doorway. Each year I would burrow in between the coat racks with the foot high stack of used comic books I had just purchased with my book of tickets - the fondest of all my memories. My 4th grade classroom was two floors about it.

An absolute economy of perfect design, timeless and stylish for its very simplicity and the quality of the materials used in its construction. Note the crude partition and the file cabinets to the left marring the classic design and blocking a window - further evidence of recent philistine activity. The terminal cluelessness exhibited by these shabby alterations is fascinating as an example of the "less than zero" contributions of those charged with the care of Fulton's creation; effectively depriving several decades of students and teachers of experiencing the structure in its purest form.

Close-up of the window taken from the landing between the second and third floors reveals that the platform does not touch the window, a six inch gap allows for the passage of air and reflected light. A heavy gauge steel plate keeps dust and debris from being knocked into the gap while steel plate railings kept students from being knocked into the glass blocks. Because of the stairway's openness, the kindergarten students were kept on the first floor and 1st and 2nd grade classrooms were located at the far end of the second floor next to enclosed staircases. Only after you reached third grade did you have regular upper floor access to this visual treat.