The Anthony Overton Elementary School is a historic school building at 221 E. 49th Street in the Grand Boulevard community of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The building is in the process of being turned into a community arts center by the Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative.

History

Built in 1963, the school was one of three prototype schools designed to relieve overcrowding in poor, majority black neighborhoods; it mainly served students from the nearby

Robert Taylor Homes Robert Taylor Homes was a public housing project located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. Constructed in 1962 and demolished by 2007, it was the largest housing project in the United States. The developme ...

housing project. The school was named for

Anthony Overton Anthony Overton Jr. (March 18, 1864 – July 2, 1946), was an American banker and manufacturer. He was the first African American to lead a major business conglomerate.Harvard Business School. American Business Leaders of the Twentieth CenturyAnt ...

, a black business leader and founder of the '' Chicago Bee''. The school served students until 2013, when it was closed as part of wave of public school closings in Chicago.

Architecture

Architects Perkins & Will designed the school in the

mid-century modern Mid-century modern (MCM) is a movement in interior design, product design, graphic design, architecture and urban development that was present in all the world, but more popular in North America, Brazil and Europe from roughly 1945 to 197 ...

style, which was chosen as a departure from institutional school buildings. The school was divided into three three-story sections to avoid the dominating impression of a single building; each section included large corner windows shaded by canopies and used colorful yellow brick to stand out from surrounding buildings. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on September 6, 2016.

References

School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago School buildings completed in 1963 Public elementary schools in Chicago Mid-century modern Modernist architecture in Illinois {{CookCountyIL-NRHP-stub