Public School No. 109 (Male and Female Primary School)
Built in 1876, the interior of Public School #109 (Male and Female Primary School) featured an "open plan" with classes separated by multi-paned glass partitions. J. J. Husband developed the "open plan" design in 1868 after a reformist movement sought to develop prototypical standards for school buildings. The school is among the few surviving examples of this plan. The design allowed the principal to have a commanding view of all the classrooms, while providing the flexibility to create larger classrooms by removing the partitions.
The two-story, red brick school includes a central pedimented tower, two large decorative chimneys and a setback entrance bay to the far right of the front facade. Public School #109 is also an early example of a conservatively-designed, Colonial Revival building with some Romanesque Revival influence. The school operated for nearly 100 years in an area close to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Currently, the building is being reused as apartments.
Public School #109 is located on the southeast corner of North Broadway and Ashland Ave. It is not open to the public.
Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Baltimore, MD Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.
