How to re-use an old school . . (IMHO)

I went out of town this week to photograph an old high school building that had been "re-purposed" into apartments. This kind of project is a LOT of work and can easily be done badly. Historic Tax Credits keep these projects going AND help to insure good results.

This one came out really nice! So here, in my humble opinion, is WHY this was done right.

From the outside, it still looks like a great old school building.


Inside, you'll find the original hallways and stairways. Why change them?



If existing doors were no longer needed, they were left in place and made inoperable. Where new doors were needed, they were made to match the existing ones. Which doors are new and which are original?


There isn't much use for a school auditorium in an apartment building, but it's such an important part of the building that the stage and some representation of the seating was saved. Image a neighborhood association meeting here!



In the apartment units, care was taken to step the walls and dropped ceilings back away from the windows (where necessary) so they wouldn't be seen from outside.



And what about the units themselves? After all, what good is all this if, in the end, nobody wants to live there?



The units are spacious and bright with lots of windows. Yeah, I'd live there.