There are a number of extant 50 year old educational buildings in the
Twin Cities which are excellent examples of the various prevailing
architectural styles. The Mediterranean style is evident in such
elementary schools as Georgia Tucker, Lida Benton, and Barksdale Faulk.
Jacobean Revival may be seen in the old Ouachita Parish High School
building on South Grand; Art Deco is represented in Neville High School
on Forsythe Avenue, Monroe. It is very fortunate that these buildings
remain and are either still being utilized as educational facilities or
are being converted for contemporary adaptive reuse, the latter being
the case in the South Grand building mentioned.
Georgia Tucker School, figure 63, was built in 1919 and named for Mrs.
Georgia Tucker Stubbs, a member of a pioneer Ouachita Parish family. Its
Mediterranean style features include monumentality, solidity, use of low
arches and imaginative towers. It also employs a unique treatment of
terracotta in cast panels and columns capitals. One might note the use
of free standing decorative nonfunctional columns on the front. The
separate entrances for grades one through three and grades four through
six are clearly defined.
[Illustration: _Fig. 63. Georgia Tucker School, 1919 (Bldg. 162)._]
The Jacobean Revival style was used for the Ouachita Parish High School
building depicted in figure 64. Built in the late 1920’s, this three
story remnant of the high school complex displays monumentality and
elaborate detailing at the South Grand Street entrance to the classroom
building. Quoins were used at masonry corners. The roof parapet wall
contains decorative penetrations and projections as an expression of the
method in which the building relates to the skyline.
[Illustration: _Fig. 64. The Jacobean Revival Ouachita Parish High
School building, 1920’s (Bldg. 161)._]