Old School Square

	Delray Beach Schools
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	Palm Beach County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Delray Beach, Florida
Coordinates	26°27′45″N80°4′21″W / 26.46250°N 80.07250°W Coordinates: 26°27′45″N80°4′21″W / 26.46250°N 80.07250°W
Built	1913
NRHP reference #	88000210
Added to NRHP	March 10, 1988

Last updated April 29, 2019

Old School Square is located in a historic area at 51 North Swinton Avenue in Delray Beach, Florida, United States. The 5-acre site is at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Swinton Avenue, anchoring Delray's downtown shopping district. The campus includes restored early 20th century school buildings, formerly Delray Elementary and Delray High School, which were re-adapted as the Cornell Art Museum, Crest Theatre and Fieldhouse. The campus also includes the Pavilion in the center grounds, which is an outdoor entertainment stage with grass seating area, as well as the Old School Square Park just to the east. A City of Delray Beach parking garage is located adjacent to the park.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Delray Beach is a coastal city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach was estimated at 68,749 in 2017. That is up from 60,522 according to the 2010 United States Census. Situated 52 miles north of Miami, Delray Beach is in the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people in 2015.

Florida is the southernmost contiguous state in the United States. The state is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida. Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U.S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Miami metropolitan area is Florida's most populous urban area. Tallahassee is the state's capital.

History

Beginnings

The first construction on the site was the erection of Delray Elementary School in 1913, at the corner of Atlantic and Swinton Avenues. The school served white students in grades 1–12. As the city's population grew, it became necessary for the school to grow, and Delray High School was constructed on the same site, north of the Delray Elementary, in 1925. Eventually, the city's population grew to the point at which these two schools were no longer sufficient and plans were drawn to build a new high school north of town, which became first Seacrest High School, and then Atlantic High School after the racial integration in schools resulting from the civil rights movement. Delray High's last graduating class was the class of 1949. When the new school opened, Delray Elementary expanded to fill both buildings on the old campus.

High school is a term primarily used in the United States and Canada to describe the level of education students receive from approximately 13 to 18 years old, although there is some variation. Most comparable to secondary schools, high schools generally deliver phase three of the ISCED model of education. High schools have subject-based classes. The name high school is applied in other countries, but no universal generalization can be made as to the age range, financial status, or ability level of the pupils accepted. In North America, most high schools include grades nine through twelve and students attend them following junior high school.

Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation. In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely bringing a racial minority into the majority culture. Desegregation is largely a legal matter, integration largely a social one.

The civil rights movement in the United States was a decades-long struggle with the goal of enforcing constitutional and legal rights for African Americans that other Americans already enjoyed. With roots that dated back to the Reconstruction era during the late 19th century, the movement achieved its largest legislative gains in the mid-1960s, after years of direct actions and grassroots protests that were organized from the mid-1950s until 1968. Encompassing strategies, various groups, and organized social movements to accomplish the goals of ending legalized racial segregation, disenfranchisement, and discrimination in the United States, the movement, using major nonviolent campaigns, eventually secured new recognition in federal law and federal protection for all Americans.

Abandonment

As time passed, the buildings of Delray Elementary increasingly fell into disrepair, and the Palm Beach County School Board abandoned the campus in the mid-1980s. A new elementary school opened in the western part of the city in 1988, S.D. Spady Elementary School. A group of concerned citizens, led by members of the Delray Beach Historical Society, started an initiative to preserve and restore the buildings of the former Delray Elementary and Delray High schools. They recognized the cultural value of preserving buildings that had been an integral part of the city's history. More importantly, they saw that the buildings possessed the potential to be transformed into a new cultural arts center for the area. Furthermore, the renovation of the site was seen as a spearhead for the reinvigoration of the whole downtown area- which at the time had barely a 30 percent occupancy rate.

Renovation is the process of improving a broken, damaged, or outdated structure. Renovations are typically either commercial or residential. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, or bringing something back to life and can apply in social contexts. For example, a community can be renovated if it is strengthened and revived.

Rebirth

In 1986, the 4-acre (16,000 m²) site was incorporated as Old School Square, Inc. Plans for renovation of the buildings commenced. In 1988, Delray Elementary was closed and the property was acquired by the city of Delray Beach. On March 10 of that year "Delray Beach Schools" was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1990, the first phase of the project was complete, as the Cornell Museum of Art & American Culture opened in the original Delray Elementary School building. Furthermore, the exterior renovation of the high school building was completed. Three years later, in 1993, the Crest Theatre opened for its first season in the former high school auditorium, which had been converted and modernized into a modern professional venue for the performing arts. In 1998, renovation of the Crest Theatre was completed as the work on the classrooms was finished, and they were opened to the public.

A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and amount of daylight. On Earth, seasons result from Earth's orbit around the Sun and Earth's axial tilt relative to the ecliptic plane. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to undergo hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant. Various cultures define the number and nature of seasons based on regional variations.

A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed, or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance, a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces. The facility is traditionally organized to provide support areas for performers, the technical crew and the audience members.

Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use their voices, bodies or inanimate objects to convey artistic expression. It is different from visual arts, which is when artists use paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Performing arts include a range of disciplines which are performed in front of a live audience.

As the first phase of a new 10 year master plan for expansion, an outdoor entertainment pavilion opened in 2002, complete with a concession building. Covered loggias enclose the grassy seating area.

A loggia is an architectural feature which is a covered exterior gallery or corridor usually on an upper level, or sometimes ground level. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns or arches. Loggias can be located either on the front or side of a building and are not meant for entrance but as an out-of-door sitting room.

Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square

The Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square is located in the 1913 Delray Elementary School building and features 7 exhibition galleries and a Museum Store. Exhibits rotate every 4 months and focus on contemporary art by nationally and internationally recognized artists from around the U.S. The Museum also presents monthly "Art Walk" exhibits dedicated to showcasing South Florida artists.

Crest Theatre at Old School Square

The Crest Theatre at Old School Square is located in the 1925 Delray High School building and presents professional performances including musical theatre, comedy, family shows and Broadway cabaret. The Crest lecture series features national speakers and a variety of topics.

The Pavilion at Old School Square

The Pavilion at Old School Square which opened in 2002, presents outdoor concerts and special events and hosts all of Delray's major festivals.

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References

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Delray Beach Schools
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


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Location	Palm Beach County, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Delray Beach, Florida
Coordinates	26°27′45″N80°4′21″W / 26.46250°N 80.07250°W / 26.46250; -80.07250 Coordinates: 26°27′45″N80°4′21″W / 26.46250°N 80.07250°W / 26.46250; -80.07250
Built	1913
NRHP reference #	88000210
Added to NRHP	March 10, 1988