Warren Street School

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The original building of the Warren Street School was built in 1892, after the old school at Wickliffe and School streets was outgrown. It was one of three schools built that year, the other two being Ann Street and Wavery Avenue. The school was just a small 3 story brick building with a rotunda and copper trim and finials on every peak. The architecture of the school was very unique, as the Queen Anne style has rarely ever been used for educational buildings. Apparently Henry King of the O'Rourke architecture firm is responsible for the building. O'Rourke is known for designing many other local landmarks, including the nearby St. Michaels Hospital.

In 1908 Another large section was constructed along Warren Avenue, designed by city school architects Guilbert & Betelle. The pair designed several structures featured on this blog, including the Morton Street School. This new section was built in a tudor style with castle like turrets and arched entranceways, in keeping with the bizzare styling of the old building. Included in this new section was a large auditorium which included a balcony, as well as pressed tin ceilings throughout the structure.

Just beneath the auditorium was a small gymnasium. The room had a two hoop basketball court, and retained its pressed tin ceiling. The auditorium above was also likely adorned with tin, but it was removed during a renovation at some point on history.

A single two story hallway connected the original building to the new addition. The school operated under the stewardship of the Newark Public School district for over a century before closing in 2006. The structure was quickly occupied again, this time under the name American History High School. However they too vacated the building in 2010. 

For years the building remained used as storage for the school district. The lights remained on, as well as the alarm system. At the time I considered Warren to be the most intact of all the shuttered school buildings in Newark I had visited. 

The first time we visited the school the alarm system wasn't active. By the time we made it back it was, and we inadvertently set it off while trying to better document the structure. Within minutes the NJIT police swarmed the structure, so we were nervous to return.

A small fire swept through the basement in 2019, after starting in a room at the rear of the structure. NJIT acquired the building shortly afterwards. 

Then in 2020 it was announced that the school would be demolished for NJIT to build a new residence hall on the site. Demolition began in April of 2021, and by May the building was gone. 

I'm incredibly upset by the loss of the Warren Street School. The structure was one of the most unique school buildings I've had the pleasure of visiting. It was in decent shape, attractive, and could have easily been retrofitted into something useful for the city. To add insult to injury, the building NJIT plans to construct is architecturally unremarkable, to put it nicely. Surely historians will look back on this project as one of the greatest losses of the time for the city.