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Overview

Having a Mediterranean Revival Style character, the Franklin Middle School #1 had an unreinforced brick structure with a hipped roof covered in Spanish tile. The front entry was gained through three arches, and several arched windows on either side of the front door graced the first floor fenestration. Most windows on the front facade were tradeated and of the casement type.

Franklin Middle School became famous for its destruction in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake. Pictures of it before and after became symbolic of the temblor's impact on buildings in Long Beach.

Demolition

On Friday, March 10, 1933, at 5:55 p.m., well after school had been dismissed for the day, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake centered on the Newport-Inglewood Fault struck Southern California.Benjamin Franklin Middle School, a load-bearing masonry school building, was completely leveled by the shaking, requiring its demolition. One hundred twenty people were killed as a result of the Long Beach Earthquake, most hit by falling debris, including 52 in Long Beach and 17 in Compton. Had it struck a few hours earlier, while schools were in session, the death toll would have skyrocketed. Damage to schools thoughout the region was stunning. According to one source, "Schools throughout the southern Los Angeles area suffered catastrophic damage, with an estimated 75% or higher enduring severe damage (Jephcott, 1986). According to the California Office of the State Architect, 300 schools experienced minor damage, 120 major damage, and 70 schools were destroyed entirely." (See Daniel Barclay, "The Field Act History and Issues for California Schools," written 09/17/2002, accessed 02/18/2016.)According to the National Institute for Earthquake Engineering, "The school buildings damaged or destroyed were of an 'irregular shape,' built of brick and not designed to resist any lateral stress. As well, part of the failure of the brick buildings was due to shoddy workmanship and inferior mortar. Several of the failed school buildings were designed with elaborate entrance towers that collapsed in a hail of bricks and architectural ornamentation. Reinforced concrete school buildings survived the quake with no structural damage." (See Susan Fatemi and Charles James, "The Long Beach Earthquake of 1933," National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering, accessed 02/18/2016.)

Shortly after the quake struck, architect Louis J. Gill,President of the California State Board of Architectural Examiners,traveled to Long Beach to study the damage. He recommended that architects be barred from using unreinforced, load-bearing masonry for public schools, and that they be required to plan for seismic shocks in their structural calculations. Gill's advice became implemented in new public school structural codes requiring resistance to base shear forces; after 1933, school buildings in CA needed to resist lateral seismic forces equivalent to at least 3% of the building's total mass.

Responding quickly to advice from experts like Gill, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 2342, the "Field Act," named for Sacramento State Assemblyman Charles Field, Chairman of the Assembly's State Grounds and Parks Committee. Introduced on March 23, Field's bill moved through committees with great urgency, passing the state house and senate on 04/05/1933, and culminating with Governor James Rolph (1869-1934) signing it on 04/10/1933. According to state records, AB 2342 was "An act relating to the safety of design and construction of public school buildings, providing for regualtion, inspection and supervision of the construction, reconstruction or alteration of or addition to public school buildings, and for the inspection of existing school buildings, defining the powers and duties of the State Division of Architecture in respect thereto, providing for the collection and distribution of fees, prescribing penalties for violation thereof and declaring the urgency to act, to take effect immediately." (See California Assemby History, [Sacramento: State Printing Office, 1933], p. 643.)Specifically, the Field Act was the first state-wide seismic building legislation passed in CA.

PCAD id: 4148