AKA: Seattle Public Schools, Day, Benjamin Franklin, School, Fremont, Seattle, WA

Structure Type: built works - public buildings - schools

Designers: Parkinson, John, Architect (firm); Seattle Public Schools, District Architect, Blair, Edgar (firm); Stephen, James, Architect (firm); Edgar Blair (architect); John Parkinson (architect); James Stephen (architect)

Dates: constructed 1891-1892

2 stories

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3921 Linden Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98103-7803

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The school sits on land once part of the 160-acre farm kept by Benjamin Franklin Day and his wife, Francis Day. English-born architect John Parkinson (1861-1935) designed the B.F. Day School, along with several others in the city before relocating to Los Angeles, CA, in the mid-1890s. Parkinson would go on to become one Southern California's most successful practitioners. He designed the original four-room core of this brick schoolhouse. In 2008, the B.F. Day School was the oldest continuously-operating elementary school in the Seattle Public School system.

Designated a City of Seattle Historic Landmark; the B.F. Day School's student population topped out at approximately 900 students c. 1925.

Originally, the B.F. Day School was a rectangular box, two stories in height, covered by a hipped roof. A central portico jutted out supported by two piers. Two wings, a south one by James Stephen (1858-1938) and another by Edgar Blair (1871-1924), were added onto the B.F. Day School in 1900-1901 and 1916 respectively. Blair also supervised the construction of retaining walls and stairs on the property's west side. Another small renovation costing $5 million occurred in 1991.

Seattle Historic Landmark: ID n/a

PCAD id: 4642