Submitted by WA Contents
In Detroit, a Groundbreaking School Comes Back as Condos
United Kingdom Architecture News - Jun 19, 2014 - 10:49 2115 views
Photo by Andy Schwartz/Stylish Detroit
Due to plummeting enrollment and a troubled district, vacant school buildings—heck, just vacant buildings—are none too rare in Detroit. After 19 years of abandonment, the Nellie Leland School, however, is no longer vacant—it, as abandoned urban buildings are want to do, is back in session as condos. When it first opened in 1919, vacancy was far from anybody's mind; in fact, demand was so high that it had a waiting list for admittance, and two years after opening had to build an expansion that more than tripled its enrollment. The reason Leland was such hot property? It has little to do with the economy, and everything to do with the fact that it was the first opportunity most local students with disabilities had for a public education.
As late as 1970, just one in five disabled children was educated in U.S. public schools. So when the Nellie Leland School for Crippled Children first opened its doors, it was the first public school in the city designed exclusively for disabled students, noted for its spacious halls and classrooms and long ramps connecting its three floors.
Prior to the school's opening, Detroit's disabled children were being taught in just a few rooms in another school. This was several decades before legislation like the ADA mandated equal rights for people with disabilities, so educational opportunities were sparse, usually at the home, in institutions, or private schools....Continue Reading
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