Pierce Park is an elementary school located at the corner of Castle and Pierce Park Lane. Named after the early Mayor of Boise, Pierce Park Elementary was built in 1911. The land that pierce park is on, was bought from W. E. Pierce for only one dollar! The terms of the agreement were that the land MUST be used for educational purposes. If for any year that the land was not used for educational purposes, the land would be reverted to the heirs of Pierce. The original schoolhouse was built on a one and a half acre lot. The original schoolhouse was torn down in the spring of 1938 and the new school (which is still being used today) was built under the WPA project, just in time for the fall class in 1938. This facility was also held for Sunday religious ceremonies.
Pierce Park Elementary was an eight grade school for nine years, until it turned into a six grade school in 1947. Seventh and Eighth grade students hade to attend Boise Junior High (Now called North Junior High). This school had a lot of remodels in its years. These remodels being in the years of 1952, 1960, 1970, 1976, 1984, and 1986; including: new portables, playground, library, gym, kitchen, office, furnace room, stage, and six new classrooms; As well as electrical wiring in the outer surface of the building.
The architecture applied in Pierce Park Elementary wasn’t a significant amount. Do to the remodel in 1938, the building was designed to fit into the modern world. As you have seen in the pictures provided, architecture is displayed above the main entrance if the school, as well and the basement. The basement of Pierce Park isn’t anything fancy. Although we were not able to get any pictures of the basement, it shows classic 1930’s design. On the inside of this structure, it shows architectural design incorporated in the support structure. If you were to look above your head while in any of the classrooms, you would see large wooden beams running lengthwise to support the building’s flat ceiling.
The windows in the school also show old architectural design. Instead of large sliding window, the classrooms and bathrooms have small fold out windows. You don’t see a lot anymore with modern day architecture. While outside Pierce Park, we noticed a mid-sized chimney near the boiler room in the basement. With this observation, we can assume that at one point in time, Pierce Park was heated with some sort of stove; another classic design for the 1930’s. The lose wiring on the outside of the building would make it more vulnerable to power outages during large storms. All of these observations we made, play a part in the architecture located within Pierce Park. Elementary schools are a excellent example of early architecture. They show cultural significance because depending on where you are located, all of the early schools show physical attributes that relate to the time period it was built.
Architecture is defined as the character and style of a building Architecture has played a significant role in building designs throughout every time period. Without architecture, where would we be?