Burgard Vocational High School - Craftsman Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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K 0000 5 A Two of the six acres of land donated to the city by Mr. Henry P. Burgard, well known Buffalonian and philanthropist, will be occupied by the school builing. A new street, paved twenty'four feet in width, will be cut through at the west end of the property. It will intersect and provide an outlet to Kensington Avenue for Kenova and Van Gorder Avenues. The Architectural Style The design is a combination of modern factory and school architecture in the bold and heavier type of Gothic. The building will be constructed of buif'orange brick trimmed with artificial cast stone and Queenston limestone. It is set back 90 feet from the Kensington curb line permitting an extensive lawn and planting area. The walk approaches are interrupted by two groups of terraced steps which gradually rise from the street to the level of the second or main floor. ' , The structure is 290 feet long on the Kensington frontage with two extensions on the east, one of 24 feet for the gymnasium and another of 46 feet for the boiler room, thus making a total over'all length of 361 feet. The width is 188 feet for the building proper with 33 feet additional in the boiler room section. The south or front elevation appears to be three stories in height, sur' mounted by a tower, but actually, the building contains four floors, the iirst or basement floor showing only on the east, north and west elevations. The building is of brick, stone, concrete and steel construction and rests on 312 cylindrical concrete caissons sunk 12 to 20 feet to bed rock. Test borings were taken to determine the true soil condition before advertising for bids. The Floor Plans The first or basement floor with main shop entrances in the rear, contains the central receiving rooms, locker rooms, boiler and fan rooms, space for swim' ming pool, showers, transformers and switchboard rooms, central store room No. 1, bicycle room, automobile ramp entrance, and the following shops: Oxyacetylene and Electric Arc Welding, Bus, Truck and Tractor Repair, Ad' vanced Automobile Mechanical Repair, Avanced Automobile Electrical Repair, Storgae Battery Construction and Repair, and Tire Repair. Leading to the second floor are the main approaches to the build' ing. Three large and commodious doorways open upon a vestibule and lobby directly in front of the Auditorium. This floor contains the auditorium proper, the large double gymnasium, size 92 by 60 feet, with bleacher accom' modations for a thousand spectators, the Principal's and other offices, faculty conference room, library, clinic, sound proof music room, central store room No. 2, and the following classrooms and shops: Printing Job Presswork, Cyl' inder and Automatic Presswork, Advanced Engine and Chassis Testing, Auto' mobile Ignition, Automobile Starting and Lighting, Radiator and Collision Service, Automobile Engine and Carburetor Repair, Two Trade Mathematics rooms, Trade Science Mechanical Laboratory and Lecture room. The third floor houses the auditorium balcony, upper part of the gym' nasium, central store room No. 3, trade theory lecture rooms and the following shops and classrooms: Printing Hand Composition, Linotype Operation and Maintenance, Advanced Automobile Engine Repair, Advanced 'Automobile -22- I II llll A '-3 ll ll Ill ll lid! T , IIQIIIF I'-if f h l!:v lr Y 'TPI ,. 'N U F l 1 1 i r l lu ,r .. - L s' Y ' fl ll I I N I I im A A L 7 A .Lg X. pl

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a np n li OYPDHI . M r 1 II 'D OO ? 1:0000 S sf UQ C it C 4 3. 5 Q- . E 7 'S- ? 2. 'O ,P J gn! , Q.: F . . N GXJQID For many years the faculty of Elm Vocational High School, with the members of the Board of Education, Mr. Henry F. Jerge, Presi' dent, Mrs. Hamilton Ward, Mr. Harry Roblin, Mrf Stanislaus Czaster, Mr. Henry Steul, and Dr. E. C. Hartwell, Superintendent of Schools, and Mr. F. H. Wing, Deputy Superintendent in charge of Vocational Education, have dreamed and planned a new school building-a structure in keeping with the highest ideals and traditions of the skilled crafts and vocations which are to be taught therein. Now their ambitions, coupled with those of many hun' dreds of representative men from labor and industry, are about to be realized. Ground was broken for the new Burgard Vocational High School, which is to take the place of Old Elm, on Tuesday, May seventh, nineteen hundred twentyfnine. Mr. Henry P. Burgard, members of the School Board, and about fifteen representatives of industry took part in the ceremony. The Architects' Plans Working hand in hand with the faculty, the school board architects, Mr. Emest Crimi and his assistants, have successfully engineered the difficult plan' ning of this unique school-from the first idea to the present completed blue' prints and specifications. Now the builders are engaged in the construction of what we believe will be one of the best, most practical and complete vo- cational school plants in the United States. Early in 1925, preliminary floor plans for shops, laboratories and class- rooms, were prepared by the instructors of the school. These drawings were revised and improved during the next two years. In April, 1928, Mr. Crimi and his force of engineers, architects, and draftsmen, began active work. They soon discovered that our early preliminary floor layouts were for a building very much larger than could be built for a million dollars, so it was necessary to curtail each department's requirements in order to keep the total cost within the sum appropriated. Bids Opened February 28, 1929 After different arrangements of the various rooms were tried, and conferences between the architects and the faculty were held, the final plan was evolved. Mr. Crimi, Mr. Gill, Mr. Schefler, and Mr. Dempsey, with the forces of their respective oilices, then completed the final working drawings and specifications for the architectural and structural work as well as the mechanical equipment of the building. Estimates were received on January 10, 1929, but were rejected because they exceeded the appropriation. Modifications were then made in the plans and specifications. New bids were received on February 28, 1929. On April 25th, Mr. Henry jerge, Chairman of the Board of Education, announced the awards of contracts to the following contractors: General Contract, Mosier and Summersg Heating and Ventilating, Lawrence Cating Plumbing, Batt Companyg Electrical work, Buffalo Electric Company. n Y ' . l F 5' P vs, '95 -l 4 flivffa- ' . 1.7 I 5 jsJg,x..1-i A 5 I ILL - 7 E l

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ll ...K IW 6 . ... O0 000 Cn... aggg-D .Ef 'nsv Nl:'f-TZ! Q sg-,, H'-a P5 ovwfv ogmro BXZVUE. J 2,5 WH Srl? Qmwi ot vo :Gila Nfl o midi PNB? :fOr-rg BESO axes' wage Lawn wfV0?i- Si-1157 0-DR? mul 'O f:a'g,f3, Ef:'o ' gnbl Om So' 'U s35'5 2535 OWCDQ BGG' -o5' ss? 9403 OB Sas E55 I f . sill ll Illll room, and the following shops and classrooms: Lithography, Printing-Part Time Extension, Advanced Aircraft Construction and Repair, Advanced Aircraft Engine Repair, Aircraft Welding, Automobile Chassis Repair Automobile Engine Repair, Aircraft Construction and Repair, Aircraft Doping and Spraying, Automobile Electrical Theory, Trade Science Electrical Laboratory, Printing and Advertising Art, Bookbinding, four Trade Drafting rooms, three Trade Mathematics rooms, Tire Building, and Bluefprinting room. The tower contains the aeronautical lecture room in which Air Navigation and Meteorology will be taught. The roof platform area houses the weather bureau and airport instruments. 1 There will be approximately thirty shops and twentyffive classrooms, accom' modating 1000 day school pupils including part time 'advanced apprentices in the printing and automobile trades. At night 2000 adult students can be taken care of on the two platoon system if necessary. Special Features There will be many unusual and unique features in this new school. The following are of special interest: A concrete motor ramp is being installed in the shop section to per- mit automobiles to be driven to any floor of the building. The rear corridor is 15 feet wide and forms a traffic highway from the ramp to the shops on any floor. The main ramp entrance is equipped with an over'head, electrically operated garage door such as is found in modern downftown service garages. All automobile shop entrances leading to the ramp highway will be provided with manually operated garage doors. Outside the main automobile entrance a commodious concrete space is pro- vided for parking cars. This area also contains the, underground tanks for gasoline, benzol, and kerosene and a modern type Standard Oil Company greasf ing pit. ' Several kinds of floors are being installed: Special concrete in the automof bile shops, mastic in the printing department, battleship linoleum over concrete in the classrooms, wood in the gymnasium, and terrozzo in some stair and cor' ridor sections. The science laboratories will be radical departures from the conventional high school physics and chemical laboratories and will approximate in equipment the commercial testing laboratories of modern industrial plants. Three central store rooms, located within the automobile ramp section and near the elevator, will be operated on a storehouse system such as is common in big industrial plants. I ' ' A small apartment house style passenger elevator will be installed in the building, as well as a large freight elevator with which to expedite the handling of materials and supplies. X O W . T3 ll 'L The fourth floor has the students' cafeteria and kitchen, faculty dining 5. lien'- ,x, , P 1 I G, E . --23- ' hlabg-LAWN: A A .. I l Ill ll ' ll X ' .I-I I ' U l 3: f ' + T rt . I I . 4,.ef, QT' xl ,,, , F f ' s ll 1 5 K sl, - - A -k- A 7 Q