THAYER STREET PUBLIC SCHOOL, PROVIDENCE, R. I., 1868. Erected and furnished in 1867, at a cost of $76,000, exclusive of the site.

PLANS OF THE THAYER STREET SCHOOL-HOUSE, PROVIDENCE, R. I. THE THAYER STREET SCHOOL HOUSE, dedicated to the uses of the Public Schools of Providence by appropriate exercises, Jan. 2, 1868, is situated on the corner of Charles Field and Thayer streets, the north-west corner lot, which contains about 20,000 square feet. It is designed to accommodate the second and third districts, comprising the second and third wards. This will effect the consolidation of the Prospect street and the Arnold street Grammar schools, superseding the teachers and machinery of one Grammar School, and lessening by about $3,000 the annual expenses of the school department. The plan rendered necessary further accommodations for intermediate and primary scholars, which have been provided for by a new school-house for these classes, on the corner of Thayer and Meeting streets, with seats for 200 scholars.

The building is a very fine one, and presents a grand appearance from all points of observation. It measures seventy-six feet by eighty-nine on the ground. It is heated by four of Lawson's furnaces in the cellar. Its architecture is chaste, and the different materials of walls and trimmings of the exterior have been disposed in the most happy manner for effect.

The underpinning is red Gloucester granite, overlaid by a water table of Connecticut free-stone. The walls are of Danvers pressed brick, laid in dark mortar, carried up double, twelve inches thick, with an air-chamber between, to intercept moisture, and shut off the influence of the exterior temperature, whether it be extreme heat or intense cold. The window sills and belt courses are of Nova Scotia sandstone. The window caps present a variegated appearance, being of stone, blocks of Gloucester granite and Connecticut freestone alternating. The cornice is arcaded, being constructed of brick and Nova Scotia sandstone, with gutters of iron. The roof is steep, covered with slate in alternate courses of black and green. This has a fine effect, and elegantly sets out the entire building. There are four dormer windows on each side. Towers rise at each corner, on one of which is the bell.

The basement extends under the entire building. It contains four furnaces, and the bottom is cemented to permit the use of the room by the girls for purposes of play in wet weather.

The entrances are from the north and south ends, the principal one being from Charles Field street. The steps are broad, and leading to a porch which opens into the hall extending through the building.

The upper stories are reached by four broad stairways; special attention has been paid to their construction, that they may be entirely safe in all respects; and they are separated from the main rooms by a brick wall, as a protection against fire. There are no open banisters in which the children may be caught at risk of limb, neither a pit through which they may be precipitated in case of a panie, causing a sudden rush. These stairways leading to the school-rooms, open into halls, as on the first floor, running through the building.

The school-rooms on the three floors all correspond in size and finish, and are arranged, two on each side of the halls. The scholars in those on the east side face to the South, which lets the light fall upon the desks from the left. In the west rooms the scholars will face to the North; thus, in these rooms, obtaining light from the left. Inside blinds of cherry are provided, by which the light

may be regulated at will. This seating of the scholars is an important arrangement; for if light be admitted to the front, or on three sides, as is often the case, there is danger that the eyesight of the scholars may be impaired, inducing short-sightedness.

The desks are of the ordinary kind. The seats, however, have been, constructed with special reference to the comfort of the scholars. They are wooden chairs; the front of the bottom is slightly elevated, perhaps three-fourths of an inch, inclining the pressure of the body backward, and the upright center-piece which is to support the back is curved forward so as to fit the small of the back and support the spinal column as it naturally curves inward at that point.

Each of the school-rooms is 30 × 29 feet and 14 feet high, with desks for 56 scholars. There being twelve of these rooms, the capacity of the house, therefore, will be 672 seats. These rooms, as is the entire building, are finished in hard pine, being ceiled up to the windows. Each school-room has a wide, black board on its four sides, with mouldings above and below, with recesses in the walls beneath, for crayons and sponges.

There are two doors to each room, opening from the halls, and cloak-rooms for the boys and girls distinct from each other, which can be reached only by passing through the school-room. This arrangement keeps the scholars under the eye of the teacher from their entrance into the room till leaving it. It will be readily seen that this will be a check upon disorder, besides having the clothing of the scholars securely put beyond theft, should any one accidentally get access to the building during school hours.

The doors are of pinc, with butternut panels and black walnut moldings, producing a pleasant effect.

The hall is on the fourth floor, 65 × 62 feet, 18 feet in the clear, and by the dormer windows which are on all sides, is very airy and pleasant. The platform is on the east side. The seating is by settees, 130 in number. The capacity of the hall is such that 800 persons can be seated for any general exercises of the whole school.

Careful attention has been paid to the ventilation of the school-rooms. The hot air is admitted by registers in the walls. Ample provisions have been made to change the air where it becomes overheated, or impure by repeated breathings. Four ventilators, 4 × 3 feet, run from the basement through the roof, smoothly plastered on the inside. Through each of these runs a cast-iron smoke pipe, into which the smoke and gas from the furnaces are discharged, along with the heat naturally carried off by the draft. This raises the temperature of the ventilator according to the amount of fire in the furnaces, several degrees above the temperature of the school-rooms. Registers from each room, one near the ceiling and one near the floor, open into these ventilators, and as the temperature there is in excess, a draft is created which draws the air from the school-rooms speedily; indeed, the air throughout the rooms may be changed in a very few minutes, fifteen at the outside. To provide for the contingency when there is no fire, or but a slight one in the furnaces' stoves are placed in each ventilator, in which fires may be lighted to create a draft and make the ventilators operative. This method, in effect, is using four immense exhaust pumps for changing the air and supplying that which is pure and fit for respiration, and is unquestionably the best system of ventilation ever yet devised.