Taylor School (Davenport, Iowa)

Taylor School is a historic building located in Davenport, Iowa, United States. The former grade school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2005.

Taylor School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Davenport Register of Historic Properties
Location	1400 Warren St. Davenport, Iowa
Coordinates	41°32′5″N 90°35′10″W
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1897-1898
Architect	Clausen & Burrows
Architectural style	Colonial Revival
MPS	Davenport MRA
NRHP reference No.	83002516[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	July 7, 1983
Designated DRHP	September 13, 2005[2]

History

The building was built from 1897 to 1898 as School #11 when J. B. Young was superintendent. By 1898 the Davenport school district had twelve school buildings and a new school was being added every year. The district served more than 5,800 students with a staff of 142 teachers.[3] The name of the building was changed to Taylor School in 1908. The "6-3-3" system was adopted for Davenport Schools in 1919 and Taylor continued to serve its central Davenport neighborhood as an elementary school. It later served as a school for students with intellectual disabilities in the district before it closed.

The building had sat empty for most of the 1990s and 2000s. A renovation process to convert the building into senior housing began in 2005. The plan included building an addition as well as renovating the old school building. Financial problems plagued an earlier attempt to develop the project.[4][5] Construction began again on the project in May, 2010 by the Renaissance Realty Group of Chicago and the $11 million renovation was completed in June, 2011.[6][7] The building is now known as The Taylor Renaissance, and features forty-one rental units for people 55 and above.[8]

Architecture

The Davenport architectural firm of Clausen & Burrows designed the building in the Colonial Revival style.[3] The square block building is two stories high on a raised basement.[9] It is built with red bricks and the basement is faced with large blocks of dressed limestone. The building features a hipped roof with bracketed eaves. The windows in the building are grouped in round-arched arcades. The arched main entrance is covered by a simple canopy with columns in the simplified Doric order.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. Historic Preservation Commission. "Davenport Register of Historic Properties" (PDF). City of Davenport. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
3. Martha Bowers; Marlys Svendsen-Roesler. "Taylor School". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-03-24. with photo
4. Brecht, Tory (April 9, 2008). "Taylor School project gets assist from city of Davenport". Quad-City Times. Davenport. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
5. Gaul, Alma (October 26, 2007). "Davenport's former Taylor School to get a new buyer". Quad-City Times. Davenport. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
6. Brecht, Tory (May 11, 2010). "Work begins on Taylor School renaissance". Quad-City Times. Davenport. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
7. "Preservation efforts show what's possible". Quad-City Times. Davenport. June 23, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
8. "The Taylor Renaissance". The Renaissance Companies. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
9. Svendsen, Marlys A.; Bowers, Martha H. (1982). Davenport where the Mississippi runs west: A Survey of Davenport History & Architecture. Davenport, Iowa: City of Davenport. p. 10.2.