Bache-Martin School
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
The Bache-Martin School has been a center of learning in the Fairmount area for over a century. It combines two buildings: the Bache School, built as a public school in 1905-06, and the Martin School, built in 1937, which was the first school in the Philadelphia school system built for students with physical disabilities. Today Bache-Martin is a part of the School District of Philadelphia and offers general public preK-8 instruction.
Images
Alexander Dallas Bache School, photograph by Gottlieb for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 1937
Martin School, photograph for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 1937
Martin Orthopedic School, photograph by Joseph Wasko for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 1939
Deaf Students at Martin Public School, photograph by Russell C. Hamilton for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, 1966
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The Bache-Martin School has been a center of learning in the Fairmount area for over a century! The complex located at 2201 Brown Street consists of the Bache School and Martin School. The Bache School was built in 1905-06 and designed by American architect Lloyd Titus. Titus was involved with the creation of many school buildings in the Philadelphia area, at least ten of which are listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), including the Bache-Martin buildings. The school was named for Pennsylvania scholar Alexander Dallas Bache (1806-1867), who was the founder and principal of Philadelphia's oldest public high school: Central High School.
The Martin School was built in 1937 as the first school in the Philadelphia school system for students with physical disabilities. With the help of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the school was built with top facilities, such as a hydrotherapy pool, and used the most modern treatment methods. Its official name was the Willis and Elizabeth Martin Orthopedic School and it specialized in disability education. In 1943 the school expanded its services by offering classes for the hard of hearing, becoming a local center for deaf children and offering classes in sign language.
Irwin Thornton Catharine (1883-1944), the chief architect of Philadelphia public schools from 1918 to 1937, designed the Bache school at the end of his long career. It is built in the Georgian Revival style with “a central projecting pediment portico with Corinthian columns, and a bell tower”. Similarly to Lloyd Titus, Catharine has one hundred of his works listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Today, the Bache Martin School continues its tradition of educating the children of Philadelphia. As of 2022, there are about 500 students enrolled and a 10:1 teacher ratio. The Martin building serves primarily as an elementary school and is used by students in kindergarten to fourth grade. It is also where special needs classes are held because it was designed to be accessible for students with physical disabilities. The Bache School is a middle school and houses the fifth through eighth-grade classrooms along with a library, band room, and science lab.
Sources
Mintz, B. “Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form: Bache School.” Bureau for Historical Preservation (1986)
Mintz, B. “Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form: Martin School.” Bureau for Historical Preservation (1986)
“Bache-Martin School.” Friends of Bache-Martin. 2018. http://www.friendsofbachemartin.org/our-school/.
“Bache-Martin School.” School District of Philadelphia. 2020. https://bachemartin.philasd.org/about-us/.
George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection. Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA.
Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA.
Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA.
Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA.
Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA.