The Lower Merion Academy, Cynwyd Elementary School, and Bala Cynwyd Junior High School Complex includes three contributing schools built between 1812 and 1938 and situated on a 15.9-acre tract of land in a residential community in Bala Cynwyd, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The buildings surround an athletic field and track at a lower elevation. The 1812, stuccoed stone, Federal-style schoolhouse known as Lower Merion Academy faces south across the field from a rise near the middle of the east side of the tract. The three-and-a-half-story, cupola-topped, five-bay building was rehabilitated in 1938 by Savery, Scheetz & Gilmour and reflects Colonial Revival traditions both inside and out. Directly to the north and west stands the long, flat, two-story, modern, brick Bala Cynwyd Junior High School (Davis & Dunlap, 1938). It faces east with a central neo-classical limestone entrance portal and flanking walls of full-height vertical windows between brick piers. The mass of this school, with a power plant and tall chimney, extends west in a large rectangle on an incline to Manayunk Road. There the façade becomes three-stories, using the same fenestration but interrupted by two taller square towers. Attached at the north end is a one-story kitchen wing plus a new two-story block for a cafeteria and gymnasium (Einhorn, Yaffee, Prescott, 1999). Three tennis courts, two small playing fields, and a parking lot lie at this north end of the tract as uncounted landscape features. At the south end of the tract stands the third school Cynwyd Elementary, facing Levering Mill Road for a full block and backing onto the athletic field. The contributing original school at the corner of Bryn Mawr Ave. is the two-and-a-half story Classic Revival brick building built by Savery, Scheetz & Savery in 1914 with a rear section in like style of 1920. This school is distinctive for its decorative white terra cotta trim, a central Ionic-columned entrance, and large 24-light windows used in groups of three or four. Attached to the west side is a new three-story glass atrium and brick classroom building of sympathetic design that was completed by Einhorn, Yaffee, Prescott in 1999. The integrity of this complex stems from retention of the architectural character of each of the schools despite additions and modernizations for educational programming. The 1812 Lower Merion Academy features its original design and much fabric plus Colonial Revival modifications that stand on their own right. Cynwyd Elementary School (1914/20) retains Classic Revival characteristics and building materials, though windows and doors have been replaced and a 1999 rehabilitation integrated a library in the former gymnasium and added a new wing. Bala Cynwyd Junior High School (1938) retains nearly unaltered modern styling on its east elevation, uses laminated woods, metal windows, cast stone, and 20th-century treatment of classical details in an elegant foyer, auditorium, and library. The addition of a matching classroom wing in 1963 altered the original terraced west entrance between two imposing towers, an unfortunate loss of a modern design. A positive impact of a 1999 renovation, however, recaptures the earlier entrance wall within a new library. The overall preservation of this educational tract and its representative elementary and junior-high school architecture from 1812 through 1952 is exceptional.

Setting (Maps 1 & 2)

This complex of three school buildings was initiated in 1812 with the construction of Lower Merion Benevolent School (later named Lower Merion Academy) by a Board of Trustees through the bequest of the Quaker farmer, Jacob Jones (1713-1810). He bequeathed a 9.41-acre plot of his farmland and funds for construction of a schoolhouse for free, non-denominational education of all poor and orphan children. At the north end of Jones' tract, the boundary was extended in 1937 and 1943 by Lower Merion School District for school expansions and now terminates at a residential property line. The natural topography of the tract is a rise to the south on Levering Mill Road and another to the north in the middle. This creates a plateau off Bryn Mawr Avenue with a westward slope toward Manayunk Road. Between these two rises is a track and playing field for the three schools. Lower Merion Academy sits on the northern rise on an east-west axis facing south with its three-and-a-half stories built into the bank. Masonry terracing with steps added in 1938 leads to the field below. The north façade has only two and half stories exposed, but includes a three-bay entrance porch. This is approached off the south side of a driveway and parking semi-circle that leads off Bryn Mawr Avenue. Parallel and immediately west of the west end of the Academy on the rise stands the long, modern, two-story, brick, Bala Cynwyd Junior High School (now middle school) with vertical piers and fenestration. The school's entrance is at the mid-point of the semi-circular drive off Bryn Mawr Avenue. The rectangular building mass extends north and has a short, lower wing at the north end. Beyond the school the topography drops and tennis courts and a parking lot accessed off Bryn Mawr Avenue lie at two different levels. On the western Manayunk Road side, the building stands as three stories in the side of a slope. A single-story unit is attached at the north end at street level off a semi-circular drive. Attached farther north and at an upper grade is a two-story unit added in 1999. At the lowest south end of the school a tall, square chimney that is higher than the weathervane of the Academy marks the attached multi-section steam power facility that supplies the three schools.

Directly south across the field from the Academy and Bala Cynwyd Junior High School stands Cynwyd Elementary School, facing Levering Mill Road and filling the block. The 1914 and 1920 construction create the deeper rectangular block. Attached by a three story glass atrium is a slightly lower but longer wing added in 1999 with similar detailing and window treatment. A ground level parking garage has been included at the west corner at Manayunk Road. On the street façade, off a semi-circular driveway, an ADA ramp and staircase lead to the student entrance in the new atrium. In 1999, along the north façade a new walkway and terrace was added the full length of the entire school with steps, ramps, and bleachers to the field.

Lower Merion Academy (Illust. 1-5, Plans 1-4, Photos 1-13)

Lower Merion Academy, constructed between 1812 and 1813 of pebble-dashed stuccoed stone, is a freestanding, Federal-style, three-and-a-half-story, rectangular (36' x 55') school building with a gable roof and square bell cupola. The school now reflects a Colonial Revival restoration of 1938. The athletic field between Cynwyd Elementary School and Lower Merion Academy provides a natural setting for this historic structure and allows a fine vista of its south facade (Photo 1). The agreement of June 9, 1812, between three trustees and Joseph Price and Nathan Lewis, "architects" to build Lower Merion Academy, remains extant. The construction specifications in this document and a Green Tree Insurance survey (now Mutual Assurance Company), which bears a confirmation date of October 13, 1814, provide evidence for tracing changes made over nearly 190 years and proof of the building's present architectural integrity. Lithographs and photographs from the 1850s through 1938 document various exterior alterations and modernizations (Illust. 1-5). The minute book of the trustees details certain expenditures for the building as a whole. The most significant, interior improvements are documented through correspondence between the trustees and Lower Merion School District. The 1938 Colonial Revival restoration and rehabilitation of Savery, Scheetz & Gilmour restored many original features and added or altered spaces to accommodate modernizations. On the whole, the interior spaces follow the 1812 plan (Plans 1-4). The exterior, with the exception of the 1938 terrace addition to the south facade, still exhibits the Federal-style architecture of the original construction. The cupola, roof, stucco, and attic windows were further restored to retain their original appearance between 1993 and 1995.

Exterior: The cedar shingle gable roof features three dormers on the south, three on the north (the middle one dates from 1938). A single end chimney extends on the east, twin end chimneys on the west. The main feature of the building is the central square wooden cupola with the school bell, Venetian slating (since 1993 aluminum), copper roofing, and a pennant weathervane with a ball finial. The pennant is a 1991 reproduction after the original blew off in a storm. The school is based on a central hall plan, so that both the north and south facades have two bays flanking the center doors on the first floor level. Five bays occur on the second story on the south facade, four bays on the north, with a small central staircase window between the first and second floors. Windows are 6/6 replacements of 1938 for various types that over time replaced the original 12/12. Exterior shutters were included in the 1938 rehabilitation, but 1812 documentation indicates shutters were not specified. They were not rehung after the building was restuccoed in 1995.

The north facade provides the main entrance to the building from a circular driveway (Photo 2). Stone steps lead to a porch with a hipped metal roof, a stone and brick floor, and four pairs of Doric columns (before 1938 these were single columns; Illus. 5). Two paneled doors (not original) provide entrance: the door to the east opens into the central hall, the one to the west, with a four-light transom, accesses the current kitchen.

The east and west facades exhibit three asymmetrical bays on the first and second floors (the middle bay on the east was added in the 19th century, on the west in 1938) and two smaller windows at the attic level. Ground-level cellar windows on the east are now in protected window wells due to a change in grade. The west facade features two 6/2 windows and an entrance door at the south corner.

The south facade includes a major alteration completed by Savery, Scheetz & Gilmour in 1938 (Photo 3). Earliest documentation shows a staircase descended from the central doorway of the first floor level to the field below (Illus. 1-3). At ground floor or cellar level, entry doors existed in both the east and west corners of the facade, and windows flanked the staircase. Various alterations to this staircase occurred over the years, but the least compatible was removed by the final restoration of 1938 (Illust. 4). After grade changes, a flagstone terrace was added that runs the length of the five bays and includes flanking stone staircases that lead to the field. A greenhouse-like glass window wall and doorway encloses the area under the terrace at ground-floor level to create a new interior space. Access to the building at this level is now on the west façade. Here the southwest window was made into a door. Entrance to the first floor is from the terrace through the original inset, round-headed doorway with a semi-circular fanlight. A Georgian-detailed triangular pediment added in 1938 occurs above. The door, with early hardware, features six lights over two panels and has been rehung to open outward.

Interior: Historically, the interior of the building was built to serve two purposes: living and teaching (Plans 1-4). The division between the two was achieved by the central hall and its staircase with tongue and grove horizontal and vertical wainscoting (Photos 4-6). The east side of the building was used for large schoolrooms that ran the depth of the building on both the first and second floors. One additional room in the southwest corner of the first floor was used as a small schoolroom. Living accommodations for a teacher or family were on the west side and consisted of the northwest corner room on the first floor and two rooms on the second. Fireplaces were located in each of the rooms on the west side of the house. The second story also had a small library (center south).

The finished attic space in Lower Merion Academy remains virtually intact from the time of its original construction. Only a 1938 wall enclosure at the top of the staircase and the addition of a middle dormer for the staircase are new (Photos 7-8). An enclosed access area to the cupola and a small room to the south divide this floor centrally to create large rooms that run the depth of the building at both the east and west ends. A fireplace (closed off in the 1980s) with a brick hearth provided heat in the west room (Photo 9). Two small sliding wooden vents at floor level exist in each of the south and north walls of the main rooms for exterior ventilation (see Photo 9). Student graffiti featuring names and dates as early as the 1820s have been found under paint on the walls of five of the six dormers that provide light to this level. Stabilization of the plaster, conservation of the graffiti with protective transparent panels, and photographic documentation was undertaken during the 1990s.

1938 Renovations: The basement is accessible from the interior via a staircase off the first floor entrance hall. The three original spaces, for dining (west), kitchen (east, with blocked off corner fireplace), and storage (north) were altered to serve educational functions in 1938. The dining area became a large classroom with a closet space under the staircase. Girls toilets were added in the north storage room. A wall was added to the east side of the kitchen area with the corner fireplace to create a small utility room and bathroom for boys. The remaining area was developed as a workspace with counters and sink. Exterior doors in the south façade now open onto the glass-walled, botany classroom space under the added flagstone terrace. Heating and plumbing lines are visible at ceiling level throughout the basement. Linoleum covers a concrete slab floor and walls are papered or painted.

On the first and second floors kitchens and a bathroom were added. A complete kitchen with pantry was installed in the northwest room on the first floor and a small kitchen in the central space on the second floor. A bathroom was added on the second floor between the two west rooms, causing a slight reduction in their spaces (Photo 10). In the southwest corner room on the second floor, a Colonial Revival china cabinet was built into the new north wall and the fireplace was closed off. The wooden mantel was reused in the east schoolroom.

On the east side of the schoolhouse the two main schoolrooms underwent changes. Fireplaces were added in each one, despite the fact that originally only a chimney for a stove had protruded into the room (Photos 11-12). The mantels for these fireplaces were taken from the first floor northwest corner room and the second floor southwest room where the fireplaces were closed off to accommodate the new kitchen and bathroom, respectively. Each of the pegged mantels has a different design and dimension, but all are simply and classically styled.

The entrance to the first floor classroom was moved to the south three feet. On the interior west wall, bookcases and cabinets were built from floor to ceiling for the length of the room (Photo 13). The ceiling beam that had been supported by a pole was replaced by a steel I beam. The second floor classroom, which had been divided into two rooms plus closet areas prior to 1938, was restored to its original dimensions. Bookcases were built-in along the west wall, and on the east wall the above-mentioned fireplace and mantel were added (see Photo 12).

On the first and second floors of the interior, effort was made to maintain original woodwork, such as the south entrance door, the mantels, the wainscoting along the entrance hall and staircase, and the banister. New oak stair treads have been added and pegged oak flooring replaces the original heart or sap pine. Ceilings and walls were furred and replastered, and sash and sills were replaced.

In summary, the exterior window rehabilitation, door locations and treatments, added south terrace, and interior alterations and additions represent a Colonial Revival rehabilitation carried out in 1938. This work restored certain spaces to their original dimension and purpose while sacrificing others for modernization and educational programming. Most importantly, the large classroom spaces remain intact. The exterior, with the exception of the 1938 flagstone terrace on the south facade, a change in grade, and ground level entrances, remains, in mass, style, and setting remarkably similar to the earliest descriptions and illustrations of this building.

Cynwyd Elementary School (llust. 6; Plans 5-7; Photos 14-20)

Cynwyd Elementary School represents the work of three different architectural firms who used brick as their principal material (Photos 14-15). The historic school consists of two integrated sections: a two-and-a-half story block at the corner of Bryn Mawr Ave. designed by Savery, Scheetz & Savery in 1914 and a rear addition of 1920 by Savery & Scheetz all planned for grades one through eight (Photo 16). The early section is a simple rectangle with south-projecting unfenestrated ends of about two bays. Six years later a slightly setback deeper block was added on the back with a central gymnasium/auditorium over a lunchroom flanked by halls and classrooms. This configuration remains today, though certain uses of the space have changed. Interior modifications for the school were also incorporated by the firm of Savery, Scheetz & Gilmour in 1938.

In 1967-68 a classroom and library wing was added to the west side of the school by Demchick, Berger, & Dash, Associates, Philadelphia. The two-story building of brown brick with large, non-thermal aluminum windows was designed without bathrooms and on levels that did not coordinate with the main building. After thirty years the wing was too small, building materials had not weathered well, and handicapped accessibility was not sufficient. In 1999 the wing was demolished and Einhorn, Yaffee, & Prescott of Albany, New York designed a new wing to attach to the west wall. A glass atrium serves as a connecting hyphen to a new brick classroom and gymnasium wing over a garage. The atrium, with a low vestibule, terminates at the base of the parapet wall and is setback four bays to use the original end entrance door of the west facade as the link to the new building. On the inside of the atrium the original west façade remains exposed (Photo 18). Both the old and new sections of the school are designed so that the first floor is raised above ground level, creating a partial below-grade floor. Although smaller in length, the original school building retains its prominence through a greater height, more classical architectural detailing, and its forward location in the streetscape. The only transgression the new addition leaves on the old building is that a section of the brick and concrete ADA ramp overlaps the end of the building as it swings back to the above-grade first-floor student entrance.

Exterior: The historic Cynwyd Elementary School is constructed of a tapestry brick pattern (a header between every two bricks) with a wide, beige mortar joint of coarse aggregate. White unglazed terra cotta is used for the cornice, banding courses, sills, headers, and decorative trim. The original fenestration pattern in groups of three or four vertical openings has not been altered, but the original double hung 12/12 sash have been replaced by beige vinyl windows with a fixed 16-pane sash over an 8-pane operable sash. The original architects used their materials to create classically designed facades that combined both square and round-headed windows and doorways with decorative trim, emblems, and date stones.

The two slightly extending ends of the building on the east and west anchor the two-and-a-half-story south façade. Between these is the central entrance portal on a five-step platform with three windows above and four windows to the east and west on each floor. To contrast with the tapestry brick and provide horizontal detailing, six banding courses in terra cotta are used on all facades. These are found at the cap edge and face of the roof parapet; for the molded box cornice at the base of the parapet and the running course below it; as the header course of the second floor windows; as the sill course of the first floor windows, and as the watertable and header course of the ground level windows. The first-floor window headers are unconnected.

The main feature of the south façade is the entranceway (Photo 17). Here two freestanding, cast-stone, Ionic columns support an entablature with a frieze incised with "CYNWYD PUBLIC SCHOOL." Large dentils hang from the base of the cornice. The façade treatment of the entrance reflects Federal styling, using a round-headed doorway with a white keystone plus a five-part fanlight and flanking 16-pane sidelights. White marble panel insets square off the rounded door opening and add more elegance. To further mark the entrance, at roof height the parapet rises up three steps to create an opportunity for decorative masonry. Here, in high relief in white terra cotta, under a human head is a shield with the date of 1914 flanked by two torches symbolizing the "light" of learning. Connected on each side by a white band course are also matching books of knowledge, opened, with a torch in the centerfold. Additional decoration is used at the unfenestrated end bays. Here relief brickwork designs connect two squares accented with white terra cotta in the center and corners.

The east and west facades are made up of the 1914 and 1920s construction using the tapestry brick pattern throughout. Each end wall of the 1914 structure has four windows and a classically detailed entrance door over which a tall, round headed window was designed to light the interior stairway. Set back from this block the 1920s building is made up of three window bays of four windows each. Terra cotta trim blends the two blocks. The north façade of the 1920s wing is unique in its design to accommodate and light the gymnasium

(Photo 19)

Interior: The original main entrance leads into a vestibule graciously fitted with marble wainscoting and stairs to the first floor level. Since the 1960s hallway ceilings have been dropped with artificial tiles and lighting but wall surfaces are unchanged. The principal hall of the school runs east and west with secondary halls parallel to the original central gymnasium/auditorium space. Since 1999 this two-story space has been converted to the school library and information center. The auditorium's proscenium arch, held up by fluted pilasters, remains in place on the south wall as a tribute to the former usage (Photo 20). Original skylights still light the newly fitted out library space. Directly underneath on the lower level, the cafeteria retains its original place, though now refurbished. Classrooms and offices on all floors are on the outer perimeter of the building and staircases are at the east end of the main hall or the north end of the perpendicular halls. The west staircase was eliminated to provide the connection to the atrium and the new wing.

The 1999 brick wing designed by Einhorn, Yaffee and Prescott is very similar to the original building both in layout and design but no roof parapet or molded cornices are used, making it shorter and simpler. Windows are wider and used in pairs or as three-part units. White masonry band courses mimic the original structure and tie the two buildings together sympathetically. On the interior the glass atrium includes a diagonally placed staircase that supplies access to the three floors. It abuts the new gymnasium/auditorium that again is a two-story height and extends north of the main façade of the building with a slightly rounded wall. Classrooms are located around the exterior walls and off hallways that end in staircases. The new wing houses most of the grade-level classrooms and the specialty classes such as art and music. The old school is equipped with all the bathroom facilities, administrative offices, labs, and specialized classrooms.

Bala Cynwyd Junior High School (now Middle School) (Illust. 7; Plans 8-10; Photos 21-27)

Bala Cynwyd Junior High School, a modern, neo-classically designed school of 1938 (Davis & Dunlap) sits barely twenty feet west of Lower Merion Academy off Bryn Mawr Avenue on a north-south axis facing east and centered on a semicircle driveway (Photo 21). It is built into the side of a hill that is 34 feet lower on Manayunk Avenue to the west where there is another semi-circular drive (Photo 22). The 1938 design incorporated dual student entrances: one on the east façade to a foyer immediately accessing the two-story gymnasium and auditorium and another on Manayunk Road. Here, a stair-cased, terraced entry led to a patio between perpendicular classroom wings extending west off the eastern gymnasium/auditorium block. Despite the demolition of the west Manayunk Road entranceway for a classroom wing extension in 1963, and conversion of the largest 1938 gymnasium to two stories of classrooms in 1999, the remaining 1938 contributing construction and fabric stands intact (Illus. 7).

Built on a sloping grade between Bryn Mawr Avenue and Manayunk Road, the site was used to advantage by creating a two-story high elevation on Bryn Mawr Avenue next to the historic Lower Merion Academy, and using three stories on the Manayunk Road side. The height of the Bala Cynwyd Junior High School roof reaches the dormers of the Academy building. The current basic footprint of the school can be regarded as a large rectangle with indents at the north and south ends, small symmetrical protrusions eastward on the east façade for stairways, similar extensions for stairways and bathrooms on the west façade, and a two-story connected tail at the northwest corner. An attached power plant wing with a tall chimney extends at the southeast corner with one to three story sections.

Exterior: The main school building is finished with a slightly hipped roof and built of a varied red brick in Flemish bond. Limestone is used as a decorative trim for the molded watertable, flat running roof cornice, entranceway trim, and special ornamental effects. Vertical fenestration, inset between brick piers the height of the façade, consist of three-section metal windows that alternate with gray-green mottled masonry slabs at the base and between floor levels. The upper two-thirds of the windows are fixed; the lower sections open. The current main entrance on the Bryn Mawr Avenue façade features two things: 1. a forward-extending two-story, brick and masonry, neo-classical central entrance with a parapet that extends above the main roofline; 2. symmetrically placed square wall extensions at the ends of the façade for staircases. The entrance portico consists of four square, limestone, Tuscan columns (two engaged, two freestanding) supporting an entablature incised with "BALA CYNWYD JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL" (Photo 23). The slightly angled walls of the portico behind the columns are lined with limestone panels. Six large glass panels make up the wall holding the double-leaf glass entrance door. A large, decorative, glass and wrought iron lantern hangs from the ceiling of the portal above the doorway. North and south of the main entrance seven vertical window bays occur. Those to the north serve the auditorium and consist uniquely of six horizontal sections over three vertical limestone panels in each bay. To the south, vertical windows for a two-story-high gymnasium were sacrificed when two floor levels of classrooms were added here in 1999. The new construction uses a brown metal louvered panel for floor divisions and a two-section window unit with the bottom third operable. The protruding staircase blocks at the ends of the façade incorporate limestone-trimmed, square-headed doors on the walls facing into the main entranceway. A small multi-paned octagonal window trimmed in stone is placed over each doorway. At the northeast end of the building, set back from the main façade and built on a lower grade with a ground level music room is a small gymnasium with three bays of vertical, six-part windows.

The west Manayunk Road façade sits back off a semi-circular driveway. The three stories are now made up of two integrated sections. The original is the 1938 building that ended with two massive towers for stairs and bathroom facilities one third of the way toward the center of the block from the north and south corners. In 1963 architects Supowitz & Demchick added a classroom wing between the towers, eliminating the main west entryway with stone staircases and patio. The stair towers are articulated by their solid brickwork, forward extension from the plane of the main facade, and their height above the roofline. Furthermore they feature a central vertical limestone-lined window opening that is topped by a stone grill made of octagonal openings. Eight vertical window bays separated by protruding brick piers flank these towers to the north and south. The same window treatment in a continuous pattern of 12 windows with green-slab masonry and fixed panes creates the 1963 infill over a ground level façade section. The latter uses shorter windows and entry doors that now lead into the stair towers. Behind these lower windows are currently the shop and technical education classes.

At ground level to the north off the driveway is an attached one-story kitchen wing from the 1938 construction. This has been expanded to serve the new two-story cafeteria and gymnasium addition built at the northwest corner of the school in 1999 (Einhorn, Yaffee, Prescott). The west façade of the cafeteria is finished with five large bays of glass window and door units that open out to a circular paved patio with fixed tables and chairs. At second floor level above a white masonry band course the brickwork continues the piers between the window units and defines areas for five square glass block windows. These light the second-floor gymnasium. On the north façade the same wall and window treatment is used.

Interior: Before renovations and additions in 1963 and 1999 the 1938 interior plan of Bala Cynwyd Junior High School focused on two levels (Plans 8-10). The Main Level featured the two gymnasiums and the auditorium on the east side in a long, north-south rectangular block plus a hall and central administrative offices. A small group of rooms at a half-story or third floor level were also located west of the gym and auditorium over the administrative offices. Attached to this block were perpendicular wings for classrooms, inset from the north and south ends and extending west. Each had a central hall flanked with classrooms. At the west end, each wing then spread north and south slightly creating a basic "U." Underneath the Main Level was the Ground Level, but because the east side was built into the side of the hill nothing was constructed under the auditorium and the large gym, leaving only the perpendicular wings and their western extensions for classrooms and a one-story cafeteria space at street level.

With the exception of the closure of the west entrance to the school (1963) and conversion of the large gymnasium on the east side to two stories of classrooms (1999) the 1938 school classrooms and interior finishes remain principally intact. The elegant classic architectural styling of the exterior entranceway is carried into the vestibule and main foyer of the school, which are between the large auditorium and the former gymnasium. The small vestibule is finished with white marble panels on the walls and leads directly into the octagonal foyer, finished in natural poplar or laminated poplar plywood. This space is noteworthy for its heavy dentilated cornice and use of fluted wooden columns with Tuscan capitals throughout the space (Photo 24). Engaged columns and two free standing ones create the three doorways to the gym and auditorium on each side of the vestibule. Two columns at the entrance to the building, and two that lead through a double-leaf doorway with transom and sidelights into the classroom hallway, support an upper entablature that runs under the cornice. The floor here is large squares of green and black terrazzo tile alternating with squares of white and black terrazzo. Three ornate round metal and glass hanging light fixtures and lanterns at the two main door entrances light the space. The white plaster ceiling accents the octagonal room shape with an incised double border.

The fully outfitted two-story auditorium with a sloped floor and a second-story balcony has a central aisle (Photo 25). Seven curtained windows provide light on the east wall and the west wall is accented with plaster pilasters matching the foyer. A dentilated cornice encircles the room at the ceiling. The latter uses deep coffering in a perimeter configuration for lighting through opaque panels. The poplar paneling adds a warm yellowish color through six-foot-high wainscoting along both sides of the auditorium. The seating is also in laminated wood with poplar exposed on the backs and fabric cushioning. The unique feature of this stage is the ability to open the back and take advantage of the depth of the small gymnasium that butts into it at the north.

The poplar paneling is carried into the principal hallway of the main level of the school, where three steps upward and another set of doors define the administrative office area. Poplar wood is featured for the glass paneled doors and the floor here is finished with white terrazzo tile. The other finely finished space using poplar is the original library, located on the Ground Floor at room 100. Pedimented, built-in bookshelves and doorway moldings add architectural character to the room. The utilitarian hallways of the 1938 school are attractively finished with rectangular verdigris colored tile, used at varying heights throughout the building (Photo 26). The tile was matched in 1963 and used in the added classroom wing of the west facade. On the interior this new wing created an inner two-story atrium with the architectural details of the 1938 entrance serving as the west wall.

In 1999 when additional classroom space, elevators, and a new gymnasium became a prerequisite for educational needs, the two-story atrium and the large 1938 gym were selected for new classroom construction. On the Ground Level six classrooms and adjoining hallways were built into the atrium. On the Main Level a library, media lab, and teacher work areas were placed in the atrium and the entire space was roofed over with a peaked metal roof on a glass clerestory. On the interior, round metal posts and exposed metal structural framing support the roofing. Sections of geometric hanging metal framework support lighting fixtures. The result of this enclosure is that the new middle school library now sits below the frieze and parapet of the five-columned former west entrance of the junior high school. Emblazoned on the frieze is "BALA CYNWYD JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL OF LOWER MERION" (Photo 27). The limestone columns are fluted and finished at the top with a flat capital with a Celtic-like geometric pattern. Two half columns trim the brickwork at the edges.

The 1999 conversion of the gym to classrooms placed eight rooms and a hallway on the Main Floor and expanded classrooms at the half-story level (Upper Floor/300 Level) in the east block with eight new spaces. Simultaneously, to compensate for the loss of this gymnasium to classrooms, a new one, with a cafeteria below, was erected to coordinate with the existing kitchen space at the northeast corner of the school.

Integrity and Conclusions:

The three contributing school buildings retain their architectural integrity and identify clearly with their periods of construction or restoration. Lower Merion Academy, built in 1812 as a Federal-style schoolhouse for a resident teacher continues to exhibit original room spaces and architectural features of this era on the interior and exterior. Furthermore, historic graffiti from the school's period of use between 1812 and 1914 remains on dormer walls of an unaltered attic. Restored in 1938 to serve new educational uses as a botany and home economics suite in conjunction with the new Bala Cynwyd Junior High School, the south façade and many interior modernizations and additions epitomize Colonial Revival ideals of the first half of the century and are fully intact. Cynwyd Elementary School, now the oldest school in use by Lower Merion School District, represents through its original 1914 and 1920 construction a fine example of the Classic Revival style typical of that time. The exterior integrity of the school is fully intact with the exception of original windows and doors, though replacements mimic original design patterns. The interior configuration and spaces remain little changed, with the exception of the integration of a library where the gymnasium/auditorium once existed. The significant architectural character of this former space, the proscenium arch and all the windows and skylights, have been retained with integrity. Bala Cynwyd Junior High School captures the modern pre-World War II trend through its long, low, undecorated facades, vertical window treatment, neo-classical features, and a mixture of traditional and contemporary construction materials. The loss of one major stepped and landscaped entranceway, through construction of a 1963 wing that closed the original "U" configuration toward the west, had an impact on the original 1938 design. Despite this, building spaces and material were not destroyed and the preserved impressive west entrance façade has been made an interior wall through alterations and additions of 1999. The dignified public spaces of Bala Cynwyd Junior High School that are used frequently by the community--the east entrance with its classic foyer and gracious auditorium--and the hallways of the school retain their original 1938 dimensions and materials with the style and integrity of the construction period. These three contributing schools have served Lower Merion Township for educational and social purposes from 1813 until the present day, and they represent with integrity characteristic architectural school construction of the Federal academy, pre-common school era and two different age-level facilities of the Pennsylvania 20th-century public educational system in Montgomery County.