You are here

Cab Calloway School of the Arts (Wilmington High School)

-A A +A
Wilmington High School
1958–1960, Whiteside, Moeckel and Carbonell. 100 N. Du Pont Rd.
  • Cab Calloway School of the Arts (Wilmington High School) (W. Barksdale Maynard)

The previous Wilmington High School, on Delaware Avenue (1899–1901), was ultimately deemed dark and dreary and a fire hazard; it was razed in 1964. Its datestone and gate are preserved on the grounds of the present facility, the largest high school in the state when built. A pamphlet explained, “The elements of the building express light, order, beauty, color, line and quiet—attributes which foster study and growth.” In fact, its stern International Style aluminum-framed windows and brick walls were relieved only by a few colored glazed-tiles, including green ones that form a block at the entrance (penetrating the building internally as well as projecting externally). Over the front doors stands a shallow roof supported by slender, cruciform steel pilotis. Built for 1,350 pupils, the school was overcrowded as soon as it opened, and an extra floor was added. Rioting in its hallways in 1968 led to a plunge in enrollment. When court-ordered desegregation of Delaware schools ended in 1994, numbers dropped still further, culminating in temporary closure five years later. It has reopened as a magnet school for the arts. Next door stands corner-windowed Westcourt Apartments (Foster Park Apartments; 1940–1941, Morton Keast, with Massena and du Pont, associates).

Writing Credits

Author: 
W. Barksdale Maynard
×

Data

What's Nearby

Citation

W. Barksdale Maynard, "Cab Calloway School of the Arts (Wilmington High School)", [Wilmington, Delaware], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DE-01-WL79.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Delaware

Buildings of Delaware, W. Barksdale Maynard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, 135-135.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,