The first Barnard Street School, built in 1847, faced Barnard Street and occupied only one tything lot. The 1906 building that replaced it faces Taylor Street straddling all three lots of this tything block. The Mediterranean Revival school features a battered basement, tapered central tower, and tall hipped red-tile roof (the current tiles are modern replicas). Following a German elementary school model, it has lateral double-loaded corridors. During the twentieth century, the Board of Education enclosed the grand symmetrical interior staircases in the interest of fire prevention. SCAD acquired the building in 1988 and dramatically restored the interior in 2009, reopening the staircases and the interior ventilation windows between the classrooms and hallways and returning the building to its airy original state, as well as adding a rear elevator for handicapped accessibility.