Located at 4310 N. 16th Street, Eschweiler and Eschweiler, architects, built in 1932, closed in 2006.

This school has rightfully been described as a “gem.” When I went to elementary school back in the ‘70s, the school I attended was built in the previous decade. It had no windows except a tiny rectangular openings in the classroom doors, and the whole building was completely utilitarian and institutional. Contrast my early experience in the public school system of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with the experience of children who attended Philipp Emanuel. The art deco building has leaded stain glass windows, decorative stonework of animals, and ornamental metalwork. The building is lined with terracotta tiles depicting nursery rhymes at a child’s eye level, and the interior also has decorative tiles, a fireplace topped with a mural, and a goldfish pond. Another amazing feature of the building is its brickwork. The school exterior has the boxiness of modernist architecture of the time, but the brickwork is full of patterns and visual surprises. I was fortunate in my public school experience to have the opportunity to attend one of the oldest high schools in Baton Rouge. I enjoyed school much more when I could see outside, walk down terrazzo floors and climb stairs with carved wood banisters. It’s amazing how much gets lost when the bottom line drives the design of a place that aims to expand the intellect.