Northeast Manual Training High School, IV

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Pt. 4 of 4

For the history of the Northeast Manual Training High School, please see Pt. 1 of 4.

Northeast Manual Training High School, III

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Pt. 3 of 4

For the history of the Northeast Manual Training High School, please see Pt. 1 of 4.

Northeast Manual Training High School, II

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Pt. 2 of 4

For the history of the Northeast Manual Training High School, please see Pt. 1 of 4.

Northeast Manual Training High School, I

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Pt. 1 of 4

For starters, this place resembles more so an warzone than it does a historic high school. Second, we were hardly the only people on-site – but surely the only photographers. Yeah, it's a tough place to be, to say the least. The school does, however, feature a Top 5 room that I've ever been in, which alone made it all worth it. And without further ado…

THE HISTORY (in brief): As one of the oldest high schools in Philadelphia, the original Thomas A. Edison High School building was opened in 1890 as the all male Northeast Manual Training High School located at 8th Street and Lehigh Avenue. Eventually the school became Northeast High School in 1905 when the Northeast Manual Training High School moved to a new location and changed its name to Northeast High School for Boys. The auditorium was added in 1916 and in 1936 vocational education shops and many regular classrooms were added to the original building. /// Later, the school was named the Julia De Burgos Bilingual Magnet Middle School after the famous poet. It's hard to say what the status of the school currently is but this is/was the plan now/at-some-point: "For the School District of Philadelphia, SRK Architects in joint venture with Susan Maxman Architects is currently working on the historic restoration and adaptive reuse of the former Edison High School into a bilingual middle magnet school to house 1,600 students. At the center of the complex is a new 3-story atrium which links all shared spaces…" – SRK Architects