Sheffield school reflects

era of streamline design

By Barry Cobum Staff Writer

SHEFFIELD - Fifty years ago Howard Griffith Jr. sat down at his drawing board in his Sheffield office on East 4th Street and designed a high school for the city. It was his first big project and the result earned him national recognition and fame in his profession.

Christine Box, a member of the Sheffield school board and Griffith's daughter, said her father's design earned him an architectural award. She said his original plans were pub­lished in a national architectural magazine.

"Daddy had an office in Sheffield for several years," she said. "He was forced to retire in 1975 because of illness."

Tom Donaldson, a Sheffield architect and graduate of the high school, said an article was published in a national architectural journal then called Pencil Points. The magazine is now called Architectural Records, he said.

"Talbot Hamlin, a leading architectural writer and critic, came to Sheffield to take photos and do an essay about the building for the magazine," Donaldson said. "Hamlin wrote that it was one of the best school designs in the country at that time."

Donaldson said the building was a very con­temporary design for 1939.

"Mr. Griffith held a master's from Harvard in design and was considered the top designer in the Southeast."

He said the building did not fit any kind of commonly known architectural design.

"It was built during the period when modem streamlined buildings, such as the Chrysler Building, were being constructed.

"After the Art 'Deco period many of the buildings, cars, trucks and buses were taking on the curved look," he said. "That's what this particular style is part of."

Sheffield High was built during the Art Modeme period between 1930 and 1945, ac­cording to an architectural textbook.

"Soft or rounded corners, flat roofs, smooth wall finish without surface maintenance and horizontal bands of windows create a distinctive streamlined or wind-tunnel look which characterizes the Art Modeme style," said the textbook "The streamlined effect is emphasized by the use of curved window glass that wraps around corners. Ornamentation consists of mirrored panels, decoration around door­ways and windows..."

The building was ready for students following the spring break in 1940, according to C.M. Brewster, who was superintendent from 1937 until 1970.

"The old high school burned and we had to have a new one," Brewster said. "We hired Mr. Griffith as the building's architect."

The old high school on Atlanta Avenue burned April 21, 1938. The building was heavily damaged by the fire and students were dis­missed for the remainder of the school year.

In 1939, high school students attended the old junior high school and the junior high school students were assigned to other locations in the city, including some of the larger churches.

"Howard Griffith, two of the school board members and I took a trip through parts of Georgia and Mississippi to get an idea of what kind of building we wanted," Brewster said. -"I think it was in Mississippi that we saw a building similar to the high school and we were taken with it. That's where he (Griffith) got his idea to design the building in monolithic concrete."

The former school superintendent said when the building was com­pleted "school officials were tickled."

"For some years it was the biggest school building in the entire area. Concerts, shows and public meetings were held in the large auditorium since it was the newest and best around."

Brewster said the original building is still one of the finest structures in the Shoals area.

"There's no better structure," he said. "Three-quarter inch steel rein­forcement rods were used to build the six-inch concrete walls. It's built like a fortress."   The white, two-story masonry structure, with its own distinctive charactreristics and streamlined de­sign, has remained unchanged for half a century.

The only surface change that has been made since 1939 has been the removal of the original flag pole that stood on the right side of the main entrance, according to Howard Jag­gers, the high school's principal

"We had to remove the old flag pole and erect a new one on the campus grounds," Jaggers said. "It was old and rusted. Other than that the building is the same as it was 50 years ago."

For years students have jokingly called the school "the white prison" because of its architectural features, especially its white exterior and un­usual windows, Daggers said.

New class rooms were added after the city closed Sterling School in 1968.

Today, the complex is composed of four brick and masonry buildings lo­cated on 21 acres. The plant consists of the original two-story classroom and administrative building including a 695-seat auditorium.

The gymnasium, cafeteria and choral music building and the field house were both built in 1950. The school's band room was built in 1987.