Landmarks Association of St. Louis

Garfield School to be Adaptively Re-Used


 Garfield School

The aging Garfield School, located at 2612 Wyoming, is moving closer to being purchased and adaptively re-used by Peter and Paul Community Services.  At last night's Benton Park West Neighborhood Association Meeting, a representative of the Peter and Paul organization conveyed that the St. Louis School Board had accepted their bid and they hope to close on the former school during the first week of December.   Peter and Paul has hired Gina Hilberry, principal of Cohen Hilberry Architects, to retrofit 25 apartments into the 42,000 sq foot building.  The organization, which provides services to the homeless, stated the project would realistically be completed during the Spring of 2013.  The organization will be applying for Low Income Housing and Historic Tax Credits and enabling a campaign to raise $4.5 Million for the rehabilitation of the former school.  Long term goals for the building include a roof top garden and the construction of a turbine with the purpose of making the former school self-sustaining.

Garfield School ws constructed in 1936 as a WPA project designed by George A. Sanger to replace the previous school constructed in 1883.  Due to dwindling public school enrollement, Garfield School closed in 2003.