Completed in 1938 to designs provided by architects at the Office of the Commissioner of Public Buildings, Mount Pleasant High School is a monumental four-story red-brick-and-limestone building in the Collegiate Gothic mode so popular for educational institutions across the country but relatively scarce in Providence. Its lively façade is animated by stringcourses defining the stories, a pair of large and asymmetrical towers in dynamic juxtaposition flanking the principal entrance at its center, and a very fine interior, still largely intact. It is impressively sited on one of the city’s largest public-school campuses, which provides welcome and much used recreational open space in the otherwise densely built neighborhood.
Under the recommendations of the Facilities Master Plan by DeJONG educational consultants, Mt. Pleasant High School was slated for demolition and replacement by two new schools. Word of this demolition resulted in an outcry from the neighborhood residents. In 2007, PPS included this school on the Most Endangered Properties list. As of February, 2019, the landmark school continues to serve the community.
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