James R. Ludlow School

The James R. Ludlow School is a historic American K-8 elementary school in the Yorktown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is in the School District of Philadelphia.

James R. Ludlow School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
James R. Ludlow School, August 2010
Show map of Philadelphia Show map of Pennsylvania Show map of the United States
Location	550 W. Master St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°58′21″N 75°08′45″W
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1926–1927
Architect	Irwin T. Catharine
Architectural style	Late Gothic Revival
MPS	Philadelphia Public Schools TR
NRHP reference No.	88002296[1]
Added to NRHP	November 18, 1988

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.^[1]

History and architectural features

The school building is a Gothic Revival structure that was designed by architect Irwin T. Catharine (1883–1944) and built between 1926 and 1927. It is a heavily constructed, three-story brick building, nine bays wide with projecting end bays, and was created in the Late Gothic Revival-style. Like many similarly-designed Gothic Revival schools in Philadelphia, it features rib vault, heavily tiled corridors, and a stone entrance pavilion with a Tudor-arched opening.^[2]

The school was named for the Honorable James Reilly Ludlow, or “Judge Ludlow” (1825-1886), president judge of the Court of Common Pleas, No. 3, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.^[3]

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.^[1]

Ludlow School is located near the National Shrine of St. John Neumann, and near Philadelphia’s up-and-coming Fishtown neighborhood. St. John Neumann was a Bishop of Philadelphia who largely organized and expanded Philadelphia's diocesan school system.