133-5046 East Suffolk School Complex

For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF

VLR Listing Date 12/04/2002

NRHP Listing Date 08/04/2003

NRHP Reference Number 03000743

The East Suffolk School Complex is a series of three contributing buildings and two non-contributing sites. The elementary school, a one–story Colonial Revival brick building with a central auditorium flanked by classrooms, was constructed in 1926. Made possible through the Rosenwald Fund, the school was constructed to support the growing population of African American school children residing in the surrounding East Suffolk community. The high school, which followed in 1938-1939 using a design from the State Board of Education, was constructed with money granted to the state through the federal government’s “Pump Priming Program.” The gymnasium, the final contributing building, constructed in 1951, is a Moderne-style building of concrete. Two non-contributing sites include the foundations of the former home economics and agricultural buildings. The East Suffolk Complex served the African American population of on that side of the City of Suffolk until new schools were built in the 1960s.

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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

Updated: August 20, 2021