John Barry Elementary School

Named for a Revolutionary War naval hero, Commodore John Barry Elementary School was completed in 1927 to accommodate the hundreds of families that flooded the area over the course of just a few years. Barry Elementary was part of a surge in school construction in the summer of 1927 reflecting a citywide population boom: 16 schools were completed while students were away on break. This growth continued until the onset of the Great Depression brought a collapse of the home building market. Designed by Edgar D. Martin, formerly of the influential architectural partnership Schmidt, Garden & Martin, Barry’s Collegiate Tudor Gothic style was very popular in the 1920s and 1930s, harkening back to prestigious medieval English universities like Cambridge or Oxford. It even has crenelated towers. Today, Barry Elementary serves about 800 students in pre-kindergarten through 6th grade.