By Bob Sutter, Class of 2019
For most Chicagoans, the most famous structure in the village of Winnetka is the “Home Alone” house, the location for the filming of the popular 1990 movie. But my insider knowledge based on twenty-two years as a parent in my North Shore community reveals that our local elementary school is a far more significant and interesting site.
The opening of Crow Island School in 1940 was the culmination of the noted progressive educator Carleton Washburne’s 24-years as Superintendent of the Winnetka Public Schools. Mr. Washburne commissioned a joint venture between Lawrence Perkins (son of Dwight Perkins and principal in the new firm Perkins, Wheeler & Will) and the father and son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen (designer of New York’s TWA Terminal and the St. Louis Gateway Arch) to design a truly innovative campus meeting the specific age-appropriate learning needs of kindergartners through sixth graders.
The school is arranged in four wings customized by grade levels, each with its own playground. Every feature—furniture, blackboards, door hardware, plumbing fixtures, light switches—in each classroom is scaled by age. Every classroom is designed in an L-shape with a common area, private work space and restroom surrounding an outdoor courtyard. Two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows look out into the surrounding forest (the Crow Island Woods) or playground. Interior surfaces are covered in Ponderosa pine allowing student work to be pinned up for display.
Distinctive common areas include an outdoor amphitheater used for classes and assemblies and an acoustically perfect 400-seat auditorium with the molded plywood benches scaled from kindergarten-sized in the front to back rows fitted for teachers and parents.
Generations of Winnetka third graders, including my two daughters, have spent a day of their school year in the Pioneer Room in the school’s basement. This classroom recreates an Illinois prairie home circa 1840, complete with Dutch oven, butter churn, feather bed and wood-burning fireplace.
Crow Island has been labeled “The Seagram Building of elementary schools” as its exterior represents the first use of the mid-century modern style in elementary school design. The horizontal brick and glass structure is accented by a 50-foot chimney featuring a whimsically off-center clock (the precursor to the steeple of Eliel Saarinen’s famous 1942 First Christian Church in Columbus, IN) crowning the front entrance. Ornamental embellishments include ceramic figures embedded in the bricks (created by Eero Saarinen’s wife, the sculptor Lily Swann) and the beloved statue of “The Crow”, sculpted by Winnetka artist Max Fleisher.
As icing on the cake, the west side of the campus includes three antique jungle gyms, an homage to the world’s original version of that play structure (patented by Winnetka inventor Theodore Hinton) which stood on the Crow Island playground for 70 years.
In 1971, Crow Island School received the prestigious 25-Year Award from the American Institute of Architects (still the only K-12 school to be so honored) and in 1990 the campus was designated as a National Historic Landmark. To quote the refrain of the school song my family still fondly knows by heart– “Good old Crow Island, the best school ever made.”
This is absolutely fascinating, Bob! If only all schools could be designed with the needs of actual children in mind!, As soon as I saw the first photo, I thought the Saarinens must be involved, so much does the off-center chimney remind me of the church in Columbus, IN that you mentioned. Thanks for sharing this interesting story with us!
So glad you wrote this! Some of us were lucky enough to get a personal tour led by Bob and his wife from Bob a few months ago. It’s a fascinating place! Thanks, Bob.
Thanks Bob! I’m sure there are many famous alums from this school, but I remember first learning about it from an interview with Ed Zwick, the producer/director of television shows (thirtysomething, My So-called Life, Nashville) and films (Glory, Blood Diamond). It couldn’t have hurt that as a youngster he attended this wonderful school!
Hi Bob,
Great article! I liked where you said many people view the school as “The Seagram Building of elementary schools.” It was nice to learn from you last year that this gem exists. Thanks for sharing.
—Erica Myles, c/o 2019
Hi Bob, it’s interesting to know that you are a Crow Island parent as well. Although my daughters are 35 and 40 now…once one is connected to the Crow Island Family…we become always connected, and I still live in the neighborhood.
I first became interested in Crow Island in the late 60’s when I attended an Illinois Art Education Association convention. Bill Brubaker of SOM was the keynote speaker and his slide lecture was of Crow Island School (for which he in 1975 designed the resource center). I found his lecture so fascinating that I suggested his lecture for the keynote speech at a Districtwide Teacher In-Service Day for District 300 in the western suburbs where I taught as an art teacher.
I grew up on the North Shore in Ravinia/Highland Park when most of the schools on the North Shore practiced the Progressive Philosophy of Education. So when it came time for my older daughter to attend school we chose Francis Parker in Chicago because of it’s Progressive philosophy. And then after my second daughter was born we moved to Winnetka so they could both attend Crow Island.
I was integrally involved in volunteering at the school while my girls were there and I formed the Parents in Residence Committee to use the talents of all of the parents involved in the arts. During that time we planned tours of the school and architectural walking tours of the surrounding neighborhood for the 2nd graders as well as for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Crow Island. Larry Perkins sat in on those planning meetings and was a charming, font of information. He told us eventhough his Dad was a prominent school architect who also designed Hubbard Woods School and Skokie School in Winnetka, the planning and hiring parent/teacher committee for Crow Island asked that because he was a new architect that he be teamed with more experienced architects (the Saarinens) for the design. The teachers, custodians and other staff were interviewed and were also integral in the design to deliver the Progressive Education philosophy. Every detail was attended to including heating the front steps; a low bench with an overhanging eave for the kindergartners to sit on while they waited for their parents; painting the front doors cerulean blue reminiscent of the sky and spring ground cover flowers; the front driveway reoriented to an entrance off of a side street rather than the original lead off of busy Willow Road; an articulated brick map of the school on the back outside wall; extra large hallways provided for use of larger group classroom projects; the design of the curved plywood chairs used in the auditorium and as early classroom furniture were perfected with the help of Eames; and individual washrooms in each classroom, to name a few of those details. A WPA project created the desks, tables and benches.
And the lifesized papier mache cow and dog that stand outside the Pioneer Room were refurbished by me into a cow and calf a number of years ago.
Thank you for bringing our wonderful architecturally significant school to the attention of everyone once again.
Bette McAvoy
Class of 1977
Hi Bob,
Thanks for introducing us to this gem. So many great ideas and innovations that need to be remembered in today’s times. Your diligent research and engaging presentation inspires me to look at places within my everyday spheres and do some digging to find the stories that transform the everyday interesting to exceptional.
Well Done, Liz
Elizabeth Peterson Hall
Docent Class 2019
Well done, Bob. That constellation of famous people involved in the school’s design is simply amazing: Larry Perkins, the Saarinens, Lily Swann. I happened on the Crow Island website after reading your article and found this tidbit about Larry Perkins: “In June of 1971, Lawrence B. Perkins, who headed the effort to build the school in 1940-41, for the architectural firm of Perkins, Wheeler, and Will (now the Perkins and Will Corporation), accepted the American Institute of Architects’ 25-Year Award for the school. The award has been given only once before, to the Rockefeller Center in New York City.” Now, that’s some distinction!