[Our Lady of the Angels] School Rebuilding

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This is Gerald Berry Jr., one of the architects on the new colony of the Angel School.

Berry, as I understand it, the new school will not have a sprinkler system throughout as the new Chicago ordinance has called for.

Why is that? The principal reason that this school doesn't have total sprinkling comes from the fact that it is a fire resistant structure provided by the city of Chicago's Class A.

Sprinklers are provided in all unoccupied areas of the school.

The boiler room, storage rooms, and the waste paper and incinerator rooms, but are not used in the classrooms or corridors or stair halls because they are normally occupied during the school day.

This was approved by the city of Chicago when they approved the drawings of the building for construction.

Well, has the city dispensed already the angels from putting in a complete sprinkler system as the new ordinance calls for? The building, as you see it here, was approved for construction without total sprinkling.

Since the new ordinance was passed earlier this year.

That's correct.

Well, as I understand it, only about a dozen schools in Chicago have complied with the ordinance calling for sprinkling systems throughout.

Now, will other schools be able to get by without putting in the sprinkling system also? I can't answer that question.

Each school, I think, is a problem of itself and will have to be settled on its own merits.

Berry, could you tell me what is being done to make this new alley of the Angel School safe from fire? The new Lady of Angel School is about the most fire -resistant structure that I know of.

It's a building that is built completely of reinforced concrete.

The walls, the floors, the structural framing system are all of the concrete variety.

We have curtain wall construction here, which means that the exterior walls are of metal and glass.

The classroom partitions...

Berry, what is being done to make the new Lady of the Angel School safe from fire? I believe that the fire safety of this structure is rather apparent from the structure as you see it standing behind us.

As you can see, all of the structural framing numbers are of reinforced concrete.

The floor slabs, the ceilings are of reinforced concrete.

At the time that the building will be completed, the interior walls will all be of concrete block painted with a fire -resistant paint.

The trim is limited to non -combustible material.

We have installed sprinkler, alarm, and detecting systems in all unoccupied areas, such as storage rooms, boiler rooms, waste paper storage, and incinerator rooms.

We have the manual alarm system to give the alarm in case of fire or any other emergency requiring evacuation of the building.

There will be fire alarm systems throughout the building? That's correct.

And we have provided a number of stairways for vertical exits from the building so that there should be no reason that any student would be hampered in his egress from the building in case of an alarm.

Will stairwells have fire doors? The stairwells will be enclosed by fire doors, and they will be totally fire resistant and are called fire towers in the terminology that we use, because they are totally isolated from the building and therefore provide safe exits from each floor.

This school will be safe.

The school will be extremely safe.

Now back to John in New York.

A year ago today, classes at our Lady of the Angels Elementary parochial school, which stood here on this site, were preparing for dismissal.

Suddenly a terrible fire started, believed to have begun at the bottom of a basement stairwell, and it flashed up immediately in seconds almost to a second story classroom on the north wing over to your left.

There, 95 persons, 92 students, and three teachers were burned to death.

Now a new building is being built on the site, a brand new Our Lady of the Angels School.

Now back to John Daley in New York.

Now back to Don Goddard in New York.

Identifier

F.2012-03-1713

Date Of Production

December 1 1959

Abstract

News footage of Our Lady of the Angels School being rebuilt after a devastating fire on December 1, 1958 that killed 92 students and 3 nuns. The ruins of the school were dismantled in 1959 and a new Our Lady of the Angels School, located at 3814 West Iowa Street, was constructed in compliance with the latest required fire safety standards. The three-story building opened in September 1960. Donations from around the world helped to fund the new construction.

Description

Begins with exterior footage of the partially-constructed school. There is a sign for Barry & Kay (Architects) and The Kinnare Corp. (Contractors). Workers lay concrete bricks and people enter the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels next door. Next are interior shots of the in-progress building, followed by scenes of children running on the sidewalk.

The rest of the film features an interview with Gerald Barry, Jr., one of the architects of the new building. They discuss Chicago's new ordinance requiring sprinkler systems throughout schools. Barry describes the fire safety features of the new building (including enclosed stairways, automatic sprinkler and alarm systems, and the use of fireproof coatings on doors instead of flammable paint and varnish), and lists the rooms that will have sprinklers. Barry describes the new school as "about the most fire-resistant structure [he] know[s] of" because it will be made from re-enforced concrete and other non-combustible materials, in addition to the new safety features. The roll of film runs out and Barry must restart his response. He reiterates that the new school will be "extremely safe."

At the end of the reel, the reporter indicates that it has been exactly one year since the deadly fire. He ends his report saying both "Now back to John Daly in New York" and "Now back to Don Goddard in New York," indicating the piece was likely shot for ABC News, where both men anchored news shows.

Run Time

0:07:38

Format

16mm

Extent

275 feet

Color

B&W

Sound

Optical

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Element

Internegs

Genre

Journalism

Form

Outtakes

Subject

Construction
Catholic schools
Architecture
Laborers
Fires
Safety

Related Collections

SUBSERIES III: Accidents & Disasters

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago

Sponsor/client

ABC News

Main Credits

Koza, Frank (is filmmaker)

Participants And Performers

Barry, Gerald Jr. (is interviewee)

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