Architect Dwight Perkins' buildings teach valuable lessons on school design, more than a century later

The city is filled with well-designed building types: banks, houses, churches — skyscrapers, of course. But how often are public schools considered?

Chicago’s schools, particularly those designed between the late 1800s and early 1900s, are among the city’s most architecturally distinctive buildings.

They’re temples to the ideals of a free public education — something to consider as the new school year gets underway.

And the 40 schools designed by Dwight Perkins during his five-year term as the system’s chief architect are among the best of the best. I was reminded of this earlier this month when the Chicago History Museum sent out a back-to-school announcement heralding Perkins’s work.

The sprawling, Prairie School-designed Carl Schurz High School, at 3601 N. Milwaukee Ave., is the bes