This school for white children, built in the same Public Works Administration (PWA) project as Cherry Street School (629 Cherry Street) for black children, demonstrates the realities of the state’s segregated educational system. The quality of finish, siting, and amenities of these monolithic concrete schools reveals that Mississippi’s schools fell far short of “separate but equal.”
Commanding a grassy suburban site with room for a play-ground, Bowmar is a handsome design of horizontal lines, its rubbed concrete exterior offset by an angular, partially glazed entrance tower where a cast-concrete sculptural group greets students. The one-story L-shaped building separates age groups while ensuring adequate natural light and ventilation to each room. By contrast, Cherry Street is wedged onto a relatively small urban lot, and the three-story classroom wing with large banks of windows resembles a factory more than a school. However, this perhaps makes Cherry Street the more stylistically innovative of the two, placing it firmly in the International Style with its emphasis on structural honesty and repetitive architectural features.