{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox nrhp | name = Thomas Durham School | nrhp_type = nrhp | image = Durham School in Philly.JPG | caption = | location = 1600 Lombard Street,<br/>Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | coordinates = {{coord|39|56|41|N|75|10|10|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Pennsylvania | area = | built = 1909 | architect = Henry deCourcy Richards,<br/>Cramp & Co. | architecture = Colonial Revival | added = November 18, 1988 | mpsub = {{NRHP url|id=64000730|title=Philadelphia Public Schools TR}} | refnum = 88002265<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> }} The '''Thomas Durham School''' is a historic school building that is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1988,<ref name=nris/> it is now occupied by the Independence Charter School.
==History and architectural features== Built in 1909, this historic building was erected as part of a major construction program after the School District of Philadelphia was reorganized and consolidated in 1905.
Between 1906 and World War I, the district built forty-four elementary schools, one junior high school, and five senior high schools. The architect of this program, Henry deCourcy Richards, used a number of plans in different architectural styles, including Regency architecture, Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival, Classical Revival, Jacobethan, Mediterranean Revival, and Academic Gothic. In some cases, he built multiple schools from each pattern, but varied the ornamentation of individual buildings.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993551 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Pennsylvania MPS Durham, Thomas, School|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author=J. M. Moak|date= April 27, 1987 | access-date=January 4, 2026 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>
The Thomas Durham School was one of his Regency designs. One of his plainest designs for the district, it was also one of the cheapest to build, defining characteristics that may have been related to the building's location in a predominantly African-American neighborhood.<ref name="nrhpdoc"/>
===Present day=== The Thomas Durham School building is now occupied by Independence Charter School.
== See also == {{Portal|Philadelphia}} * National Register of Historic Places listings in Center City, Philadelphia * Tanner Duckrey
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline|Thomas Durham School}} * [http://www.independencecharter.org/ Independence Charter School]
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durham, Thomas, School}} Category:School buildings completed in 1909 Category:Colonial Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Category:Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia Category:Charter schools in Pennsylvania Category:1909 establishments in Pennsylvania