- Smithsonian number
- 10CN531
- Resource name
- Parma Grade School / Maxine Johnson Elementary
- Property type
- Educational complex
- Original use
- Education · School
- Known construction
- 1938 WPA section
- Later survey date
- Circa 1970
- Address
- 1607 East McConnell Avenue
- Historic survey
- February 1990 reconnaissance
- Prior evaluation
- Recorded ineligible in 1990
- Current documentation
- Exterior field survey complete
Survey update
Photographed by Jeffery Holley on March 27, 2026. The present package separates this resource from Julian Laca Gymnasium and the middle- and high-school block.
Architectural description
10CN531 is an evolved educational complex made up of connected sections built in different periods. It includes a 1938 Works Progress Administration school, later one-story classroom and administrative wings, cafeteria and service areas, connecting additions, and playground and circulation spaces.
The WPA-era section is a substantial rectangular masonry building with a flat roof, raised central entrance bay, prominent chimney, and broad classroom elevations divided by shallow wall projections. Concrete steps lead to paired doors within a restrained geometric surround. Horizontal bands, recessed panels, grouped windows, and a cast-metal WPA plaque give the section its clearest identity.
Later sections are chiefly low, one-story buildings with irregular rectangular plans, shallow roofs, and concrete-block walls. Light-painted block, tan and reddish-brown masonry, broad blue metal fascias, grouped classroom windows, glass-block panels, recessed entrances, projecting canopies, and masonry piers distinguish these phases.
Low cafeteria and service volumes, covered passages, narrow connections, paved walks, lawns, courtyards, and playground areas reveal the school’s incremental growth and continued educational use.
