How to go
What: Alumni walk-throughs for Fairview High School and Public Auction
When: Sept. 18 (auction) and Sept. 25
Auction preview will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 17
Auction and alumni Walk-through will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 18
Final alumni walk-through will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 25
Auction information will be available Wednesday, Sept. 1, at www.auctionzip.com. Information will include the time and location of the auction, and photos of some of the available items. Items may include lockers, doors, crown molding, bookcases.
For more information on the history of the Metcalf Windows, visit www.fairview66.org
DAYTON — For the past eight months, Fairview High School alumni from across the nation have been raising funds to preserve two large stained-glass windows from their alma mater in hopes of displaying them at an area museum.
But, according to Dayton Public Schools superintendent Lori Ward, a decision has been made to incorporate the historic windows into the new school set to open in August 2011.
The Dayton Board of Education announced this week that final walk-throughs for Fairview will be Sept. 18 and Sept. 25. A public auction will be held on the first of the two dates but will not include artifacts.
The school, at the corner of Hillcrest Avenue and Philadelphia Drive, is scheduled to be demolished by the end of 2010. A new school — Fairview PreK-8 — will be built at the corner of Hillcrest and Elsmere avenues.
The Fairview High building opened in 1929 and at one time housed up to 1,500 students. It became a middle school in 1982.
Fairview Windows Preservation Inc., a 12-person committee headed by Jeri Jones Bland of Columbus, raised $6,000 to secure a “safe new future” for the stained-glass creations by internationally known master stained-glass artists Robert and Gertrude Metcalf. The group estimated $50,000 would be needed to professionally remove, store and display the art. The committee was concerned that the Dayton Public Schools could not afford the project.
John Carr, chief construction officer for the Dayton Public Schools, said he is in the process of getting appraisals for the windows and that the architect is developing plans to place them in the lobby of the new school.
“I think people are happy that the windows will be on display in a building, and from the standpoint of our young people, this is a great part of history,” said Ward.
Carr said this isn’t the first time artifacts from demolished schools have been incorporated into new buildings: Rookwood fountains and old chandeliers have been saved.
“Our first choice is not to install them in another school because we know that work of this magnitude belongs in a museum like the Dayton Art Institute or Carillon Historical Park where the whole world can see them and they can be cared for by art professionals,” said Bland. “But we will be happy to consider donating funds we’ve raised to the display at the new Fairview. We hope that the history of the windows will accompany them into the future.”
The 1938 Art Deco window is based on the school motto. The second window, a tribute to the soldiers who fought in World War II, was created in 1945. Robert Metcalf, a Springfield native, taught stained glass at the Dayton Art Institute and served as its director of decorative arts. The couple were also known for efforts to document the great stained glass of Europe at the onset of World War II.
In a similar grass-roots effort in 2004, a WPA mural was removed from MacFarlane Middle School, restored professionally, and now hangs in the cloisters of the Dayton Art Institute. On loan from the school system to the museum, the piece is titled “Douglass Inspiring the Youth of the Negro Race.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2440 or MMoss@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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