The view from Court and 3rd Streets. Golda is a twin to Albert Kagel Elementary, built at 12th and Mineral in 1891.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
The interior isn't pristine, but it's pretty darn close. It seems like the place is almost entirely wainscoted!
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Some doors still hang from these ornate cast iron hinges.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Here's an unusual survivor in a third floor classroom. This small staircase leads up to a wall, presumably where a door once led to the adjoining stage.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Heating pipes run along classroom walls. And they get hot enough to melt crayons.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
There are still some stained glass panels in the arched windows of the the third floor "gynmatorium," which some folks call a "German gym."
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Most of the transoms – removed from many schools during modernization projects in the 1950s and '60s – survive at Golda.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Yet another variation on the anti-slide device.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Super wide hallways, as were the norm in schools of the era.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
I love the attics in old schoolhouses. You really get a sense for how they were built.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
There isn't a lot of graffiti in Golda's attic, but there is some. I think the oldest I found dated to the 1940s.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
The view toward Downtown from the arched attic window in the south facade.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
As much as I like climbing up to the attic, I'm never tempted to take the final few steps up to the hatch and out onto the roof.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Two of the towering chimneys as seen from the attic.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
There is still a projection booth in the attic that opens into the gym below.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
A former shop class is now an art room. But the tool wall remains.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
As do the workbenches and vises.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
In the boiler room you can see where the 1915 boiler house meets the former exterior wall.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
In the basement is a shower room. My tour guide said they were used by neighborhood residents who didn't have indoor plumbing back in the day. This was also true at Jackson/Detroit Street in the Third Ward and at other MPS facilities.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)
Golda is an architectural treasure and an education landmark in Milwaukee.
(PHOTO: Bobby Tanzilo)