Harrison School (Roanoke, Virginia)

Harrison School
Harrison School, June 2010
Location523 Harrison Ave., NW, Roanoke, Virginia
Coordinates37°16′46″N 79°56′53″W / 37.27944°N 79.94806°W / 37.27944; -79.94806
Area0.8 acres (0.32 ha)
Built1916 (1916)
ArchitectPage, J.H.
NRHP reference No.82004592
VLR No.128-0043
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 9, 1982
Designated VLRMay 18, 1982

Harrison School is a historic public school building for African-American students in Roanoke, Virginia. It is a rectangular, 13-bay brick building done in modified Georgian Revival architecture. The school was built in 1916, and two-story wings were added in 1922. It was the first school in the city to educate black students beyond the seventh-grade level, and its first principal was the noted educator Lucy Addison. After closing as a school in the 1960s, the building served as a child care center and later low-income housing as well as the home of the Harrison Museum of African American Culture.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.