John Handley High School, high school in Virginia, United States
John Handley High School is a public high school in Winchester, Virginia, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Virginia Historic Landmark. The building has a neoclassical design with a large dome and columns at its entrance, and it sits in a residential area close to the center of Winchester.
The school was built with funds from John Handley's estate and opened in 1923, designed by the architectural firm of Shreve and Lamb, which later became known for the Empire State Building. It has been in continuous use as a public school since then, serving the Winchester community for over a century.
The school is named after John Handley, an Irish-born judge who left his fortune to the city of Winchester to fund public education. The building remains part of everyday life in the city, used by students on a daily basis just as it was intended when it was built.
Because this is an active school, access to the grounds is generally limited during school hours and on school days. The exterior of the building can be seen from the street at any time, which gives a good view of its architecture.
The same architectural firm that designed this school, Shreve and Lamb, went on to design the Empire State Building in New York just a few years later. This means a public school in a small Virginia city shares its design roots with one of the most recognized buildings in the world.
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