Doty, Duane, School

As Detroit's oldest Arts and Crafts-style school building, and likely one of the oldest in that style in Michigan, Duane Doty School has statewide significance under National Register Criterion C. Along with Nichols School (1910), it is one of Detroit's most elaborate, high-style examples of a school building in that style. It is also noteworthy as one of three extant school buildings by Malcomson & Higginbotham designed in the first decade of the twentieth century that feature a nearly identical floor plan and massing yet are each executed in entirely different architectural styles.

Duane Doty School faces east onto Third Avenue, just north of the city's Boston-Edison neighborhood and historic district. It occupies the east end of a residential city block. Doty School is a two-story, red brick, hip roof structure on a high basement. Its prominent Arts and Crafts architectural features include paired, decorative roof brackets, and an off-center, square tower with a pyramidal roof. The building appears to be in good condition and retains much of its architectural integrity with the exception of slight interior modifications such as the removal of original millwork.