Richard, Pere Gabriel, Elementary School

Pere Gabriel Richard Elementary School, the second elementary School in Grosse Pointe Farms, was completed in 1930. Named in honor of Gabriel Richard, a Catholic priest who widely promoted education in the early nineteenth century, it has architectural significance as a highly unusual example of French Renaissance design in a school building. It is also significant as a major work of architect Robert 0. Derrick, who specialized in period revival designs for residential and institutional buildings in the Detroit area during the 1920's and 1930's.

Pere Gabriel Richard Elementary School is a two and one-half story tall brick and stone-trimmed asymmetrically massed rectangular building containing a third story within the high slate-covered mansard roof. Its highly decorative exterior is French Renaissance in inspiration. Coloristic effects have been achieved by the two-toned (buff and red) brickwork contrasted with stone. The main facade of the school building faces McKinley, but the McMillan elevation is now the primary point of access. A flat-roofed addition designed with the same coloristic effects as the original building was erected on the northeastern end of the school in 1962. The interior features of the school are marble hallways, decorative plaster tympanums over doorways, and Pewabic tile.