Three stories of brick over a raised basement, symmetrical and plainly finished, the low roof crowned by a small central cupola and broken by tall brick chimneys ranked along the ridge. Windows run in even rows across the front, each fitted with louvered shutters. A low stone wall carrying a fence encloses the yard, which was planted with young shade trees along the street.
The St. Louis Board of Education opened the first Franklin School in 1857 at the corner of 17th and Christy avenues, naming it for Benjamin Franklin. The building was designed for nearly 1,200 pupils and held a grammar school with two primary departments, with room to add intermediate and further grammar departments as enrollment grew; after its first year, one room was set aside for the Normal School, where the district trained prospective teachers. During an 1874 renovation the Franklin name shifted temporarily to a building at 19th and Christy on an adjacent block, then returned to the original 17th-and-Christy site from 1876 until 1910. The school moved to a new building at 814 North 19th Street in 1911, and the 1857 building was cleared. Its cross street, Christy Avenue, has since vanished from the near-north street grid.
