2021 Halloween Post: School's Out Forever

Going through my Urbex backlog, I didn't find a new site big enough to merit a full Halloween post, so instead I'm trying something new this time. It'll be a theme this time, exploring three different schools. The first two- Philly's Pepper Middle School and Glen Mills' Sleighton Farm School- are rather famous within the Urbex community. The last one, Philly's Parkgate Manor, is a fairly unknown one I only discovered through a local history site that I believe should be more famous as the building is drop-dead (spooky pun intended) gorgeous. 

GW Pepper Middle School, Eastwick, Philadelphia, PA

It was 1968 and Philly's controversial redevelopment of the Eastwick neighborhood was in full swing when the Eastwick Educational Complex was proposed. Previously, Eastwick was a semi-developed neighborhood that had a lot of agricultural business. Due to its proximity to the airport, the city government targeted it for expansion. Aside from a few lucky rowhomes (which now seem totally out-of-place), the entire neighborhood- homes, schools, churches, and all were bulldozed. The airport took much of the southern part, while the section adjoining where I-95 was then built on was turned into warehouses. The northern part of the neighborhood was developed into much denser housing. The new Educational Complex, which was to house in addition to a surviving original elementary school a middle school, high school, and a Catholic school. The neighborhood fought the plan and proposed designs to the point where the middle school was the only one that got built. The original building was completed in 1973, but didn't open until 1976 due to various delays including the last-minute addition of a cafeteria and gym. In spite of the rocky start, Pepper's early years were quite successful. Through the 80's the school kept a population of over 1,000 students. 

Things began to unravel quickly in the late 80's though. Blight from the neighborhoods to the north began spilling in. Despite the very new housing stock, residents began to flee across the city line to Delco. The massive townhome development that was still being built on the southwestern edge of the neighborhood stopped construction (and to this day still hasn't been finished). The school's population began to decline. Finally in 2012, it was decided that Pepper would begin winding down operations due to low enrollment. This was supposed to be a multi-year phase out, but the Philadelphia School District ran into trouble in 2013 it got the axe, along with 22 other schools in the city. This followed 10 schools shutting down the year before. The majority of the schools found new life, or if not that at least the property they sat on did- but this is one of the 9 that hasn't. It actually went from "vacant" to "abandoned" real fast. It was accessible (albeit in much better shape) 7 months after closing. The city has tentative plans to demolish the building, but hasn't done anything to act on that since it was announced in 2018.

As you can see, things have escalated quite a bit from the photos linked earlier. The building has attracted tons of explorers ever since a few large YouTube urbexers covered it. We ran into a group of kids who I'm assuming are from the neighborhood while I was there. One of them had a video camera so I thought they were explorers too, but one of the people I was with suggested they were filming a rap video here. I guess that explains their clothing. It evidently became enough of a problem that they hired security not long after we were here... either that or a crackhead posing as security chased another one of my friends out of here, which honestly would surprise me less. The main atrium here looks cool, but I really can't imagine a thousand kids navigating this between classes every day.

I don't have a great setup for taking photos in low-light areas, so I really can't give the auditorium the justice it deserved. This room was surreal... and kinda terrifying.

In addition to glassed-in hallways bordering the atrium, the classrooms were all connected to each other through doors directly which I thought was strange.

Between the graffiti covering them and the giant concrete overhangs outside of them, not much sunlight was getting in here.

I'd bet the TV's are original. It's a miracle this one hasn't been smashed by vandals yet.

I found the "Imagine 2014" banner morbidly funny, given that the school probably didn't imagine it would be urbexable by 2014.

Our means of entry was in the back, so it took a little while to wind our way up to the main lobby. Time (or Southwest Philly) has not treated this place well. It's hard to imagine how recently this was still open. It took finding some Eagles Memorabilia from a player who was still on the team when we explored to put it in perspective.

Of course we peeked in the lockers a bit. We didn't find anything. :( Also that graffiti is sorta... nice... I mean, I guess that's affirmative?

Desks have been mostly cleared out of the building, but one survivor is chilling in the basement. My first thought was that's a neat photo op, but the more I look at it the creepier it is. I'm wondering if someone, security or otherwise, put it there to watch from.

Tons of graffiti in the gym. In spite of that I'm amazed at how not trashed the room is in general. There's a little garbage kicking around but I was expecting much worse.

If you were wondering, the climbing rope on the left is still strong enough to hold a person. Unfortunately it's also splintered enough to really do some damage to your hands. I was picking fibers out of them for the rest of the day.

Wolf Public School/Communications Technology High School, Eastwick, Phila

Based on the number of YouTube videos exploring this versus Pepper next door, you would think this is the more easily accessible of the two. You would think wrong. I wasn't ready to climb up a tree through a second story window for this one, so we've just got a couple exterior shots. It opened as an elementary school for the 1927 school year, but in the 60's or 70's was converted to a 9th grade center for the nearby overflowing Bartram High School. While still affiliated with Bartram in the 90's, it was shifted to a 4-year technical school focusing on communications. The name officially changed to Communications Technology High School in 2005. Like with Pepper, declining enrollment led to its spot on the 2013 closure list and it remains abandoned. The city's 2018 plan to demolish Pepper also included converting this to a community center, but aside from stating the plan no further action has been taken.

The ground floor was pretty tightly sealed up, but the upper levels sure weren't. Pepper was easily accessible through a loose board over a missing side entrance. I don't see why or how so many more people have filmed this one.

Graffiti and weeds were a more recent addition here. It seems like once the first person tags something, other "artists" are more willing to add more. I can guarantee you we tried every single one of the doors here.

Including some basement-level doors. At the time we were here, I didn't realize the Southwest had gotten as bad as it had so I wasn't as scared as I should have been.

For a while after the closings, the district set up a site to sell off most of the closed properties. They sold most of them successfully, but a few never got picked. The website isn't up anymore, but most of the abandoned ones still have this sign up.

The sun was starting to set, so maybe it's a good thing we weren't able to get this one. I sure wouldn't want to be here in the dark.

The sign in front was never updated with the new name, the Annex name is from its days as the 9th grade Center. The original Wolf name is still carved in the stone at the very top of the building.

I've heard this building (and other schools in the city built with basically the same design- the architect was actually a district employee for about 20 years) referred to as Art Deco. I disagree with that, it looks a little more gothic revival. The windows do line up in an art deco-ey way but that is some extremely gothic stonework under them.

Sleighton Farm School, Glen Mills, PA

Of the places I'm covering in this post, Sleighton is the largest and most famous with the urbex crowd. It opened as a delinquent school for girls in 1909, complimenting the nearby Glen Mills School which served delinquent boys. It had an agricultural focus, hence the name, up until the 60's. It went co-ed in 1975, and closed due to financial issues in 2002. Glen Mills held on until 2019, when its license was suspended following abuse allegations. Elwyn, the struggling social services nonprofit that operated the school through its final years, still owns the property. It straddles two townships- one that flat-out rejected a plan to sell to Toll Brothers for redevelopment, and another that seems to be entertaining the idea. No further plans have been made, as Toll Brothers backed out in 2015. There is security, but I did not run into them on either of my visits here. It sounds like he checks maybe once a day and I've been told if he catches you there taking pictures he will give you a few minutes to finish up then escort you out. Overall it's a safe explore if you're just here for photos. This building was a faculty house originally, and was built in 1913. It's one of the few non-accessible buildings on site.

UPDATE; I spoke too soon. Plans are now on the table for development of a small portion of the site, but that portion is where all of the buildings seen in today's photos are. None will be saved according to the site plan, even though they are structurally sound and probably more attractive than whatever will replace them.

The first photos here were from towards the very beginning of Covid- like 1 week into lockdown. I was already sick of being cooped up in the house and needed to get out, so I came here. Abandoned buildings should be people-free, right? Wrong. I counted 9 other people exploring here that day. I guess we all had the same idea. I don't have any information on the greenhouse, but am assuming it's an original building to the complex.

Not a whole lot to see inside the greenhouse, but it looks like it was used up until the end in spite of them dropping the agricultural focus.

This was the administration building, put up in 1909 as an original part of the complex. It's the most recognizable building on site and seems to always get used as the title photo in any article about the school.

Here we have the Lincoln Cottage, one of the original 9 dorm buildings the complex opened with. 6 of those buildings survive thanks to several fires over the years.

Behind Lincoln is the old vocational building. It was originally built in 1915 as WWI Army barracks, and was bought by the school as surplus after the war ended and moved to the campus. It housed the gym originally, but after the school built a new gym in the mid-80's, this was converted into vocational classrooms.

Heading back over to the Lincoln Cottage, I saw one of the other people exploring here get in through the fire escape so I figured I'd give it a try.

Despite how attractive the outsides of the buildings were, the inside is rather utilitarian. I guess if you're housing delinquents you'd want to minimize the number of breakables.

One of the rooms had a mural at least. A lot of furniture was left behind, but not all of it. I'm curious where all the rest went. That's a lot of beds to steal.

Here's the vocational building again, as seen from the top of the fire escape.

And here's the outside of Lincoln once again. As much as I love exploring, doing it solo was a little nerve-wracking. I didn't last long here this trip.

A few months later, after Covid hysteria died down a little, I set out with a few friends to conquer Sleighton once again. This marks the beginning of the photos from that trip. My camera battery was dead when I got here, so this set comes from my phone. Starting that off, here's the front of Lincoln Cottage since I only got photos of the back last time.

The chapel is another one of the campus's most iconic buildings, despite only dating back to 1965. From the outside, it sure looks a lot older. The architect did a great job matching the style of the existing buildings.

To get into the chapel, first we had to climb down into a basement window well. This is what greeted us at the bottom. Not what I expected, but it certainly looks more 1965 than the rest of the building.

There's quite a bit of graffiti in here, but overall the building has been kept pretty well intact. The pews are still in a row which impressed me.

Sleighton didn't have a religious affiliation, so the chapel was built to be interdenominational. As a result, the altar area is set further back to accommodate protestant services as well.

Looking back towards the main entrance. None of the lights in here were still intact, but a few of them at least still had their hoops.

The chapel had its own organ. The keyboard itself was pretty smashed up and all the pipes were gone. I think scrappers must have gotten to it.

There was a little second story area above the main entrance. Not much to see in there, but it has a great view of the main sanctuary.

Here's the Campbell Cottage, also built in 1909. It was in plain sight of the road so we didn't poke around too long for a way in.

It's been a minute since I mentioned Lincoln Cottage- let's head in there now! It had some interesting graffiti... all I have to say is I agree.

I also agree. On both counts.

The rear addition to the building wasn't in as great a shape as the rest of it. It appears this held the kitchen. The basement of this building was full of arcade games, so maybe the pool table came from down there. 

The basement looked like it would have been an awesome arcade at one point. This was maybe a quarter of the games they had. Unfortunately it looks like every one of them had a bad run-in with a baseball bat.

I was trying to figure out what this setup was in one of the bedrooms. The graffiti says Rave, which might explain it. I figure the bedsheet was probably more for keeping anyone from seeing light from all the glowsticks than blocking sunlight from coming in. 

The Lucretia Mott Cottage is the largest dorm building on site. The front of it is heavily overgrown, but the other sides are mowed. I'm really not sure how they decide to do the landscaping here. It had a really easy way in, but we didn't get to it until we had been here for several hours in the heat of the summer and were extremely tired and thirsty. A return visit to hit this one is in order.

The gym is the least attractive building on campus. It was built in 1985 to replace the existing one, which became the vocational building.

I get that having rain pour directly on hardwood flooring will make it warp and pop up, but this almost looks like someone just dumped a pile of wood on the floor. It was more difficult than you'd think to walk through this.

Walls are mostly graffitied now, but some of Sleighton's murals are still visible.

Workout equipment is expensive. It bothers me that nobody tried to salvage the weight room machines, whether legally or illegally, and instead just trashed the place.

Now let's head over to the old gym, last used as the vocational building. There were some offices in the front, which looked original enough I'm assuming were formerly locker or weight rooms.

Drop ceiling is totally gone from this room somehow.  Unless there was ductwork that's now missing too, I don't know why they added one in the first place. Could be scrappers going for the metal, but iron is low enough value it doesn't seem worth the trouble. For work a couple months ago, I scrapped an entire 20' Uhaul truck full of crushed ductwork, and came back with only $85. Between crushing it and loading/unloading the truck, it took two of us almost an entire work day.

Further back is the main gym area, which was walled off into classrooms. You can see the partitions stop at drop ceiling height, and above that is the original ceiling.

It's a tough call telling which building here is in the worst shape. The gym looks the most destroyed, but from a building condition standpoint I think this is worse. To make the gym serviceable again you'd really just need to patch up the roof and redo the finishes; this building is a tear-down, it's the only one I saw with a collapsed floor.

Parkgate Manor AKA Green Tree School, Germantown, Phila, PA

I've got conflicting dates on this one- it was either built in 1899 or 1910 as a home for John D. McIlhenny, art collector and first president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After he passed in 1925, he left the estate to his son Henry, who sold it in 1950. The new owner didn't stay long, he donated it to the Philly School District in 1954. They built (still open) Lingelbach Elementary School on the property, and converted the manor for academic use too. I don't know exactly what, if anything, they used it for before it was leased to private Green Tree School until the district deemed it unsafe in the 80's and evicted them. Green Tree is still in the neighborhood, in a new building. Some of the wooden playground equipment outside the building survives, slowly being absorbed by the woods around it. There was metal equipment here too at one point, but I'd suspect it was carted off by scrappers.

I'm starting with the attic here and working my way down to the much grander first floor. It's a spectacular building, so I'm amazed there's not more coverage of it. All I've seen so far is a brief Hidden City article and a handful of photos on AbandonedNJ. Germantown looks nice but it's pretty ghetto, so that might be a hinderance to some. Though, this place is right on the border of Mt. Airy, which is about as safe (and rich) a neighborhood as you're gonna get in Philly.

There wasn't quite a fireplace in every room, but there were a lot of them. It had radiators to provide the actual heating, this place was built with all the bells and whistles of the time, so these were more for show then anything else. It would be handy backup if the furnace quit on you though.

The building sits up on a hill, so these bay windows would have had a spectacular view before all the overgrowth popped up.

I'm also surprised there's not more graffiti, being in Philly and all. I get the impression most of the people coming through here are just high schoolers looking for a place to drink beer.

The ground floor had so much wood paneling. This would have looked incredible back in the day. Not much school stuff was left behind, but they made their mark on the place- like the chalkboard that has been repurposed to cover a window. The fluorescent lighting and modern heater are definitely both school district additions.

I was amazed to find this too- it had its own elevator! My first thought was that it was installed by the school, but it looks old enough I'm actually thinking it's original to the house. Either way, I didn't trust the cables enough to look inside.

This room looks like it originally might have been a dining room or something along those lines, but during the school's tenure served as the gym. We found the remains of a basketball hoop in the pile of rubble on the far side, and another one still intact on the wall behind where I'm standing. There's also still a desk in here, left next to the gargantuan fireplace. One thing to note is that it looks like this room has been repainted since its abandonment- the white on the windows goes onto the boards covering them as well. This place is in rough shape. This room had the worst decay we saw, but there were a few other rooms upstairs we avoided due to the floor looking like it was going to collapse. But I don't think it's beyond the point of saving. If things start happening before it gets worse, I think this place has potential.

I'm not exactly sure what this hallway leads to- the room on the other end was so full of empty bottles we didn't go in. It's fancy though. I'm not saying this place is in great shape, but it has held up remarkably well considering it's been empty for over 30 years. I've seen buildings vacant 10 or even 5 years that are worse off than this. 

This would have been a cool classroom or an even cooler bedroom. I can't imagine what it would have been like to actually live here.

I'm willing to bet that's a teacher's desk here. I could understand them forgetting to bring some small things when the school moved out, but that desk's a little big to miss.

Another fireplace with some neat alcoves flanking it. On the floor there is some evidence of a party. I'm fairly certain this was kids coming here so they wouldn't get caught.

Presumable butler's door in one of the alcoves. Judging by the placement of the closet, it looks like the school used it as the room's main entrance.

The basement was in rough shape. That staircase in the corner was the only way up and seemed to be bearing the brunt of the damage. A cellar door was the only way in the building too, so we had to use it. It looked like the kitchen was down here for the cafeteria- I didn't see any formal cafeteria-looking room upstairs, so I'm guessing the gym served double duty. I'm assuming as a house the kitchen would have been upstairs, but to make room for more classes the school moved it here. It's also possible there was always a butler's kitchen down here. 

The overgrowth made it impossible to get a good exterior shot. This turret is one of two flaking the main entrance of the house.

As a school, the entrance was moved around back so it could share a parking lot with Lingelbach. The overgrowth apparently is a recent addition. The Hidden City article I linked earlier has this exact same shot from 2013, where the house is much more visible.

Every good Halloween post needs a good Halloween song! I was having trouble deciding whether to go with this one or the Outlaws' version, but you just can't beat Johnny Cash.

See my previous Halloween posts below:

2015        2016        2017        2018        2019        2020

Legal Disclosure: In posting these pictures, I do not confess to trespassing as it cannot be proven I am the photographer. Speech in the first person in the above text shall be interpreted as quotation from an anonymous source not associated with the Plaza ACME Blog. I neither condone nor encourage trespassing by posting this.