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cultural development of South Bend, fulfilling the criteria of having "value as part of [local and national] development." Madison is an excellent example of what is now commonly called the Collegiate Gothic style, a style commonly used in public buildings of this period. In addition, it was designed by two of the region's most significant architects -- Ennis R. Austin and Norman Roy Shambleau. Madison School is also a significant for its place in the built -environment and on the landscape of its immediate neighborhood. Its size and placement adjacent to Leeper Park make its an important focal point for the neighborhood. Its demolition -- or defacement of its historical facade -- would do irreparable harm to the general environment, or subjective "feel," of the neighborhood. the structure provides an element of grace and beauty that would not be easily replaced. Madison School is deserving of protection and preservation. It is a structure that was constructed of substantial materials, was intended to be an up-to-date educational facility and was designed with a high regard for aesthetics. The building is now in use and could easily remain useful into the future; landmark designation would in no way impede its continuing utility to the community but would ensure that its most significant architectural element -- its historical facade -- would remain s an attractive element of the landscape. Architectural Assessment The Collegiate Gothic style is now sometimes referred to as Twentieth Century Gothic Revival. This substyle is a descendent of eighteenth and nineteenth-century.Gothic Revival architecture that was itself inspired by the Romantic movement which sought to evoke the "superiority" of the Christian medieval past. This style was most often employed in public architecture including schools, libraries and churches. Vertical expression is the key factor in Gothic -inspired architectural forms. The design of Madison School expresses verticality in its tall, slender windows and openings; vertical structural articulation in the form of attached wall piers, capped with cut stone and carved details, that _. resemble the buttresses of Gothic cathedral architecture from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries; and the use in many of its exterior details of the pointed, or Gothic, arch form, the most characteristic of Gothic details. Entrances are articulated with flattened Gothic arch openings with cut stone details and Gothic -inspired moldings. The diamond shape, related to the Gothic arch form, is present in the window glazing and brick patterns. Several window groupings retain the original leaded diamond -pane, double -hung sashes. Others consist of four -over -six pane, double -hung wood - replacement windows, probably historic improvements. he school also shows evidence of another•substyle of the Gothic mode -- he Polychrome variation. This can be seen in the introduction of a brick attern variation on the structure's northwest corner, a tower -like projection. Here the employment of darker brick creates a reoccurring diamond pattern, typical to a substyle wherein contrasting colors, textures and patterns of brick were incorporated into wall surfaces. 2