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Maybe you’re old enough to remember the porcelain water fountains and wooden banister staircases; maybe you’re just charmed by the past. But when you walk inside the wooden double doors of our neighborhood’s Old Marshall School on 27th and G Streets you enter days gone by. Beware though, classroom chalkboard scribblings warn of ghosts and you’ll have to pick your way through forgotten furniture and abandoned remodel efforts.

If the building could speak it would tell you that there are not many renovation opportunities left in Midtown like Marshall School. Find the deal, the money and the time to bring me back. I am ready to serve.

School Board Trustee Ellen Cochrane and the district worked to find the deal, and the school board will vote to transform this faded lady into housing for midtown. But, thankfully, the integrity of the building will remain a beautiful historic facade, with modern residences on the inside. Much thanks to the New Era Marshall School Neighborhood Association and the neighbors of Midtown for helping to make this happen.

The school was built in 1903 and has 16 classrooms. There is an additional annex building that was built by the Boy Scouts a couple of decades ago. Old Marshall sits on 1.18 acres and is surrounded by a large parking lot. In its past lives the school has been a public school, center for the California Montessori Project, The MET and an Adult Education/Child Development Program. It’s been vacant now for many years.

During the discussion about the school’s future the community was fully engaged and asked to submit any reuse ideas or tell us about a successful re-purposing of a similar building. All ideas were considered.

SCUSD is not in the real estate business, so the firm Overland Pacific and Cutler (real estate re-use expert) was hired to help the district find the best solutions for Old Marshall and other surplus properties that have no further use as school sites.

Until the renovation begins, take a walk down G Street. You’ll find a faded lady surrounded by a chain link fence. Listen closely and you might hear the muted laughter of schoolchildren and the whisper of bells. In her next life, neighborhood-treasure Old Marshall will carry history forward and who knows, maybe a few ghosts.