The Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies is a 2024 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards, the highest national recognition bestowed upon a preservation project by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Award recipients represent the best of the best in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and the reimagining of historic buildings for the future.

There are few buildings in Mobile, Alabama as iconic as Barton Academy, a stately Greek Revival structure with a distinctive dome that rises above all but the city’s newer high-rises. Over the centuries, it has been celebrated as Alabama’s first public school, condemned as a symbol of segregation, criticized as the seat of a school board perceived to have failed students and parents, and lamented as a long-abandoned structure. Today, Barton Academy stands as a remarkable example of historic preservation, a catalyst for economic growth, and a beacon of equity and opportunity.

The following Q&A is with Elizabeth Stevens, the President & CEO Emerita of the Downtown Mobile Alliance. Learn more about the full slate of 2024 awardees.

Tell us about the school’s legacy as the birthplace of public education in Alabama.

Barton Academy was established as Alabama’s first public school following the passage of state legislation in 1826. The state was only about seven years old at this point. By 1836, with a hodgepodge of funding from public sources, a lottery, and donations from a private benefactor, construction was completed on the Gallier and Dakin-designed school building. Choosing one of the most renowned architecture partnerships of the era, the community intended for the building to serve as a testament to the value Mobilians placed on public education. For more than a century, Barton Academy served as the cornerstone of public education in Mobile.

But in 1965, the last class graduated from Barton Academy. There was a lot of growth in the outer areas of the city, a lot of buildings downtown were being torn down with urban renewal, and there just weren't enough children to warrant keeping a school there. In 1969, the school system decided to renovate it and make it their corporate offices. At its heyday, there were about 300 people working in the building, but then in 2007, they decided that the real growth was out in the county, and they abandoned the building.

Historic Preservation organizations were pushing to repurpose this building as soon as the school board vacated the site in 2007. Why was saving it so important?

Barton Academy has always had a very commanding presence on Government Street. The school also has a lot of alumni that still live in Mobile and people who know their parents or grandparents went to Barton Academy. That's a real source of pride in this community. And it frankly is a monument to a progressive moment that we had as a city when our legislator moved forward with the first public school system legislation in Alabama to prioritize the education of Mobile’s citizenry.

The preservationists deserve credit for springing into action. One of the first things they did was hire a structural engineer to assess the building and really put to bed any talk that it needed to be demolished. They created a task force to figure out what could be done with the building next. That group was determined—and I think the community in general was determined—to find the right 21st-century uses for the building.

The leaders, I might also call them the instigators, the Historic Mobile Preservation Society and the Mobile Historic Development Commission, led the charge. They got organizations like the Downtown Mobile Alliance, the Mobile County Public School System, and the University of South Alabama involved and began a series of conversations where they came up with ideas of everything from building condos to a law school.

Then there was a light bulb moment. The superintendent was meeting with some leaders at the University of South Alabama and the idea of a world studies school came up. At the time, Mobile had a great amount of success in recruiting international companies. There was the thinking that there was a need for a public school to attract and promote international studies in Mobile. Eventually, the Barton Academy for Advanced World Studies was conceived as the preferred use. The school would offer an international STEAM curriculum to prepare students for leadership roles in the global economy.

Preservation takes persistence, but it also takes money. Can you talk about how the financing for this project came together?

The Barton Restoration Committee became the Barton Academy Foundation in 2012. The estimate for renovating all the buildings on the property was about $20 million. While the Mobile County Public School System was willing to take on all aspects of operating the new facility, the Foundation was tasked with raising the funds for the capital improvements.

More than $5 million was raised through gifts from individuals, foundations, and corporations, a noteworthy achievement since there was a lot of community pushback on the idea of donating to a public school. I never really understood that because people give liberally to Auburn and Alabama and other public universities, but not generally to capital projects for K-12 public schools. The physical improvements that the school system made on the exterior in ‘14, ‘15 to ‘16 really motivated some donors.

The balance came from a complex financing structure using Federal and State Historic Tax Credits, Federal New Markets Tax Credits, and a $2 million Alabama Saves energy efficiency loan—the miracle of miracles. Shortly after the school opened, the state wanted to do away with the Alabama Saves program, and they just forgave the whole loan. So that was pretty awesome.

In May of 2020, we went to closing on the most complicated historic tax credit / new markets deal in the state's history. The chart of organizations and corporations and how money flows will give you a headache to look at—but we got it done. And the construction started shortly thereafter.

We just proved that a large, empty landmark historic building is a drag on the economy of its neighborhood. When you renovate a building like that with the right use and you generate the activity of a school—that it is a motivating factor for economic investment and neighborhood revival.

Not only was the preservation project a success, but the school itself has proven to be quite successful!

It has been really amazing to watch. The school is a magnet school, so students come from all over the county. In the magnet school system, there's a real emphasis on racial diversity as well. In the first year, there were only 197 students, and by August 2024, they welcomed 311 students to the school. That's at about capacity, so we're currently talking about raising funds to renovate another building on the site.

But let's talk about the teachers, because teachers are very important, especially in a middle school, which is a really special time in the life of a growing child. We've had three district middle school teachers of the year, two state teachers of the year, three Presidential Award in Excellence in Math and Science teacher awardees, five national board-certified teachers, and an Alabama History teacher of the year.