An old school in Davenport has been re-born. A ribbon cutting was held Wednesday afternoon to celebrate the completion of the 3 year project, costing 7.2 million dollars, that transformed the Pierce School in the east village into apartments.
Built in 1898, it was used as a school until probably the 1950's, followed by many years as shops and offices. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The architect for the project was John Gere - he says it's important to preserve buildings like this, instead of tearing them down and building new.
Large open classrooms and hallways meant it was relatively easy to design 41 apartments, while preserving the original exterior and interior of the building.
Gere says this was his final project, and he's now retired.
The original architect was F.G. Clausen, who also designed the Redstone Building in downtown Davenport. He was also the founder of the firm Gere has worked for.
Pierce School is a project of Bluffstone Development, led by Tim Baldwin and Pat Sherman.
