| Charles Schaeffer School | |
| Location: | 4701 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19144 |
| Coordinates: | 40.0272°N -75.1606°W |
| Built: | 1876, 1914 |
| Architect: | Louis H. Esler (1876); Seiler + Drury Architecture (2019) |
| Builder: | P.H. Somerset (1876); Keller & Company (2019) |
| Architecture: | Gothic |
| Restored: | 2019 |
| Restored By: | Philly Office Retail |
| Added: | December 4, 1986 |
| Refnum: | 86003327 |
Charles Schaeffer School is a historic former school building located in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The building was renovated in 2019 and is now the corporate offices of the Philly Office Retail real estate company.
The school was built in 1876 by the School District of Philadelphia, and is a 3 1/2-story, schist building in the Gothic-style. It features brownstone trim, a pedimented gable roofline, molded cornice with decorative brackets, and a three-story projecting front section added in 1914.[1]
It was called the C. W. Schaeffer Combined Secondary and Primary School[2] in honor of Charles William Schaeffer, a Lutheran theologian who grew up in Germantown.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
In July 2011, the school building was purchased from the Mitzpah Seventh Day Adventist Church. Mitzpah had owned both the school and the adjacent Wakefield Presbyterian Church, but abandoned them to move into a larger historic church, the former Frankford Baptist Church (1853-1855) at 4357 Paul Street.[3]
Philly Office Retail renovated the property and moved its headquarters into the building in 2019.[4] The Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia recognized Philly Office Retail with a grand jury award in September 2020 for its renovation of the building which respected and preserved its historic character.[5]