BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Fire crews battled flames overnight at the old Children’s Charter School on North Street in downtown Baton Rouge.
Officials at the scene said the fire began around 1:30 a.m.
The Baton Rouge Children’s Charter School was founded in 1997 and held a maximum of 280 students. The school closed in May 2020 due to years of declining enrollment.
Building history
The building was constructed as the Nicholson School, founded in 1922. It is locally significant in the area of architecture as one of a limited number of major examples illustrating the Beaux Arts and Neo-Classical style in Baton Rouge, featuring grand symmetry, proportions and classical elements.
The school was named after Louisiana educator James William Nicholson, a former mathematics chair at LSU who served two terms as the school’s president…