J. P. Elder Middle School, originally called North Side Junior High School, was built in 1927. Renamed for John Peyton Elder, a retire’d Swift & Co. executive and Board of Education member, the two and a half story structure was designed by Wiley G. Clarkson, an architect known for his school designs in period revival styles. Construction of the building was completed by Butcher and Sweeney. Polychrome brick and cast-stone trim clad the two stories over a high basement. The U-plan features a central entry bay with a cast stone Tudor arch framed by turret-like piers. A Tudor Revival parapet with battlements of cast stone caps the front elevation. Complementing the earlier North Side High School (NN-9) across the street, the school is one of a three-school complex in Circle Park. Though its ceilings have been lowered, enclosing the upper two-thirds of the windows, the building has survived otherwise intact, and is eligible for inclusion in the proposed Public Schools National Register Thematic Group.
