Citrus Avenue Elementary School – Chico CA

Description

The Romanesque Revival style Citrus Elementary School was built in 1936 in a residential area north of downtown Chico. It was financed through a bond issue and a Public Works Administration grant which provided 45% of the total cost.  The building remains in good condition with little modification, but the school yard is now gated and the windows shaded, no doubt out of security concerns. There is a name plate with the date of construction, but nothing indicating the role of the New Deal.

“This 1936 [PWA] project is an L-shaped stuccoed school building. It is a single story structure with a continuous gabled shingle roof. The edge of the roof is close to wall, but decorated with a cornice band. The main entry is placed in the middle of the short stem of the L. The front is treated as a faade, slightly projecting forward and accompanied by a broad stair. In the center of the faade is a round headed arch supported by twin columns on either side that are set into a recess. The columns have molded attic bases, tapered with an entasis. The capitals are cubic-shaped with molded, shallow surface decoration. The imposts are slightly chamfered to create a cyma recta profile. The facade is gabled with a slightly projecting stepped frieze band just below the cornice. The classrooms, with large window-walls of multi-paned glass, are along either side of the main stem of the L. Two smaller classroom buildings have been added at each end.” (Chico Historic Resources Inventory)

Pam Wear, who served as volunteer coordinator for the Citrus 75th anniversary, was able to find the building’s original blueprints by Chico architect Chester Cole (Smith 2012).  However, we are unsure where those blueprints now reside.