- City:
- Santa Monica, CA
- Site Type:
- Schools, Education and Health
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Started:
- 1935
- Completed:
- 1937
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Partially Extant
Description
The Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) modernization of Santa Monica High School between 1935 and 1938 represented the largest reconstruction project undertaken by the Santa Monica City School District following the devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake.
The WPA remodeled and retrofitted the school’s two-story Academic & Administration Building (later the History Building), Manual Arts & Commerce Building, Fine Arts & Household Science Building, Library/Student Center, and Girls’ Gymnasium. Their “‘earthquake-resistive construction’ [was] designed to withstand shocks greater than those felt in Long Beach. Bearing walls were reinforced with steel and coated on the exterior with stucco. Gabled roofs were replaced with shock-proof, deck-type roofing. Ornamentation was removed, resulting in a more stripped-down or modernistic look” (HRG Report, p. 43).
The WPA also constructed a new auditorium (Barnum Hall Theater), boys’ gymnasium, and wing for the Art Department. “The high quality of design of the new auditorium building, in particular, suggested not only the importance of this facility to the growing high school, but also the degree of civic pride associated with this new community amenity” (HRG Report, p. 43).
Most of Santa Monica High School’s historic buildings were demolished in 2021 as part of a 25-year modernization project funded by 1.138 billion dollars in bonds. Demolition was widely opposed, with both the school’s extensive alumni community and the Santa Monica Conservancy advocating for the School District to preserve/rehabilitate the campus’ “historic academic core.”
Source notes
Donald H. Connolly and G. I. Farman, Report of Accomplishment of the Operations Division, Works Progress Administration, Southern California, Jan. 1, 1939.
Historic Resources Group (HRG), Santa Monica High School Campus Plan: Historic Resources Technical Report, July 2018.
Site originally submitted by Natalie McDonald on July 1, 2011.
Additional contributions by Shaina Potts.
At this Location:
- Santa Monica High School: Barnum Hall Theater - Santa Monica CA
- Santa Monica High School: Macdonald-Wright Murals - Santa Monica CA
- Santa Monica High School: Palo-Kangas Sculpture - Santa Monica CA
- Santa Monica High School: Library Bas Relief - Santa Monica CA
- Santa Monica High School: Buff Mural - Santa Monica CA
- Santa Monica High School: Hrdy Bas Relief - Santa Monica CA
- Santa Monica High School: Clements Mosaic - Santa Monica CA
View all sites at Santa Monica High School - Santa Monica CA (8 Sites)
Site Details
Federal Cost | Total Cost |
---|---|
$831,257 | $1,081,029 |
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These buildings are at risk. Demolishing 2021 summer. Please help.
https://www.smconservancy.org/2020/11/the-historic-academic-core-buildings-of-samohi-on-top-of-prospect-hill/
Please help save these buildings!
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