University Heights Elementary School - Tucson, Arizona - Former Schools on Waymarking.com

"The University Heights Elementary School is a stuccoed brick Mission Revival Style building located one block north and west of the University of Arizona campus in Tucson, Arizona. Due to a sloping site, the school is two stories on the north elevation. The school is in the North University Neighborhood, an area comprised of single family bungalows and duplexes constructed circa 1910-1930.

The University Heights Elementary School is significant as it illustrates the Mission Revival Style of architecture as interpreted by prominent Tucson architect Henry Olson Jaastad. Noted for his educational and civic buildings, Jaastad was Tucson's main proponent of the Mission Revival style. The Mission design of the University Heights Elementary School distinguishes it as a significant local example of its style in the context of Tucson architecture.

The construction of University Heights Elementary School was a direct response to an evolving pattern of residential development surrounding the University of Arizona, established in 1885. The original core of the school was designed and constructed in 1917, five years after Arizona had achieved statehood status. The design of this portion is attributed to a Los Angeles-based architect named Durfee. However, records indicate that he was operating under the supervision of Tucson architect Henry Olson Jaastad, the designer of the two subsequent additions (1921, 1930} which create the building's primary architectural identity.

In 1921 the first of two additions was constructed in response to neighborhood growth. This addition included four classrooms and basement space to expand the earlier core. It also continued the orientation of the west elevation as the principal facade. The two classroom bays feature projecting end walls detailed with simple stepped parapets similar to the parapet above the west entry.

Over the next nine years the surrounding neighborhood continued to expand, and in 1930 Jaastad and his draftsman, E. D. Herreras, designed the second addition in what they termed the Southwest Mission Style. Although this extension added only four classrooms to the existing eight, the creation of the courtyard and the extensive architectural detailing established a completely new orientation and identity for the school.

The facility continued to fulfill the educational needs of the neighborhood for the next 48 years until it was closed in 1978 as part of a court ordered desegregation plan." - National Register Nomination

After being vacant and unused the school has been renovated and converted to residential apartments. The building is in very good condition. The former school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Address: 1201 N. Park Ave. Tucson, Arizona Web Site: [Web Link]

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